The Brief:
Develop a concept for a new independent magazine: Margin, Crux or Outpost.

Part A:
Design a masthead and cover for the magazine
Part B:
Feature article on the theme of 'exposure'

• 250mm height x 202mm width trimmed page size
• 4 images
• 600 words

​Margin: The edge or border of something; an amount by which something is won.
Crux: The decisive or most important point at issue.
Outpost: An isolated or remote branch of something.
​

Research 

This research can also be used for GRAP5060.

Range of spreads from Pinterest.​ I really liked the bold sans serif fonts used across the double page spreads. 

I created some quick thumbnails of spreads I found online to get a better idea of layout and how this can influence my own design.
​

The Article

Benefits of exercise on mental health

Why people don't exercise despite knowing its benefits 

General Front Covers

​Front Covers - Sport Focused

I started looking at fitness and wellness magazines and hated the imagery that comes along with it. My article is about the benefits of exercise and I don't want to scare people away from reading it because of the front cover being full of muscles and sweat. It did give me some inspiration for the masthead however. 
​

Generating the Assets

AI Experiments 

I experimented with AI to generate some images but you can still clearly tell they are AI. It was an interesting test but I will be finding other sourced images instead. 
​

Online Images

Thumbnails

Basic Splash Layout Testers

9 Column

4 Column

With the Addition of Image

​Front Cover

Looked like an athletics magazine.

Didn't hate but struggled to find images similar to keep the style going.

Didn't dislike but still too much like a fitness magazine. 

Cycling magazine was not what I was going for.

Favourite out of this round of designs, could work without looking like fitness is. being shoved in the viewers face.

I tried working with the images I had collected and wasn't really getting anywhere. They looked more like the fitness magazines I researched which is not what I wanted to create.

Back to AI

I went back to generating images and found this style that looked quite effective. It gives off the calmer, more welcoming message I wanted. 
​

Feedback

After having a chat about the magazine so far, we agreed it wasn't overly effective and I wasn't getting the right style for it. I need to go back into my research and find a different style for the images used while maintaining focus on typography.
​

New Images

I found the style of blurry images that I thought could work well with the concept of diving into the brain and why it thinks the way it does. 
​

www.instagram.com/sorenselleslagh/

Found this artist on Instagram who had a lot of illustrations of exercise in a style I liked a lot.

New Splash Pages

Liked the bold text, image didn't work.
​

Same as above, images weren't correct.

New Turn Pages

Too much going on, needed different images.
​

Main layout for copy starting to work.

Front Cover

Looked like some murder/ detective magazine.

Looked like a photography magazine but I did like the blurry images.

Still not feeling it with these experiments. I don't exactly know what I want it to look like yet but I know this isn't it.

Using the Instagram Assets

Splash Pages

Everything fell into place, definitely going to take this forward.

Liked text this way, need different image. 
​

Another contender to take further, image sits well with text. 

Using ink, really liked how this turned out.

Turn Pages

Negative space held balance of the long columns of copy.

Copy easily sat in the reflection of the image above.

Looked effective after getting the ink in a place where it didn't affect clarity.

Front Cover 

Really liked this as a fun and inviting cover.

Image and text weren't working well together.

Necessary text worked well around the central image, has potential.

Loved this, contrast of the image and the yellow text was really striking.

Final 1

Final 2

Final 3

Mockups

Alterations After Feedback

Following feedback, I had minor changes to make to the tracking on the front cover and body copy size. Additionally, I changed the turn page of the final outcome to be more legible and follow theme of the splash page.