Baraka's Media Blog

Below are my final outcomes, analyses can be found on my Prezi: Baraka's Magazine Fonts used: Anton, Typo Gotika Black, GeosansLight, Typo Gotika, Corbel. Fonts used: Anton, Onyx, Elephant, Niagara Solid, Tall Films Oblique, Compacta BT, Roslindale Text. Fonts used: Anton, Compacta BT, Tall Films Expanded, Niagara Engraved, Niagara Solid, Microsoft Himalaya.  

 The contrast between my drafts and what I have now is so stark, and I can see my improvement. As someone who started out with no Photoshop experience whatsoever, learning on the go, I'm proud of what I made, but I'm also grateful for the learning experience. There were ups and many downs in the process of making this magazine, but in the end it was so rewarding. I've faced challenges with time management (completely my responsibility), picking fonts (I have at least a hundred new ones now), and tunnel vision (I really didn't think the white border would work for my magazine, but I was pleasantly surprised once I tried the approach). I spent more time on the cover page than the rest of the magazine, because I wanted it to be perfect, and my fixation on it became a detriment to the other pages.  My technical issues played a big part in my frustration at times, my old laptop was extremely slow, even before installing Photoshop.             ...

 I took my teacher's advice and tried the Aesthetica approach, using a white border around the image, and changing the layout of the cover page. I love how it turned out, it doesn't look busy at all, and focuses on the image, but doesn't sacrifice the coverlines, as they're placed at the bottom. I went for a double contents page, because I wanted to incorporate more images into the magazine without them looking cluttered or squeezed into one page, so I used slim vertical frames in the left  to give the reader a sneak-peek at what the articles are about, without giving too much away. This makes the reader curious to know what's on the page. For the double-page spread, my primary image is of a drawing I did, since I'm the featured artist. I think the stand-alone picture with the hook-quote on it is impactful, so the rest of the spread is more subdued to balance it out. However, I'll change the article font size and write in a more continuous way, rather than a...

  Nothing's working. I think the cover looks better without cover lines, like the DAZED magazine I drew inspiration from, but I need them there for codes and conventions. The layout for the content page is alright so far, I just need a different font for it, the editor's note and a new font. I'll be honest, I have no eye whatsoever for fonts, so most of my time has been taken up choosing them. I need a clearer picture for my double-page spread (I'll probably need a different font again). In all honesty, this entire process has been disheartening. I've spent way more time than I thought I would on things that I thought were fine, but needed to be changed due to feedback. I don't mind the feedback, it's been helpful, but I just feel like I've been doing everything wrong. I have a newfound respect for graphic designers, this stuff is complicated.

  Using the same lighting from the previous shoot, I tried to recreate the "DAZED" magazine photo (above), to create a more striking image. I'll change the brightness and contrast to give it more punch, but I think it's a pretty good attempt. (Some other photos from the shoot)

 Got a new laptop, and got Photoshop on it so I transferred my work, I'm working on format for the contents page and double-page spread. Pictures for these pages will be taken tomorrow.