Magazine Project

Magazine Design and Production I am required to plan and design a front page and 2 double

page spreads for a business to business magazine. One double page spread needs to show two separate articles and the other you need to show one article

The subject of the magazine must be an original idea that does not already exist on the market.

I will be required to show research into why I chose the topic and show research into other business to business magazines.

In addition, I will need to demonstrate pre production techniques and suitable subbing practices.

The articles I need to produce should include ◦ One Product Review◦ One Interview ◦ One In depth feature article

Design Brief

Magazine Theme

I need to come up with a number of ideas to research and develop so as to come up with a final original magazine ideas so as to give me flexibility and not get stuck into narrow-mindedness

The ideas should ideally be aimed at things I am interested in, this will allow me to keep up my pace of work and make the magazine feel more readable and show a greater level of knowledge.

The ideas I have at this stage are◦ A Private Military magazine◦ A Photography based magazine◦ An Airsoft magazine aimed at retailers

Magazine Theme ideas

Idea 1 Airsoft Magazine (image board)

These images are a selection to give a little inspiration to my ideas and provide an insight into potential magazine content and be something I can refer back to at a later stage for ideas these images are of consumer magazines this is die to there only being Airsoft magazines aimed at consumers the only thing available to retailers are magazines from manufacturers.

Idea 1 Airsoft Magazine (brain storm)

Airsoft

Gun reviews

Male based

Game site

review

Targeted images

21+

Interview with

Airsofter

Limited UK

market

Limited circulation

Broad age

groupInternational

market is large

I know lots about the subject

Magazines are advert based

Large amount of possible

content

Kit reviews

This brain storm contains my initial thoughts on the subject giving me a basis on which to start my research this is a key thing to do and could potentially be referred back to at later stages.

Interview with Airsoft retailer

I am going to talk briefly about why I chose to look at an Airsoft magazine. I chose to look at an Airsoft magazine due to it being a subject area I know lots about as

well as being a hobby I take part in. The current market for Airsoft magazines is one that is dominated by a few magazines

namely AI (Airsoft international) the magazine has the highest circulation among the genres internationally however it is a UK based magazine and its main target are those Airsofters in the UK. There are a number of magazines worldwide as highlighted in my image board but since the UK market is so restricted and that is what I am creating my magazine for I do not need to consider them in massive detail as to there impact. The magazines that are available however are aimed at consumers and not retailers and therefore gives me a huge opening into the market which is potentially rather large with there being hundreds of Airsoft shops in the UK and thousands world wide the trends in Airsoft are the same internationally therefore there will always be a market

The areas I may be able to look at are which guns to stock which accessories etc are popular, interviews with manufacturers or other shops.

The Airsoft market is incredibly male dominated so that would be where I aim my magazine with possibly some opening for a female section or female based marketing

The current age range for consumer magazines is 16-35 as this is usually the age of the people that play store owners however tend to be 25+ and are generally in social grouping C there background tend to be ex armed forces and ex skilled manual workers. An estimated income of 30k a year per store.

Idea 1 Airsoft Magazine(idea discussion)

The positives to this magazine idea is that there are none in the UK market I know this because I know a number of retailers personally.

The fact there are no magazines aimed at this area is a positive this means I have almost as much freedom as I want in terms of focus. Because of this I would probably cover a broad area making the magazine as appealing as possible to as many retailers as possible and possibly even the consumers that are interested in the business side of things of the Airsoft world

Other ways to make it original would be through choosing one area of the Airsoft industry and basing the magazine on that for equipment this would be a great area with this I could even lure in another potential target or Airsoft weapons/parts etc.

The cons of an Airsoft magazine the subject is limited making content ideas difficult to cover there are literally only 3 areas equipment guns and parts however those areas there is a fair amount to talk about each area. The fact there isn't already a b2b magazine may suggest there is no market for it.

With the subject being one that is not widely know and an already dominated market commercially this idea would be incredibly difficult to get off the ground if the subject was more widely known it would be less of an issue.

The magazine would be controlled circulation with the potential to open up into a subscription for some consumers that find out about it, income would be from sponsorships and adverts

Idea 1 Airsoft Magazine (pros and cons)

Idea 2 Photography Magazine(image board)

Idea 2 Photography magazine (brain storm)

Aim at retailers

Audience 18+

Market dominated

Male and female can be

catered for

Broad range of sub genres

Saturated market

Interview with manufacturer

Equipment review

Camera review

Photography

Specialisation into one

area

Vintage Photography

I know lots about the subject

Interviews with high end photographers

Aim at photography companies

I am going to talk briefly about why I chose to look at an photography magazine idea.

I chose to look at a Photography magazine due to it being a subject area I know lots about as well as being my job and a hobby.

The current market for Photography magazines is one that is dominated by a few large named magazines such as Professional Photographer magazine the magazine has expanded massively taking the lead with its photographer of the year award that is world renound the magazine has the highest circulation among the genre internationally however it doesn't cover any one subject in massive depth which could be where I stand to make a mark although many magazines have done this choosing a niche such as fashion photography, digital photo editing etc etc. There are a number of magazines worldwide as highlighted in my image board but the UK magazine market is saturated by photography magazines both consumer and b2b. In terms of b2b magazines many of them have made there way into the consumer market and are highly popular such as the British Journal of Photography

I have no choice but to diversify this could be by aiming my magazine at retailers of vintage cameras and equipment

The magazine could be aimed at retailers and or high end photographers or photography companies or even modelling agencies and i could tailor the magazine to advertise photography companies and modelling things to models and agencies

Idea 2 Photography Magazine (idea discussion)

The positives for a photography magazine are; I know exactly what I am talking about so the magazine would come across as knowledgeable and professional in its mannerisms.

As well as this the genre of photography can be effectively used to cover almost any subject i will be aiming it if i do this idea at photography companies so products such as cameras for use by staff and lighting equipment would be things most likely to look at.

Cons are the market is saturated and already owned by a group of huge magazines that effectively cover all of the main subject areas people are interested in as well as all the class types

The social class for this magazine would be classes A and B with an income bearing in mind they are a photography company 80-100k per year

The magazine would be both subscription and controlled circulation with the bulk of profits from adverts

Idea 2 Photography magazine (pros and cons)

Idea 3 Private Military(image board)

Idea 3 Military Magazine(brain storm)

Military

equipment:

Armour plate carriers

Weapon systems

Vehicles

Features:

Weapon reviews

Equipment reviews

Industry issues

Interview with industry professional

An article into training or different operations the industry carries out

Audience:

military personnel

Equipment suppliersCurrent operators

Companies that wish to hire private military companies

Similar produts on the market

Commercial magazines for re-enactors

British army recruitment magazine

I am going to talk briefly about why I chose to look at Military magazine idea specifically private military

I chose to look at a private military magazine due to it being a subject area I know lots about and have a few reliable contacts within the business.

There is currently not a single private military magazine that I could find on the market yet I know there is space for one with my contacts telling me this

Because there are no existing magazines already to make it appealing I would have to cover a broad range of topics.

The magazine would be almost fully aimed at men as the industry is heavily male dominated

There are magazines for armed forces however these are specific to National standing armies and not to private military users and are mostly US based.

Idea 3 Military Magazine (idea discussion)

The Pros are I know lots about the subject and have a few reliable sources in the business.

The subjects i can cover are huge and therefore allows flexibility

There is a wide interest in both the civilian world and private military world into the subject so there is the possibility of opening the magazine up to subscription and one off sales however primarily it would be controlled circulation.

The cons of the magazine is that because of the target audience are on a strange social scale vs. pay scale.

There is a limited amount of products on the market so it would have to be at a minimum of quarterly if not 6monthly magazine meaning it would have to be packed full of content and have a large reliance on advertising and sponsorship

Idea 3 Private military Magazine (pros and cons)

Looking at my ideas it seems to me the best bet would be to go for the Private military magazine as it allows me to use my contacts effectively.

Initially I thought a photography magazine would be where I would go however the market is too heavily flooded to even attempt to enter. So since I know about the industry

I have direct contact with the CEO of a military company and I have contact both indirect and direct with PMC personnel

Ability to write with first hand product knowledge and personal accounts from personnel and in terms of products I myself have first had knowledge.

I know the people that have no representation in the magazine market and from this can easily find out what they want

There is no competition as there are no other magazine either commercial or b2b that has any direct correlation so therefore it makes sense to do this.

My target audience are 25+ with an average income of £60k and are usually single. They have a difficult social group as they are technically highly skilled professionals however tend to have a low level of education So I would place them in groups B and C

Thoughts on ideas

Design Development

The task we have been set which from what I have found is very rare to find in B2B magazines is to have two 500 word articles on a double page spread and one 1000word article on a double page spread the 1000word article is something fairly common its the two 500hundreds that are rare to have together so analysing layouts where this has happened is very difficult most use a single page article then a full page advert or have a single page and 3 or 4 smaller stories on the next page so I will have to analyse that first and if i find any matching the task of course look at those I am not hopeful at doing this however

Existing page layouts

For my project I have to create a double page this page has done this rather well with the article carrying a noticeable but none intrusive headline that does not distract too much from the rest of the layout a clear stand first directly below helps this layout. The layout is a lot like many b2b magazines in the way that it is tidy and unlike consumer magazines so much easier to read many consumer magazines are aimed at people of a lower social grade i will compare B2B layouts to consumer magazines once I have looked at B2B. The images are laid out in a way as to not interrupt the flow of text only one pull quote is used. The way the images are laid out is effective and tidy they show off the products that the company they talk about is producing

Existing page layouts The plain white background

allows images to stand out and become far more punchy the magazine tends to use the colour red a lot for titles and here have used it in the main title the whole magazine follows a tight design scheme most pages show an image of the person that wrote the article this is something that I see as unrequired as the industry I am aiming my magazine at is very closed doors on identities etc so its not something that the readership would be interested in knowing. The page carries a section heading in the top left to show what part of the magazine the person is reading this allows people to easily flip through to the correct section quickly if they wish to find the page again quickly and expose the readership effectively to other pages in the section creating a balanced and fair system meaning clients/sponsors all seen as equals. The sub editing however appears to have left a number of orphans something that to me at least is very distracting and makes some sections difficult to read sub editing will have to be a high priority

This is another great example for page layouts the page is balanced in the way the images are used in the top left and the bottom and top right. The way images are used in the larger articles are highly important they highlight exactly what is going on in the article, images can be a selling point for a company visual stimulation is a huge factor in decision making for a person in this particular magazine they are highlighting the way atmosphere of the audience how they can make the arena look impressive and an insight into the quality of there work. The bottom right image is an advert for the company. Again like on the previous page I looked at there is a heading for the part of the magazine that this article is in.

Existing page layouts

Again as with the previous magazine layout the background of the article is white this seems to be a trend across b2b magazines so possibly something I should be wary of when designing my own pages. Red is used heavily for headings as with the other and both magazines are from 2 completely different publishing houses. This may be down to red being the second colour the eye sees yellow is always the first colour the eye sees however the colour yellow is difficult to read on a white background. I will be talking later about colour theory to back up what I have just said. The uniform colour scheme is easy and appealing on the eyes the large bulk of text however looks like it requires better sub editing with again many orphans and 2 words barely going on the line leaving lots of white space. Here a serif font is used the curves make the font feel more natural and give what might be seen as a relaxed feel to the title

Again using the colour red to pick out areas the writer thought as important this appears to be a pattern so something I will incorporate into my own designs. This piece is a mix of in depth article and interview an idea that I rather like adding depth to my an in depth piece and experience to the article the images here are centralised and the page appears messy so not a layout I would be following I do like the content and the fact it has been well sub edited with only one orphan in the article that I can see the image captions are bold and stand out due to the boxes they have been put in. the article again only uses one pull quote this again seems to be a popular theme throughout b2b magazines for in depth articles this may be as too many can distract from the article and can appear as too consumerist. Once again the page carries a section header on the top.

Existing page layouts

The text at the top is difficult to read as there is no framing across the top just white space. The layout has in my opinion all the right things to include just hasn't balanced the items in a proper manner with everything being all over the page making it difficult to read the reason i looked at this was as I keep saying because of what it includes. Page numbers and the name of the magazine are also another feature included on every page of all the magazines this is most likely so that if a page is taken out of a magazine it can be easily referenced for others so they know where its from which issue and which page so they themselves can read the article

This is obviously a singly article like i have previously mentioned its not next to a second article as this appears to be rare for 2 full articles to be next to each other. However this layout (the left hand page) uses what appears to be a standard layout for B2B magazines again with all the basic features that are also on the double page so the title page number section header etc again using one pull quote that sums up as much of the text as possible and draws the readers eye to read through and find it within the text the images set out form a good balance to the text making both easy to look at as separate entities. Drop caps seem to be a common feature as well this is something almost all magazines both consumer and B2B. Again a plain white background similar to that of the other pages I have looked at there is not a great deal of variety with B2B magazines with them all using almost the same design layouts many of them do not have a full time designer this may be why many magazines are the same as lots of companies will use the same designer/group of designers. The B2B style suits my own designing style with much of the text and images being in a very uniformed manner.

In contrast with what i have seen so far there is no red used in this piece maybe that is only used for the more in depth pieces to highlight main areas. This font used here for the title is sans serif it works here because it is related to slightly geeky subjects with it being the standard font of word processors etc it adds minor interest to a dull font in this case a serif font in this instance would not be the font of choice simply because of the subject serif is more related to more relaxed subjects

Existing page layouts

As you can tell this double page spread effectively places its main images that are the impact of the piece across the top of the page the end two images provide a frame for the others by being of a similar theme/nature the central images add more detail to the story the way this layout is setup similar to one of the previous layout where the images across the top can be looked at as a separate object without interference from the body of text and vice versa. The title in this layout is much bolder than the rest i have seen possible use of colour theory used here with blue being the favourite colour of the human brain attracting the eye to the title very quickly . The stand first seems rather long although this may be because of the size, within the stand first the writers name is in bold to draw attention in a subtle manner. The title uses a serif type font which seems to work well if it was a sans serif font I can imagine it would over complicate this title which works well as a simple form. Most of the double page spreads seem to have sub headings something that may be worth looking into. Again page numbers and such have been included as a standard

Existing page layouts

This front cover is simple not particularly busy however it is eye grabbing leading with one main image and the headline/tagline of the main article within the magazine and just below that is a section highlighting other features within the magazine. The title is a serif font the name of the magazine is simple and tells you straight away who it is for impact is led straight to the word Engineer through the use of low caps on the so that it is hardly noticed next below that is the tagline for the magazine advertising the fact that they are possibly “first for technology & innovation” this is then followed up by a website issue date and price. The price suggests this magazine is also available for consumers. There isn't a great deal on the front cover this suggests that B2B magazine already have there audience (possible through controlled circulation) so the likely hood is it will be read no matter what if it is placed in a prime spot in this case for engineers. The title is the most eye catching part of this image done through the use of large font and the red dot above the I this draws the eye immediately as i have previously mentioned and will discuss further because of colour theory

Here the title is obviously at the top followed by there standard tagline they use a quote from someone as a backup tagline this I can only assume changes every issue. The background image stands out well with the subjects arm reaching in front of the title showing importance and seems to relate to the headline Keys to the world... The magazine layout isn't too busy at all using 3 headlines one main and 2 small keep the clutter down as aforementioned in the previous layout B2B don't need massive amounts of detail on the front cover as they have a guaranteed readership the front cover seems to be there only to draw attention from other magazines if the issue reaches retail or if there are a number of magazines of a similar type.

Colour theory

Colour theory is a key area to look at in any form of design as there are so many issues in regards to using colour, whether these are cultural as in some cultures certain colours carry different meanings/emotions to western/ European culture or evoke certain emotional responses the designer has to consider the impact colour will have.

There are a number of definitions/areas within colour theory the main definitions/areas are; the colour wheel, this takes colour theory to its basics showing how different colours work together there are a number of colour combinations and each combination of colours works differently dependant on the context it is used within, the next is colour harmony this works alongside the colour wheel essentially this is pretty much how the colours react to each other and finally the context of how colours are used ie using colour to set a certain mood

The main theories for colour are set out so as to create a basic outline/structure for the use of colour.

The colour wheel is based on the three basic colours Red, Yellow and Blue (RGB) this has been accepted as the norm since the creation of the colour wheel in 1666 and has been used by artists and designers ever since. There are variations of this colour wheel which have developed and progressed alongside the advance of technology for example in the printing industry the colours Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Key being black and meaning it’s the key colour for creating tones)

 

Colour Theory

The colour wheel is broken down into 3 areas Primary (the base colours which are RGB) n traditional colour theory (used in paint and pigments), primary colours are the 3 base colours that cannot be created through the use of mixing other colours all colour is based on the primary colours.

Secondary colours are formed through mixing the primary colours and from there allow the development of more complex colours and tones and are Green, Orange and Purple

Tertiary colours these are the colours created by mixing a primary and secondary colour and the debate of whether a colour is blue green or green blue etc was formed. (sorry I couldn’t help but mention the silly argument over the name of a colour) The theory behind colour is incredibly important to consider it sets the mood of the work and can sway the mood of the viewer in a number of ways.

Firstly there needs to be a warm colour to draw the viewer in warm colours are more likely to attract attention than cold colours for example here the red stands out over the blue the eye is constantly drawn to the red even if we swap them round this is still the case so I need at least one warm colour on each page to drawer in the viewer and grab attention

Colour Theory continued

In 2004 a survey carried out at the Seoul International Colour exhibition showed that colour and marketing had a very common very strong relationship. I carried out my own survey to see if this was still the case and my results showed a similar correlation. Below are the results of the 2004 survey and below that are the results of my own survey.

92.6% of people questioned suggested that visual factors played most of the part in wanting to purchase a product whereas only 5.6% said that they put most importance on physical factors and that the sense of touch is important, hearing and smell highlighted as the least effective manner with only 0.9% each of people saying this was key. This suggests that my magazine needs to be visually stimulating and potentially even to draw in the second largest area by potentially using embossing to raise letters and perhaps even images themselves so as to give the minority of people something to be drawn to therefore potentially expanding my market share.

When the same people were asked to suggest the importance of colour when buying a product 84.7% of them said that colour makes up about half of their decision in whether to purchase a product or not. This suggests that i need to be incredibly careful in the way i use colour as if half of a person’s decision is based on colour then the theory of colour is one that i need to pay very close attention too.

2. Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone.Source: CCICOLOR - Institute for Colour Research. This suggests that the initial opinions of people will more or less make or break buying a product before they have even taken in the content of my product this is something that i defiantly have to address as a major issue.

3. Research by the Henley Centre suggests 73% of purchasing decisions are now made in-store. Consequently, catching the shopper's eye and conveying information effectively are critical to successful sales.

Colour theory continued

I looked briefly at 2 case studies i found that highlight the importance of colour and ther effect that it has had on the marketplace, and the way that colour has in fact revolutionised marketing within two well established companies.

1. Colour increases brand recognition by up to 80 percentSource: University of Loyola, Maryland study

2. Case Study: Heinz Heinz had massive amount of success when the released the product Heinz EZ Squirt Blastin'

Green ketchup the success came when over 10million bottle of the Ketchup was sold in 6months of the product being released Heinz had to keep their factories running 24/7 to keep up with demand the product in this first 6months generated a sales revenue of 23million dollars the highest sales increase in the company’s history the only difference with the product was the colour this along highlights the importance of colour and how it can effect companies.

3. Case Study: Apple Computer Apple is another company that has benefitted from the use of colour in their products going

from a company that was suffering massive losses and had in fact lost 1.8billion dollars in 2 years alone due to the market being dominated by other market giants to a company that now releases a new product that is snapped up by millions every few months. The method this has been done was originally done by bring about the use of colour in their products this on the iMac and IPod’s bringing individuality and choice to the consumer this stood out against the blacks and greys of the old market which has since developed with companies such as dell cashing in on the splashing of colour.  

Colour Increases Memory The following sections are extracts that I will make comments on so as to show why I have included them within

this project If a picture is worth a thousand words, a picture with natural colours may be worth a million, memory-wise.

Psychologists have documented that "living colour" does more than appeal to the senses. It also boosts memory for scenes in the natural world.

By hanging an extra "tag" of data on visual scenes, colour helps us to process and store images more efficiently than colourless (black and white) scenes, and as a result to remember them better, too.

Source: The findings were reported in the May 2002 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, published by the American Psychological Association (APA)"The Contributions of Colour to Recognition Memory for Natural Scenes," Felix A. Wichmann, Max-Planck Institut für Biologische Kybernetik and Oxford University; Lindsay T. Sharpe, Universität Tübingen and University of Newcastle; and Karl R. Gegenfurtner, Max-Plank Institut für Biologische Kybernetik and Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen; Journal of Experimental Psychology – Learning, Memory and Cognition, Vol 28. No.3., 5-May-2002

I have included this because i see it as yet another issue to assess as if a customer is in a shop and see’s my product i want them to be able to remember it as i have found just from personal experience most consumers browse and come back later to purchase something therefore i want my product in this instance my magazine to stand out against the background of the hundreds of magazines on the shelf, my aim is to use misconception to grab the readers of other magazines by using similar designs layouts fonts etc i have found as well from personal experience i take an initial glance pick up a magazine pay then look what i have purchased when i later read it and it has been on a few occasions i have picked up the wrong magazine and from this i have in fact changed from the magazines i used to read to those i read now all because the initial look of the magazine caught my eye due to remembering the layout of the magazines i used to read if that makes sense which i hope it does as by this stage talking about colour and colour theory is really starting to kill my brain.

Colour Engages and Increases Participation Ads in colour are read up to 42% more often than the same ads in black and white (as shown in study on phone

directory ads).Source: White, Jan V., Colour for Impact, Strathmoor Press, April, 1997

Essentially this is telling me to keep away from simple black and white which makes sense unless the image i use is so impacting and contrasting that it stands out against the rest of the images on the covers.

Colour Informs Colour can improve readership by 40 percent 1, learning from 55 to 78 percent 2, and comprehension by 73 percent 3.

(1)"Business Papers in Colour. Just a Shade Better", Modern Office Technology, July 1989, Vol. 34, No. 7, pp. 98-102 (2) Embry, David, "The Persuasive Properties of Colour", Marketing Communications, October 1984.(3) Johnson, Virginia, "The Power of Colour", Successful Meetings, June 1992, Vol 41, No. 7, pp. 87, 90.

Just another example on the importance of colour on this issue an example here would be a paper like the sun it will always stand out against the rest of the newspapers on a shelf due to its massive use of colours this has been a key area in their marketing campaign readership though for papers are generally down to the different class areas etc but the colours of the paper stand out more than the rest of the papers this issue links with the point below about how colour attracts attention.

Colour Attracts AttentionFrequently Cited "Facts"

 Tests indicate that a black and white image may sustain interest for less than two-thirds a second, whereas a colour image may hold the attention for two seconds or more. (A product has one-twentieth of a second to halt the customer's attention on a shelf or display.)

People cannot process every object within view at one time. Therefore, colour can be used as a tool to emphasize or de-emphasize areas.

 An American insurance company used colour to highlight key information on their invoices. As a result, they began receiving customer payments an average of 14 days earlier.

Other Research 92% Believe colour presents an image of impressive quality

90% Feel colour can assist in attracting new customers90% Believe customers remember presentations and documents better when colour is used83% Believe colour makes them appear more successful81% Think colour gives them a competitive edge76% Believe that the use of colour makes their business appear larger to clientsSource: Conducted by Xerox Corporation and International Communications Research from February 19, 2003 to March 7, 2003, margin of error of +/- 3.1%.In our current state of evolution, vision is the primary source for all our experiences. (Current marketing research has reported that approximately 80% of what we assimilate through the senses, is visual.)

Our nervous system requires input and stimulation. (Consider the effects of solitary confinement in jails.) With respect to visual input, we become bored in the absence of a variety of colours and shapes. Consequently, colour addresses one of our basic neurological needs for stimulation.

This highlights that where colour is the mind is stimulated therefore i need enough colour so as to stimulate the viewer but not too much so as to overdo it and therefore de-stimulate the viewer over stimulation is as good as no stimulation with my magazine theme however i cannot seeing that as an issue I will struggle with.

Fonts are a key area to look at as fonts can attract or scare off a viewer, fonts have to be easy enough for a viewer to read yet complex enough to be attention grabbing, the font should also

be relative to the article for example a serious article requires a font that will not belittle the seriousness yet should also be creative. I am going to limit the amount of fonts i look at as

there is such a massive variety of fonts that are similar that decisions become more and more difficult to make, a limited choice makes decisions easier and more controllable to generate

brand recognition.

STENCIL STD This font is bold and impacting easily drawing the eye the use of full capitals that the font uses makes it stand out and easy to read the font should be used for headlines only and most likely for only short sharp punchy

headlines with the added bonus its simple it’s a font that is hard to go wrong with.

Brush Script STD this font is a lot more elegant and does draw the eye it makes the viewer stop to try and read what is written i would not recommend a large bulk of txt written using this font as it can be difficult to read and put people

off so again headlines only and most likely this would work better on a larger size

Cooper Std Black this font is incredibly punchy the letters are easy to read due to each letter being clearly defined this font could be used i see potentially for both headline and the stand first this font appears to work on almost any size

due to its clarity

Times New Roman this is a very standard font used world over the main use i can see this for is the body of the story being easy to read and easily manipulated via the use of bold and italics for this such as quotes and captions some

magazines use a similar font for there front page such as TIMES Magazine

Arial Black

this is a similar font to times new roman in terms of adaptability and one that can be used in any context of headline from a serious to a relaxed headline BlackoakSTD

this font is bold easy to read but is a large font and would not be practical to use as a headline due to the fitting an example being the rest of the font examples are size 32 font this is size 26so unless i had a 2 stage

headline this isn’t much good to me.

Serifs and sans serifs are an area to look at as well with serifs using rounded or squared fonts that generally are used to highlight a more relaxed tone Bauhaus (the world famous design school) created one of the first more popular Serif fonts that is still in massive use today and is related to the art Deco movement. Sans serif usually has hooks and such on fonts and is used more formally and is the general standard font the font selection above in order are a Sans Serif then another Sans Serif then a Serif then another Sans Serif then a Serif then a sans Serif

Here are my questions for my survey I have included it in this position as i have referenced this survey in the colour theory section before anywhere else

Do you prefer visual, physical or oral stimulus? Do you find colour plays a part in decision making? What catches your eye first colour or fonts? Do you tend to make a decision on the spot or return later to make the

decision? What is your Favourite colour that is not black (as black is not a colour)? How often do you read magazines? How much would you pay for a magazine? Do you like lots of adverts for the magazines content on the front cover? What magazines do you read? Are you male or female? How old are you? Do you class yourself as a professional, student, semi professional or

amateur

Survey Questions

Survey ResultsI interviewed 20people to get the results shown below their answers will shape my magazine to how consumers want it to be

Phys-ical

Oral Visual 02468

1012

Series1

yesno

Do you find colour plays a part in decision making?

ColourFonts

on the spotcome back laternot sure

blueredyellowgreenpurple

daily

weekly

monthly

rarely

£0 to 1£1 to 2£2 to 3£3 to 4

MaleFemale

16-1819-2122-2425-2728+

novice

professional

student

semi-proffessional

These survey results are based on 20 people they show that the bulk of people follow the trends expected in terms of colour stimulation being a key factor they show that the average age of a reader is 22-24 they prefer a monthly magazine and are happy to pay slightly more for a magazine so long as they get quality in the product

This layout out would be difficult to read due to the positioning of the images force the reading to look around the whole article this makes it difficult on the eye and makes it more difficult to read. The title and stand first however seem to be in the best positions that they can be placed in. The right hand page however seems to be just about right in terms of layout it balances the layout and so it shows continuity between the pages but also highlights is a separate article possibly it may be worth switching the small picture to the opposite side so as to create a frame for the spread also providing a picture on the right of the page will draw attention as most people tend not to read every page and just flick through until something interesting catches there eye. One pull quote per page seems to be common on a B2B magazine so that is something i have attempted to do here I placed the right hand page pull quote dead centre of the text to drawer as much attention to it as possible thus creating interest for the person reading the magazine to read further. The left hand pages pull quote is placed there because it i think would be needed to break up a large body of text and also there didnt appear to be much room elsewhere to place it

With this layout I have tided up and fixed the errors I believe I made on the first one by tidying up the images on the left hand page and grouping them into one corner something i did forget to mention however on the previous layout was the positioning of page numbers and other extras. I included page numbers on the right hand page only this seems to be something that most publications do with that being the first page someone sees when going through a book/magazine etc. I also included the issue number year and month again this is something i found most B2B’s did this. What i haven't done however is the section headers although its something that every magazine seems to do it seems irrelevant very few people ever even notice this. I used the black border at the top and bottom of the pages so as to add a frame and stop the readers eyes from wandering a problem I found with white backgrounds (which is something all b2b’s seem to use) is that the eye tend to wander no matter how good the layout is so the frame traps the eyes on the page

Here I think I have got the page setup just right using the pull quotes to draw the viewer from one page to the next in a step pattern I added more pull quote boxes to make this possible and it does seem to break the space up rather well and also uses up what would otherwise be difficult space to fill I added an image box inside the title as I can assume once the text goes in there will be while space. I have also decided which page will be for which article the left hand page is for the product review this is because the four image boxes in the bottom left provide the space for a number of images for the product whereas the second page does not have the required space. The interview will be on the right hand page. The reason why i decided on one large image and one small imager for this piece is because lots of images would distract from the interview and an interview doesn't particularly require images to back it up in the same way that a product review needs to do. I opted for a plain white background as my research shows me that this is what the vast majority of B2B magazines do, this seems to be done to make it come across as more formal as well as save on printing costs and it makes things stand out better as well as looking professional the next few pages will show the development as the layout grew with the adding of txt and images.

I made a number of decisions in the building of the page, these include the size of the fonts font types colour etc.

The reason I chose red for the text of the stand first is to make it stand out i noticed in the initial stages while I was looking at colour theory and existing magazines that red was used to highlight key areas the stand first in my view is a key area as it is used to effectively sell the story. (red after yellow is the first colour to catch the viewers eye)

I chose to use size 10 minion pro font for the main article this is an industry standard which seems to work so therefore I adopted this into my work. In the stand first i used size 12 font to make a slightly bigger impact yet doing this subtly. On the pull quotes I used bold text and size 18 font to make them stand out and drawer the viewers eye pull quotes are hugely important for attention drawing.

I used for both pages a double headline one to grab attention the other to explain better about the headline this is too match the social class of my target audience where many of them having not finished education although intelligent don't always want to have to put thought into things such as a headline.

the images I selected for the product review i chose because the bottom left images show different angles of the vest and the types of armour that can be equipped inside it the top two images, the person image I chose to show how the vest looks on a person using it and the company logo i thought would be a good touch for the image next to the title showing the company and it filled the white space effectively.

The images on the interview (right hand page) I chose due to the fact they were generic and fit the theme well the top image highlighting the close protection job of most PMC’s the other showing there ability to deploy.

The page appears to me to look well balanced with the left page bottom heavy and the right page top heavy this creates a a border and b a way of separating the two articles.

The pull quotes work in the way I wanted to pull the viewer from one article to the next

The biggest problem with this layout is that there could be too many individual images and confuse the eye however the good parts to the layout are that it frame the page well allows plenty of space for text I have allowed for 2 pull quotes placing them directly in the centre of the layout to grab the attention with the way the image boxes create a frame this emphasises the pull quote boxes effectively. The title i think will as standard just sit in the top left with the stand first below it. There is a lot of wide open space on the right hand page this would pretty much be a solid block of text and be difficult for someone to read maybe a fact box could be used to fill the gap however this would then limit text space. The images would ideally all be captioned and contain images direct to the article as this is an in depth feature i have used the same page numbering and framing as i used in the previous spread to keep the magazine feeling more continuous and flowing

In this layout I addressed the previous layouts issue of large open space on the right page by using one large image across the bottom of the page possible a panoramic image this layout should allow for the 1000words to fit. The problem with this layout is the issue of find an image that is large enough to effectively cover that image box and that with the spreading the image across two pages the image would not be seen to its capacity with the centre being distorted. All in all this layout at initial stages seems good however i will try one more layout building on this design and the one before.

With this idea i intend to have one large image on the background with a low opacity ideally i will be able to find an image that has a natural bottom so rocks cars etc etc to create a natural frame to the image. I moved the pull quotes so as to break the text up better with there currently being large spaces of text that could do with being broken down as i have mentioned in the design of my other double page spread my readership isn't a highly educated group however they are intelligent but even still they will not want to read one large body of text there are very few magazines that are setup in that way even for subjects that are text heavy. Having an image in the background is slightly breaking the conventions of B2B magazines however i felt this would be an important thing to do to catch the attention of my readership the large image should ideally capture the viewer and bring them into the article the top right hand images like in previous layout ideas a hook to bring people onto the page the large image background will hopefully keep them long enough to quickly notice the pull quotes highlighting interesting areas and the stand first that tells the reader what will be discussed. This is the layout idea that I will go ahead with.

In building this layout I used a number of techniques that I have tried to some level of success in previous projects. The technique i used was to make the whole page one image but with the ability to be able to read the article without any issues while still providing something interesting and solid for the background. To do this as can be seen in the step by step I started off with one image that initially started off covering the whole page I cropped it to cover half the page and left the opacity at 100% next I added the second layer which was a more of a close-up of a PMC I lowered the opacity to allow the original image to show through this second layer I needed both layers to blend together creating a ghosting to complete the technique I created a third image layer identical to the first but this time un-cropped so as to cover the whole page this created the shown effect. With the image now in place so that the image and text did not interrupt each other I had too use the pen tool on inDesign to create an outline to place over the rocks and figure once this was done I changed the wrapping on the outline so that writing went round it. Again as with the other layout I used red writing for the stand first to draw attention. The smaller images I selected to tie in with aspects of the article such as the graph ties in with troop deployments vs. PMC deployment.

Again here i used the same font and font sizes as with the other layout to create a sense of continuity throughout the magazine.

Something I haven't talked about is my use of the number of columns per page I chose 3 this allows the text to be more easily read allowing more words per line and looks more attractive than 4 columns, the problems with 4 columns are that the sentences appear to be squashed and it restricts the development of images in the way i have created this background. 4 columns is generally for formal use with little images placement along side it or in places where pages are large enough to warrant four columns such as newspapers where pages are much larger than magazines and it allows subjects to be broken down far easier.

The empty space next to the title is there to allow the fainter image to have some impact with the persons head it hasn't worked completely due to the amount of space required for text however it does enough to stand out. The text wrapping around the image creates a more casual feel for the article which has serious undertones however the people that read the magazine tend to be very relaxed easy going people that do have of course a very serious side so the article and layout play off each other to match the wants of the reader.

The positioning of the pull quotes has helped to break the text down effectively leaving only one large section of text within the article.

The main thing i want on the front cover is a large image that takes up the full page as a background and then build on from there the image will effectively control the layout in an ideal world i would be shooting the image and have full control but sadly this is not an ideal world. For this layout i have allowed space for a large title and font to stand out this would be if the magazine was to eventually make it into the consumer market. The smaller text boxes around the title are for the tagline of the magazine the issue number and date and possibly a website. The reasoning behind a large background image is to be eye catching the text boxes and such will work around the image creating balances off balances etc to create something eye catching.

The bottom two image boxes will be of possible products or sponsorship ads

The bottom left is for a barcode and other information associated with a barcode this would be in case the magazine become popular enough to reach out to a small proportion of the commercial market or for subscription customers.

In terms of layout this is pretty much a standard B2B layout i noticed in my research there are 2 main styles one full page image with everything built on top of and around the image. What i don't like about this layout is the positioning of the items need jiggling around as they don't look in quite the right places. I shall use the basis of this design to develop further.

Here i shrunk the title realising that currently while being the only magazine of its specific kind on the market the need for a large title seems obsolete as well as this the Title of the magazine “Private Military Magazine” in a large font would take up too much space the impact would be lost as the title would have to cross two decks and a magazine title doing that looks messy and unprofessional and something that doesn't appear to be done in any magazine I have looked at. I also decided to cut down the clutter of the page so i removed the two image boxes as could not come up with a suitable enough idea as to what to include especially with my subject matter once removed i moved the barcode and associated parts of it over creating a large space on the left for an image subject such a s person that would be clear of text and images therefore creating a creating impact. Again pretty much the same principles are required here as on the previous design. The final layout depends on the image i wish to use.

This layout is the same as the last however i have shrunk the text box as i will only need 3-4 headlines that do not require a large amount of space each headline will have one short description of the piece as a bait to consumers. I moved the text box to the opposite side as i found an image were the figure is on the right rather than the left this will in fact work better as most people see the will notice the right side first its a general rule that people drift to the right of a page before reading left to right. This creates my main focus and pull the same principles as previously described apply still. The reasoning behind why i do not have the title directly at the top is due to the fact that otherwise there would be too much space below the title creating a void that would appear unnatural and unappealing to viewers.

The final design came together rather well the headlines are balanced against the barcode and fits in cosily alongside the figures head, creating an imaginary speech bubble this creates a natural ease to the cover subconsciously comforting the viewer I had to, to help fit the text in more comfortably adjust the gap between lines and letters I did this as little as possible to create as little confusion to the eye I had to make sure letters didn't start touching or lines start joining together. To emphasis the importance of each headline I had the main article a slightly larger font than the other two headlines so as to highlight it as the magazines main feature.

The use of 3 colours within the cover means that there is nothing complicated for the eye to look at and with the main colour being a warm colour (the orangey goldie colour) the eye is naturally drawn to it. The tagline for the magazine is balanced by the issue and website. The title of the magazine is tidy and clear and only uses one line similar to the headlines mentioned on the front page I had to adjust the gaps between the letters so as to fit it all together.

I chose this image because it is simple I didn't want lots of detail I wanted something that is eye catching and something that doesn't require much thinking for PMC’s armed personnel are a common and easy sight to relate too with it being a silhouette it allows the reader to place themselves in the magazine making it feel more personal to themselves.

In terms of technical aspects used in the making of the front cover I haven't done anything in particular that would make a difference i wanted a simple straight forward cover for simple straight forward people this I have achieved.