Development Diary

Double-page Spread

Unlike the front cover and the contents page, the dimensions of the double-page spread had to be altered slightly as the width would equal to double the amount, so, when I opened a new blank document I kept the length the same, but doubled the width to 420mm.

Along with the ruler tool which I used for the previous two documents, I also used the line tool to draw a thin line exactly down the centre of the page as a guide for myself to indicate where the fold would normally be in a magazine. None of my featured text should be place along this guideline as in a real scenario, the audience would not be able to read what it says properly.

Like I did with my contents page, I used the eyedropper tool and the bucket tool to select the colour of the background I used for the contents page and apply it to the double-page spread for consistency. The magazine would look unprofessional if each page was a completely different colour.

I then went back to use the line tool again, this time in black, to draw in the two lines on the page like on my contents page to position the gutter spaces. It also added continuity and consistency to my overall magazine design.

I also replicated the information I placed on my contents page, using the text tool again. However, as I want the audience to be able to interact more with the magazine, I included the addresses of the magazine’s Twitter and Facebook pages at the bottom as this particular article required comments and questions from the readers.

After the main layout was applied, I couldn’t add anything else to the page until I had put the main image in, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to gauge where the rest of the features such as the body copy and the by-line would go. Like my mock-up design, I wanted an image that would stretch across the entire width of the double-page spread. To do so with the images that I had, I had to duplicate the layer and rotate it to make it seem like one long image, otherwise, simply stretching the image made it look all disproportional. Also, because of the weather I was unable to do a photo-shoot with my model in the field like I had planned, so I created my main image using two different images.

I opened the background image (the field/forest) in a new document on Photoshop. I then duplicated it and flipped the image and placed both layers side-by-side.

I then flattened all the layers in the document and then using the crop tool I cut out just the image from the background.

I then opened my chosen image from my photo-shoot with my model in a new document. I chose an image with my model sitting down to make the final image look more realistic.

Like all of the other photos I have used in my magazine, I changed the levels and the curves to enhance the image’s quality.

I then used the magnetic lasso tool to select around the main image, cutting away the background. Where I would normally have then used the mask tool to neaten the selection, my personal version of Photoshop was too old to have that feature, so I used a soft eraser brush neaten up the edges of my selection.

I then copied the selected image and pasted it onto the previous image of the forest background. I then flipped the layer so that my model was sitting in the corner of the image facing the inside of the page rather than the page’s edges.

Before I could merge the layers into one final image, I applied a simple drop shadow behind just the layer with my model in to make the image look more realistic.

Once I was happy with the image overall, I merged the layers into one final image.

To give the image a summery glow to it, I applied a lens flare to the image to add to the verisimilitude of the overall feel of the image. Realistically, on a sunny day, the lens flare would have been produced naturally.

This technique allows you to apply a variety of different types of lens flares to the image, experimenting with position and the brightness. I made it quite bright to enhance the ‘sunniness’ of the image and I also placed it just above the trees to give the effect of the sun appearing just above them.

I also applied the same photo filter to the image like I had done with all of the other images in my magazine to continue the summer effect that I wanted to portray.

I then saved my image as a separate document, then pasted the image back into my double-page spread document. Now that the image was in place, I could apply the text to the sections I had planned in my skeleton. I started with the title, using the same font, Rainfall, as both the titles in my contents page and my front cover, to ensure consistency. I made the first word of the title big, placing it with the top line cutting straight through the middle again, but to emphasise on the word ‘Robyn’ I made it a lot bigger, overlapping with the image slightly to ensure it was the first thing readers would notice. I then decided that the image was

too bold and distracting on the page, so I decreased the opacity of the layer to reduce the saturation slightly.

Then, using both the rectangle and the ellipse shape tools, I drew a black rectangle for the image’s caption,

and a black circle for a small fact box. I then reduced the opacity of both shapes so that you could just see

the image behind it. The fact box was new to my design as I felt that I wanted to give an exact reading

to the audience as to what songs my artist would play in a gig, which links to the content in my body copy. Then, to add to the continuity, I used both the text tool and the line tool to add in the content to both

shapes, using a white font instead to contrast with the darkness of the shapes and make reading the text

easier.

Still on the text tool, I used a white Rainfall font to write the stand first and the by line, on the far right-hand-side of the image. I used the same technique of the line tool to separate the stand first from the by line. I chose to place both pieces of information on top of the image so that I had more room underneath the image for the body copy. The stand first has to entice the audience to read the full article, so I tried to keep it quite short whilst also giving the readers a hint as to what they can read about. Now that the top half of the page was complete, I decided

that the image looked to plain and wasn’t interesting enough. I decided to take another image from the photo

shoot and layer it underneath the text, but reduce the opacity so you could still see the original image. I opened

the image, used the magic wand tool to quickly remove the majority of the image’s background, and then I lowered the

opacity of the layer.

I then set to writing the main article for the page. I used Microsoft Word to write out the article first, as this allowed me to check the spelling and grammar properly before pasting it into the magazine. Then, I began to draw out text boxes on the double-page spread, opting

for three thin columns on each side of the middle parting, because this is what magazines typically use in the industry. I wanted to use a completely different font for the body copy, unlike in my mock-ups when I used the same font for my coverlines. Most magazines have a maximum of three different fonts throughout the entire magazine, which is why I was allowed to introduce a new font at this stage in the production process.

To make reading easy, I chose a very simple font, and most magazines use a serif font. I chose a font called Apple Garamond for the body copy, and kept it to size 11, as this is usually the maximum size a magazine will use for their body copy. I also used black as this stood out well from my pale background. I then began to copy the text from the Word document in sections into my double-page spread.

Once the body copy was in place, I used the shift key to move the first four lines across a bit more, to make room for the drop cap. Making a separate text box, I changed the font size, making it big enough for a single letter to fill the space.

Just past half-way in the body copy, I then moved the lines down a few to

make room for the pull quote. The pull quote was going to be a short snippet of some of the speech present in the body

copy.

Using the same font I used for the stand first and the title, I drew a separate text box in the space for the pull quote, writing a short phrase that would entice the readers into reading the full article, but would not give away too much information. To make the pull quote stand out all the more, I wrote the snippet of text inside a pair of brackets, as they gave a nice, interesting frame around the text.

The last feature I had to put in was the end blob, and the information to go with it. To create the end blob, I drew a small black square using the

rectangular shape tool, and then on a new layer directly above it, I used a text box to write two small arrow symbols inside. I then applied a simple

drop shadow to the symbol to make it appear as if it was coming out of the page.

Then, just underneath where the body copy finished, I added a few small sentences to elaborate on the text and to summarise the story. I also used this to talk to the audience directly and to tell them that they can read more about the feature artist, Robyn, on the following pages, like I had planned in my flat plan. For these pieces of information, I kept the font style the same, but made it bold to make it stand out from the rest of the text.