Ancillary work

By Hannah Smith

Double Page spread

Draft 1

-I wanted to have a dark colour scheme (black/red mostly), dynamic, glossy looking and quite active, also much like the pages of a comic book.

-I wanted it to be mostly visual, to catch the readers eye with a snappy title.

-Problem:The background is boring and quite blank, i what make it look fuller.

-The images are are relevant, but not as interesting.

Analysis

Typography-Different styles of text for variation and to keep the readers interest. Slightly childish with a bad resolution however. Slightly plain, but in keeping with the scheme of the page (dark e.g. red/black/).

Logo- 'Comic Corp.' logo shown, relevant and placed at the top left hand corner, however with a different colour scheme compared to the rest of the spread. Placed at an angle to make it match the rest of the page style.

Titles-Big, bold, keeping with the colour scheme, however with bad resolution, too childish, not very imaginative placement, too bunched up together at the top.

Details.-Bold standing out quotes, however with vague references i.e. 'read the latest', too much like an advertisement. Photo descriptions next to the pictures. 'Turn over' box at bottom right for next page + banner at the top relates to rest of the magazine.

Images/ photos-Relevant photos, slightly unbalanced (i.e. too many about anime con.), the audience will be able to identify what the content might be about. Pictures have borders to make them stand out a little + slanted. Showing the presenter.

Graphics-A bit plain, background mostly reliant of colour for fill.

Layout-'Funky' feel, quite pop culture and spread out, very active, following a clear scheme of colour, bold. It has a banner at the top, the logo looks like a sticker. Big 'splat' in the middle with text to get readers attention.

Draft 2

-Zane suggested that we connect the Ad and the double page spread even more through imagery, so, as you may faintly see in the background, i have used the same image of the girl that he used in his Ad. It's quite subtle but effective because it's a good 'filler', you may not notice it when it's there, but like in the first draft, when it's not there, it looks a little more empty and unfinished.

-I also used a second picture i found myself. These enhance the edginess and dark style we have.

Analysis

Typography-Five types of fonts used, one for the main title, one for the subtitle/quote/splatter text, one for the 'Comic Corp.' logo and the rest all have the same, simple times new Roman for it to be readable.

Titles-

A subtitle for the text block. Details.-

More info relating to magazine above the 'turn over' box at the bottom.Images/ photos-There are three on each side, equal and slanted for make them more interesting

Graphics-Pictures added in the background for some filler and to make the pages look more engaging and less plain, makes it look more active and much more like pop culture material, not minimalistic. Two separate pictures added but blended together.

Layout-

It's to busy, your eyes don't know where to look. Borders for the text block to keep everything organised. A faint gutter added.

Draft 3

-I used the same layout but tweaked it a little to improve on it.

-There isn't much difference but for this I used paint.net, because I don't have indesign at home. It looks a little better this way.

Analysis

Logo- Top left hand corner, here I have taken on the advice my teacher gave me and taken out the white part of the 'Comic Corp.' logo and this way it stands out more and looks more interesting. It's also good to have a little variation on the logo, not drastically changing it but to make it more interesting.

Details-I have also changed the quote to something a little less vague, and the splatter text to something better as well so that when the reader is flicking through it, it will not only be eye catching but they can understand hopefully at a glance what they have there. The splatter text is to draw their attention.

Draft 4

-This hasn't been properly looked at, but i believe that we should change the colour scheme to orange and white, like the logo. It would work better in terms of design.

Analysis

Typography-Retro style fonts, related to pop culture. Four different types of fonts, one heading, one for the subtitle, one for yellow banner and one for everything else in times new Roman for readability. Same colour scheme but swapped around a little.

Logo- Logo at the top right hand corner, translucent so that it doesn't interrupt the colour scheme of the spread. White background removed. Not too visible or noticeable however.

Titles-Spread out more, this makes it more interesting for the eyes. Subtitle narrower and edgy, in contrast to the main title.

Details.-Page numbers added at the bottom of the pages for relation to the rest of the magazine, as well as the top banner. Text next to each photo for better understanding/commentary.

Images/ photos-Less pictures to create less confusion on the page, simpler, with different colour borders. Still showing the presenter, from different parts of the documentary (theory parts) still related to the documentary and better balanced.

Graphics-Repeated background pictures used in the back for fill the page more, make it interesting and more related to the focus (women). Matched one of the advertisements

Layout-Text separated to show gutter area, simpler, same colour scheme, banner writing may need to be changed to pink however. White boarder around the whole thing. Pictures slanted, running diagonally across the page.

Draft 5/6

Analysis

Just to say simply, that we went in a new direction and decided to have art on the double page spread as well as photos, and also simplifying it. The pages before were just too busy, and you couldn't really relate it to the documentary, we wanted to show women more and highlight that as much as we did in the documentary.

We also strictly kept the colour scheme red and black, but also with white, these seemed to be colours that popped up a lot in our documentary and helped create the mood we wanted.

For the title, we thought that we should name it after the documentary, because as we found out, magazines may usually do this, but no always.

Draft 7

Analysis

Then I we went for something simpler, keeping it interesting by having various fonts, having much more graphics than text, and also largely incorporating the conventions of the magazine of our choice, 'COSMOPOLITAN'.

I thought that by having her cut off a little, it would seem more exiting, as if she were about to fly off the page.

FINAL Draft

Analysis

Typography-I wanted to use different fonts, like I've seen in other magazines, but my teacher thought it best to keep it simpler, it didn't work with the one in the previous draft. I also used different fonts for the cosmopolitan magazine conventions, as they do in the regular magazine.

Logo- I wanted to put in a logo, but my teacher didn't think it worked, and I had to agree, there was no where to really place it. I would have liked to, it would link very well with the rest of the work, but wasn't really a convention of A-listing magazines, as far as I could tell. We would have liked to use SFX magazine which is what our TA actually reads, but it is not specifically an 'A-Listing' magazine which the course requires, so we had to adapt.

Titles-There is a main title and a subtitle, which is directly underneath. The main title, sticks out and is bold and whitty, highlighting the word 'her' within another word.

Details.-There are cosmopolitan magazine conventions for the date/page number/section of the magazine and also text block separator.

Graphics-One large graphic on Supergirl, making the the audience have some idea of what the article may be about, bold and eye catching, as well as simple, and it also fits the stylish magazine.

Layout-Simple and well organized, less text more images, follows cosmopolitan magazine conventions. Follows red/black colour scheme well.

News paper advertisement

Draft 1

-More colourful-Feminine but not threatening to men.-Again, 'comicy' but sending out a serious message, in tone with the production.

-Simple, bold language in a 'comic' font, but still serious.

-This is much to basic and uninformative.

Analysis

Typography-Three types of fonts, basic word fonts. Unrelated to the topic, not very comic/pop culture like.

Logo- No logo added.

Titles-One title, and a bloc of subtitle and other text, too simple.

Details.-No actual detail.

Images/ photos-No photos, one picture of Wonder Woman at the bottom, relevant, striking and inspiring pose. Quite small.

Graphics-One graphic for stylistic purposes, doesn't match the rest.

Layout-Too simple, good spread layout of text but too basic in design.

Draft 2

The documentary is about Women being treated unfairly, and there is evidence of that, but people's opinions differ, so it's about exploring that issue. That and showing, rather than talking about comics culture too.

I don't think that the text on my add can be that explicit, as on the first draft.

Here is what I had in mind, something with our logo, and the channel that produces our logo. More 4 does a lot of documentaries, so I thought this would be appropriate.

Analysis

Typography-Simple, not really relevant, readable however.

Logo- Prime logo added, creative and relevant, also back up title of logo added, not necessary but readable. Channel logo's added, very informative, conventional.

Titles-Still simple and basic, only one main title.

Details.-Gives time/channel, much more informative, also gives 'Comic Corp.' logo.

Images/ photos-same images kept of Wonder Woman, but bigger, no border, merged together with the advertisement, stands out.

Graphics-Still the same, noticeably cut off a little.

Layout-Unorganised.

Draft 3

-It was suggested that instead of having a lot of women on the page there should be only one. This looks more like a 'children's TV show advertisement', which I slightly agree with. It needs to be more mature.

-However it is about comics.

Analysis

Typography-Three types of fonts, one for the black box, one more four logo and 'Comic Corp.' logo. Retro like, matching the last double page spread. Red also, following the colour scheme.

Logo- The same, white background cant be seen. Doesn't match the colour scheme still however. More 4 logo stylised, breaking convention. Both slightly translucent.

Titles-In black text bloc, comic like and conventional, simplistic also.

Details-No specifics, just time/channel.

Images/ photos-Four comic drawn women in different poses bunched together, inspirational and varied for the meaning of the documentary. Colourful.

Graphics-Background doesn't match any colour scheme, quite wild and doesn't quite reach the pop culture tone I was looking for, too random and childlike.

Layout-Well organised, logo's at bottom corners, text well placed at the top, not obstructive, one enter picture.

Draft 4

-I've gone with zane's idea of having comic books in the picture.

-I've used the picture of a woman in the centre, which was always the original idea, but I've blurred her out in the front to give the idea of woman obscured in comics. I was worried that if i blurred the comics in the back people might not be able to tell what they were.

EBI:It's too busy, and should be a little simplified, the woman in the front shouldn't be blurred.

Analysis

Typography-

Box style for the lettering, which is quite comicy, used an orange colour scheme to match the logo. Used a different font compared to the logo to give variety. One font used mainly for this text.Logo- Black background gotten rid of, regular logo used. More 4 logo stylized in orange as a colour scheme.

Titles-One main title used as dialogue box with brackets, to make it more comic book like, colour matches the logo and stylized More 4 logo.

Details.-Time/Channel. Subtitle text in dialogue box.

Images/ photos-One woman in the centre, blurred out, doesn't look too good like this, too obscure for the eye, hair misshapen. No photo's.

Graphics-Comic books in the background, slightly confusing, they are a little too bold, possibly could be confused with actual advertisement text.

Layout-

White border, which, in hindsight, doesn't work very well. Woman in the centre, blurred out, background full of comics. Logo placement spread about, dialogue box well placed obstructive

Draft 5

-For this, I've stuck with the idea of having a woman at the centre of the add. and used Zane's idea of the comics, and also added his text and text style to the add. I've also changed the colour to orange to match the logo.

-This time I've kept the woman clear, and obscured the background a little with her hair. I've kept the comicy box style for the lettering

(art by Dustin Nguyen).

Analysis

Typography-Used Normal text that Zane used, should switch back to the retro text for better relevance. In an orange box, keeping a colour scheme.

Logo- 'Comic Corp.' logo used, white translucent background so that it's not lost in the image. Stylized More4 logo, with white background also so as that's not lost in the image, in hindsight it doesn't work that well.

Titles-Title in orange box, matches colour scheme of white writing, opposite of logo, good contrast.

Details.-Time/Channel, also used Zane's 'Apart of Women season' subtitle.

Images/ photos-Same woman used in centre, not blurred, just the hair to reveal the background, effects used to make it look more interesting. Artists signature should probably be removed.

Graphics-Comics still used in the background, not very obscured so you can see them, logo backgrounds dont work to well, something needs to be used instead of the white background.

Layout-Centre image, quite filled and simplistic, not to much on the page, matching colour scheme, pleasant to look at, logo's and text placed well, obstructive, interesting effects, some space created at the top left hand corner.

FINAL Draft

Analysis

Finally, we settled on this design, it's clearly showing the subject of our documentary, using conventions of a comic book to display the information.

It has the stylised more4 symbol and a character from one of our case studies with in the documentary.

The face was photo-shopped to take it out of the background and edited to get another obstructing object of the characters face.

The fonts used also match the ones for the double page spread and the documentary.

End of presentation~!