Questionnaire.

Constructive Criticism 

Questionnaire 

After producing a digital version of my magazine (here) I decided to produce another questionnaire on Google Forms asking questions regarding my magazine. They included:

• Would you purchase the magazine?
• What's your favourite page?
• What are your thoughts on the articles?
• Do you like the overall aesthetic?
• What improvements would you make?

I decided to ask these questions as this way I will be able to gather responses that give me constructive feedback and it allows me to see what my target audience think of my product as a whole. When I receive enough responses I will be able to produce more research results and then see if my product needs any amendments.
 By showing them this online version it makes it easier for them to complete questionnaires as the youtube video can be shown on all platforms, making it easy for everyone as opposed to if I had a physical copy. 

Progression Part 2.

Layout

After completing my shoot and putting my research into practise, I decided to not just have my images placed as they were taken, but I found it interesting to layer them onto of each other to give a really interesting effect. In addition to this I put a stroke (border) on some of my pictures, whilst some had a background behind them, giving a thick border effect but with my desired pattern. Throughout the magazine there are some images that have plain white marble in the background, this also helps link together my articles! As well as this I have added a lavender- coloured rectangle, with the opacity turned down, on some pages as this helps tie in all the colours and again, the articles. This isn't something that is 'really obvious' however the subtle addition to the magazine, in my opinion, makes it all merge better together!

Here is an example of when I layered a yellow image with a black and white image. Having one ayer above the other really changes the over all view of the image as I have shown here. Adjusting the opacity is also interesting as you are able to pick what the audience focus on more.

 

In this image, the black and white photograph is placed in front of the coloured image, this however didn't give the desired effect I wanted. I initially did this idea as it allows me to merge two image I like together but won't include, and it makes you look twice at an image!

Secondly I tried swapping the layers, therefore putting the black and white image to the back and lowering the opacity of the yellow themed photo. For me I think it blended better together and gave the finished effect I wanted. The blue lines you can see were just ruler marks I used when creating my magazine in photoshop, it allowed me to see the centre of the pages and therefore place my articles and images in the best place. 

InDesign

I created a new document, 16 pages long, with a bleed of 3mm all around. Once I had completed the pages on photoshop I inserted them to Indesign. At first I tried inserting the photoshop document, this however made the text very pixilated, so I therefore exported them as a PNG file, this resulted in the pages being at the correct quality. Below shows a screenshot of some of the pages and how they look in the application.
 One thing I did notice was that in photoshop I created some of the pages leaving a thick border around the outside, and some -like the contents page- was filled to the edges of the page. I quite liked how the image for the contents page fitted. The backdrop allowed me to have the text of what my magazine entailed without having it look too blank! In addition to this I decided to have the full double page spreads without borders as this looked better than when I had the borders around the outside.
When placing my files I actually changed two pages around, this was because when I was able to view it the colours seemed to go in blocks (lots of blue then to yellow,back to blue...) and I wanted them to flow together so it matched up. As predicted my layout did change in comparison to my flat lay plan as when reviewing the images I thought it was aesthetically better the way I have done it.

Review

In regards to progression, I have decided to produce another questionnaire before my final questionnaire, one to collect (mainly) constructive criticism on the digital version I produced, then one for my final printed version, asking questions regarding aesthetic, content and overall opinions.  

Digital.

Online presence

 Going back to the blog post where I discussed and evaluated the results of my primary research (here) one of the first questions I asked was 'What format do you read magazines in?' this resulted in a 50/50 as the two options were 'Digital or Print'. As shown in the previous blog post, I have decided to publish my magazine online for viewing as well as print the physical copies. This was a way for me to not only gather results for a questionnaire in a much simpler way, but also to please my target audience whom prefer reading things online!

 After my research I discovered that every fashion/photography magazine had links to social media too. What I consequently decided to do was run an Instagram account dedicated to my magazine! This way it reaches my target audience with the physical copy and digital. I decided to create an Instagram account as opposed to Facebook or Twitter because I like that my magazine is mainly photographs and that is the path in which I enjoy, therefore by using Instagram I am able to post a few photographs showing my magazine for those who will not have a physical copy. 

Thoughts

 At this point in the FMP I believe I am on track and I am happy with the progress I have made. I have taken into consideration all of my research and it has influenced my product itself as well as the delivery of it. Of course I still need to print my magazine and gather more feedback and reviews on it, however by publishing it online it allows a wider audience to easily view it on a compute or smart phone. By also creating the Instagram account it shows I have revised my research and taken the information on board in order to reach out to my audience. So far I decided to just post the three pictures as shown in the screenshot above, as it gives you the idea. 

Online & Print.

Digital Version

 After discovering multiple magazines published online, I decided to do it myself! I have just completed my magazine on Indesign (inserting my documents from photoshop) however have not yet sent it out to print, as there still could be something I wish to change! So what I decided to do was proof read it and make sure everything is in place as if it were to be sent for printing, then went to Issue.com (website mentioned in my secondary research) and created an account in order to publish my magazine. 

 I decided to do this as whilst I am waiting to send it for printing, I am able to create questionnaires and surveys about my product, by having an online and digital version to view it makes it easier for me to send the questionnaires out as physical copy isn't needed. In addition to this I can ask questions such as 'what would you improve' and ask for constructive criticism towards the magazine, then I can then alter it -if I wish too- to make it better, before sending it off to be printed!

 You can view my magazine HERE and in the short video below which gives a preview.
This is also really useful because it allows me to see what works and doesn't work, for example with placing the files, by viewing it this way I can see what I would change for when I send it to print, and it also allows me to get my target audience and peers to view it, and give feedback on the product!

         

Editing Progression.

Editing Progression

 In regards to editing my magazine together, I decided to ensure I had chosen all my images and edited them. As previously discussed I then went onto Photoshop and opened up an A3 document, separating the page down the centre and adding different rules and marks to show me the middle of the page etc. This was really helpful as it gave me good guidelines and sense of scale when creating things such as titles etc. 

 Initially I had difficulty selecting images as some, for example, have a really strong yellow source of light, others with really intense blue, the the natural and yellow/white lights. I found it easier to separate them into colours, that way I could try and distribute them evenly so I have a good mix of them all. As my front cover and contents page used pictures with very intense blue/purple lighting, I then found it hard to make the next pages look right and 'in place'. So I decided to use the 'picker' and select a colour with hints of purple and blue, thinking that I could use this as a constant background colour so that everything will link together, however when I did my First Print Trial I realised that it looked unprofessional and the wrong direction. So after seeing this I wanted to edit all the pages again, this time with a white background and more structure to it. So to do this I filled the background with white, as it initially was, then adding some shapes and altering the opacity, placing them behind text and images etc. I also wanted to leave a larger boarder than I had initially planned. 

 Another problem that occurred to me was that because I took a large majority of the photos on a tripod, the orientation makes it difficult for me to place them where I want, without them being cut off at vital parts in the crease of the double pages for example. So because of this I may need to alter my flat lay plan and have the images cross over each other, which isn't a problem just something I need to rectify.  

First Print Trial.

Print

 After using Photoshop and successfully altering my layout of my magazine, I decided to print off two pages to see what they would look like. Upon review I noticed a lot of things I want to change. For example the colour of the pages in particular. I thought that by having the background of the pages a light blue colour, it would make the images blend better, however this ended up looking tacky. The colours mixed with images makes the page look really unprofessional and the complete opposite of the direction I wanted to head in. 

 I am very happy I decided to print my pages as I now discovered multiple points, as mentioned above. I decided to write on the pages to show what I want to change, this is something I a currently doing in photoshop, before I go on to InDesign and try it there, as after all that is the application in which I will be using to create my magazine in! 

 Above shows one of my articles and my rough edit. The things I did like was the layout of the title and that the colours are 'swapped' around when the text enters the image, this is something I want to do and will keep. However the background colour, the text itself (centred) is something I didn't like. I also discovered that by having '17' in the corner of every page, initially was a really good idea, however could be mistaken for page numbers and could cause confusion! After noticing this I have decided to have it only on the front cover, showing the year of issue. In addition to this I also want to see what a black border looks likes around my pages, this isn't something I was going to have, however it is something I want to experiment with, as it could bring everything together and make it look more professional.

Next I printed off a double page spread in which contains one image, layered 3 times, each time having a different filter/colour effect on. This gives a really interesting '3D' type effect and adds more interest and depth to the original image, which is why I thought it would be interesting to have it as one of my double page spreads. As I have said before I want my magazine to be very photography based, therefore by having a double page spread to be a manipulated photograph I think it portrays the fact it is a creative magazine. It takes it from what some would say is a 'normal' photograph and makes you look twice!

 To conclude, I believed that by printing out a few pages of my unfinished magazine that it would give me a better vision of what the final product will look like, and it has most certainly done that! Of course I decided to print with normal paper and A4 size as this was all I had access too, so the scale is slightly off, however it still works. I was able to discover the things that don't work when printed and things that can be altered. Another alteration I will make is on the layered images, this being that I want to adjust the opacity and lighten one of them up so it isn't as dark and the colours are able to come through more clearly than they do on the version above. This part of the process has linked up to my research and experimentation, that being because it has allowed me to constantly give myself feedback and change my product. I am able to view my product along the journey and pick out what works and could work better. This has been really helpful and I am glad that I have printed and edited this page, this is most definitely something I want to do when I have the full draft of my magazine done and before I send it off to professional printing. 

Production Progression.

Progression

After I had done my photoshoot as discussed in the Behind The Scenes blog, I was able to upload the photos and select the ones I want to use for my magazine. For me, this meant getting a collection of pictures with different angles, outfits, lighting and more! I didn't want to use too many pictures that looked similar, as although I notice a difference, readers may not. So once I had chosen through, I kept around 25 ( give or take, as I chose the same picture to layer over itself...). Next I went to Lightroom and edited the pictures, this meant me adjusting the exposure, temperature, highlights and more. I also used the spot healing tool, and brush tool, this was to smoothen skin and adjust the colour.

 When I had selected my images, I needed to chose the front cover image, this was very difficult. So to help decide I went into photoshop and selected 3 images I liked, and did another mock up cover like in previous blog posts. I then went to Lightroom to edit these 4 images and put them back into Photoshop to see the final product: 

This is the first image I looked at as initially I liked the subtle lighting and thought once I edited it to be brighter it would look really good, however to lighten the image enough to make it look better, it meant enhancing the colours so much that it didn't look how I wanted it too. SO I made the decision to keep this image for a 'backup' image for the inside as it would look nice inside.

Secondly I chose this image as I thought the 'triangle blue' light would add interest and appeal, especially for a cover. However I noticed that because I put a clear sheet infant of the lease to achieve this, the image itself doesn't look as crisp clear as the others, therefore when enlarged to the size of A4 the quality worsened. I did however go on and edit this image to bring out more of the blue colour, but decided this would look a lot nice on the inside with text around it!

Lastly I chose this image, I really liked the angle of the model and the subtle lighting that when enhanced looked even better. The only issue with this and the first image I showed, the title doesn't look complete, so I will need to figure out a stroke colour and or positioning that will best show the title and picture. 

Personally, I liked making the mock covers and pages because it gives me a real idea of what the image looks like when enlarged, and whether it would suit to be smaller, surrounded by text and more. That's why although the pre production of experimentation has taken place, I will still continue to experiment with my work as that way I can view how it will look when printed. 

 So after I had played around with the cover image I went on to edit all the images I intend to use for the inside of my magazine. I decided to chose more images than I need as this way when I am creating my final product I have room to change things up if I think a certain image doesn't look good/ or another one would suit it better! Again for this process I used Lightroom, changing the colours and tint to accentuate the lighting etc. I will not be adding too many more screenshots of my images as I think it will be nice to see the final images when it is printed! However I did want to discuss that I didn't always make the lighting more intense, I did change the colour of an image which  originally was like a yellow filter:

As you can see the image was slightly dark and yellow initially, so I needed to adjust the exposure and highlights. After editing this image I did realise it was one of my least favourites as when I had one all the adjusting it didn't look how I wanted it too. Despite this I wanted to show the screenshots to show my progression within the production of my magazine and that not everything did work out!

As you can tell, I didn't use as intense lighting as I did when it came to my test shoots! Therefore the front cover image is not as intense as you would have seen previously, this was a choice of mine because although I really liked the way the test shots turned out, I think the images above subtly show  the path in which I want the magazine to go. In addition to this point, the inside images are a mixture of intense lighting and layering, with more subtle lighting images. This being that although I want this magazine to be very photography based, it also contains articles regarding the fashion itself so thought I would show the clothing the model wears when there isn't a bright blue reflecting on it!

  

BTS - Production.

The Shoot

 Once I had completed all the necessary research and experiments to allow me to gain knowledge and grow my product, I was then able to complete my final photoshoot! As explained previously this was done in the studio in college, using a backdrop, two lights, the camera, tripod and various sheets of colour to give me the desired effects. 

 Upon reviewing my experiments with lighting, I knew I needed to get a variety of shots, both with the lights adjusted, and with normal lighting for a more 'natural' photograph. In addition to this I did however still want to have that intense light source, but due to setting up the white back drop, I wasn't able to bring the lights as close the the model as I did in the test shoot when it was just against the plain black wall. This caused a minor issue, as of course it wasn't as intense as I had hoped, despite this I continued on, getting shots with and without the coloured sheets draped over the lights. 

 This was't something I was too concerned about as in my test shoots I discovered when trying to adjust the ISO that intact when I changed the shutter speed it gave a really interesting outcome. With such intense light source coming from the left & right, it really added depth to my image, so I did show these in my blog, and decided that if I wanted too I could actually use them for my final product. I understand however these were test shots but as the test shoot went on I was able to be more confident, therefore producing the pictures in which I intend to over lay for a spread in my magazine!

 So during the shoot I got my model to bring at least 3 different 'outfits' in order to give variety in the shots, and I got a mixture of portrait and landscape, as this would give me more options when it came to the final layout of my magazine. I was able to complete my whole shoot in one day, taking over 200 pictures in which I only needed about 15/16. This is something that was interesting to chose and go through the process. I took that many as at the beginning it took a while for me to get the lighting I wanted and was happy with, I took lots of shots from different angles again to give me variety. The issue with taking so many means that a lot of time is spent going through the pictures and picking out the best ones to use, on the other hand the good thing mean that I also have a large variety of pictures to choose from. It also was good because I didn't want to settle for 'ok' lighting and angles, I wanted to ensure I got it perfect, this meant fiddling around with the settings such as ISO, the positioning of lights and the tripod and more!

 After getting a few shots on the tripod I decided to take it off as it allowed me to really move around more and get the different angles I wanted. The difficulty I also came across was the shadow that was casted when I was close to the model. I wanted to capture her shadow, as well as her and the background, this was difficult as the back drop was initially larger, but due to the positioning of lights there wasn't much I was able to do! I however got over this factor quickly and just found the perfect angles in which showed all of the above that I wanted.
 Something I however would change or rectify if time allowed me to, was to get some shots sitting on a chair / stool. This was something I thought about AFTER looking through them all, it would have added some real interest for a front cover, rather than the 'typical' head shot. This is defiantly something I will consider if/when I do a photo shoot or project like this again! 

Progression.

Time Management 

 At the very beginning of this task I produced two separate spread sheets in which separated every piece of work I wanted to complete in order to fulfil the brief, along side with the assessment deadlines. By doing so it enabled me to stay on track and help me in regards to the blogs specifically. After checking these spreadsheets it reminded me to be constantly evaluating my work and how far it has come! As assessing and reviewing is such a massive part of this project I have ensured that after every test and experiment I explained what was good, useful, what I will take from it, what wasn't so good and more. This way it gave a good summary to look back on, it showed how far I have come in terms of creativity and the production of my magazine.

 I found that I happily stuck to my pre production plan and could fill that in on time, I also have had all the assessments completed before the due dates as personally, that then allows me an extra few days to go over the work I completed and make it the best it can be! The production for my final major project has just been completed, as I thought by doing the photoshoot on the last few days of term before easter, it would give me the time and space to edit the pictures, write my articles and do anything extra I wanted to do. As I had completed all the assignments (1&2) prior to the shoot it also meant that I was well on schedule.

 I think my performance, personally, has been well documented, both within these blogs and my screen cast in which shows the collection of work I have created for the individual assignments. To be better I could have done some more 'progression posts' as I feel my blog lacks of them. I have on the other hand ensured - as said before- to always summarise, compare and discuss the outcome of everything I have done, however in regards to time management and discussing dates this wasn't something I focused on largely. 

 With the work in which I have produced I am very happy with the outcome of it all. My research in particular is something that kept expanding, as I discussed and explained my hopes for the magazine, it led me onto different websites and magazines to view, this really opened my eyes to the industry and the amount of work that is put in. I produced a lot more research that I had initially planned to do as I found this was necessary (personally) and luckily it has all come into use. The most useful secondary research I did was researching layout and looking at the issue.com website, this being that they have such a large variety of magazines I was able to find magazines that had the type of layout and aesthetic I want to achieve and it really helped me to produce my layout, which of course further helps me decided the types of images in which I will use!
 The most useful primary research I did was the questionnaire, this being because I was able to get genuine responses from my target audience that told me the content I should include, of course consequently driving my project to the correct direction for my age demographic. When I gathered the results it came clear to me that the majority of those who answered we female, this is something I have not yet wrote about in great depth because I believe my magazine can be unisex. I am not 'labelling' my magazine to specifically be for females or males, as the content can apply to all who like fashion. 

 To conclude, I believe that so far in my FMP by creating my own separate spreadsheet to the master brief that was provided, I was able to write in detail the things I want to do and the things I think will make my product better. I think for every individual the spreadsheets will look different, which is why it is interesting to produce one as it pushes you further to create more content. Upon reviewing my own blog I intend to 'update' you more as to how i think I am getting on in regards to the schedule and my personal progress, however for the individual and more specific review, they will be within the blog posts themselves!

Mock-Up.

Tests

 Although in previous blog posts I have experimented in regards to front pages etc, I decided to further develop my idea, by using the test shoots and producing some mock-up pages using the edited versions of them! By doing this it allowed me to review my test shots properly in regards to what I can do better, and also by using my own images as opposed to someone else's I can use my colour scheme without needing to add a lot of effects!

 The mage you can see above is three screenshots put in to one! You can see I used this image first, then layered on my text. The first issue I came across was because the light varies so much, when I went on to change the blending option on the text to 'colour dodge' it was unable to do this! To get around this I opened up a blank document and created my text on there as it allowed me to successfully use the colour dodge option and add stroke. After dragging this in, I decided to change the stroke colour to white as I feel it made it slightly easier to read and made it stand out more, as the text is almost transparent! After this I added the lighting bolts and added '17' to the bottom right, that being the year of issue! This in comparison to my experimentation is very different. In my initial mock up cover the colours are slightly lighter than I hoped (due to using images that are not my own) however I also decided to add more text to the cover, showing what is inside the magazine as well as a barcode. 

 Although I think adding text of what the magazine includes is useful for the audience, I believe it drew attention from the image and left little space on the cover, making it look slightly crowded and unprofessional, so I therefor made the decision to just include the image, name and date!

Secondly I went on to produce this cover, this included a different use of colours (green/pink) as opposed to (red/blue) as I wanted to see what this would look like on the cover! I altered the text at first to make it bold and filled in with a slight 'hue' around it, however i decided this looked too bulky, and this was without that addition of the lightning bolts! I went through the exact same process as explained above, I just believe that by producing multiple mocks it allows me to review them overtime, picking out what works and what doesn't!

This was the last cover I decided to create, again it uses a different colour light as well as different angle. I chose the three shots that used different angles and colours as it gave me enough variety to decipher what I want to do for my real thing! Again this copy does the same process, I just changed the positioning of the title to make it slightly lower, this being that when it is printed the text doesn't bleed of the pages!

 I think upon reviewing these three covers I like the first one best. I think this is because of the lights and angle. By having a slight side profile it adds more interest, in my opinion, to the cover. In addition to this the red source of light adds some colour and vibrancy to the magazine, almost linking then to the name of the magazine which is interesting. The last cover i mocked up is my least favourite as having it so face on makes it very ordinary and flat looking, as because I have decided against additional text to the cover, I consequently think the cover photo should be really interesting and unique!

After producing front pages I decided to refer back to my flat lay in which I lay a large image across two pages, and add a quote or phrase 'scattered'. This was difficult because I wanted the colours to be inverted when they over lapped the image, however it didn't turn out the way in which I had hoped. Next time I think I will separate the words into different layers, and getting rid of the fill and having the stroke colours to be inverted, this is something I will later decide as it all depends on the colour image I use, as well as the background base colour. The background colour is a dusty, grey, pink because I wanted to leave space on the page, as I have seen in other magazines as I really like that layout. I don't think the colour works particularly well, however I didn't want to go too dark, or too light, and I also wanted it to somewhat blend in to the picture and the type of lights used there!

 As previously discussed, in my test shoot I didn't take any portraits with a white backdrop and normal lighting, therefore I used all the dramatic image I had to make this mock up work. My final product will not have only dark images with a strong source of light!

 Lastly I wanted to create a double page spread. Upon doing my test shoots I really liked changing the shutter speed so that it captures movement as when using these lights I think it looks really interesting. So I used one of those images I took and layered another one on top with the shutter speed normal. I found at first they didn't blend at all and it made it look very blocky, as previous to this screen shot I chose images that had different colour lights, this however did not work and straight away didn't give the look I wanted to achieve. After positioning these images I selected the image on top, went to Blending Options > Overlay. This meant the two images lapped over each other enough to show they are separate but I though it also linked them together nicely. Lastly I added stroke to the image to give it a borderland I really liked the outcome of it! Next time I will need to be wiser with my positioning, as I don't want the images too far left or right, or too high or low!

Printing Options.

Printing

 After the majority of my research was completed and I was at the stage where I was creating mock covers etc I decided to do some research in regards to printing the final product. This ranged from places and website I can print them on, as well as paper type, thickness and more. I soon discovered a large amount of websites are either US based, or expect companies to use their sites, consequently printing thousands of copies at a time, this of course was not something I was aiming for, nor needed. In addition to this point I was also enquiring about 'foil stamping' for my front cover as I think using gold stamping for 'VOLT' would really add to the aesthetic, however I found companies in which do this expect a large scale of production, or it is very costly. So although in my research I discussed foil stamping, I no longer think that is an option.

  Therefore I narrowed the search down, looking for Uk websites, and those in which can print on a small scale, as in reality I only want a few copies! I discovered the site 'Mixam Print UK'. It allows you to make a large selection of options as to how you want your magazine printed. I decided on 5 copies to be printed ( as this gives me enough to hand in, and keep for myself), A4 size of course as I wish to keep it traditional in that sense, and 16 sides. As I have previously talked about, my magazine needs to be a multiple of 4 in order for it to work, I decided upon 16 as this allows me to include all three articles, and imagery, without it being TOO much or TOO little content. Next I decided upon 170 gsm, I want my magazine to feel 'thick' and be good quality, I think if my magazine had different content I would choose a smaller size, but due to the content and over all aim for my magazine I wish it to be on slightly thicker paper. Thirdly I chose the paper type to be uncoated, as again this is what I think will work best for my. I am aware the majority of magazines that I researched have the typical silk or gloss finish, however as I want mine to be slightly different, unique and not 'traditional' I wanted to go with uncoated. I also looked into 'natural' and 'recycled' paper, however this can only be done on large scales using this website! As well as this I came across another 'error' much like the foil stamping, this problem being that I ideal want day magazine binding to be 'Perfect (PUR)', however again can only be possible on magazines with 48 sides or larger. This is unfortunate, however I don't think it will largely effect my magazine, as a lot of the magazines you see in shops are done by staple, I was just disappointed as I am aiming for the 'higher end' look and feel. All of this can be done for under £30, therefore this is definitely a sight I will try using for my final project. 

 Prototype 

 A large part of this process also requires me to produce prototypes of my magazine, I have decided however that I will produce prototypes and print them on ordinary paper, using a normal printer. This mainly being for price and cost issues, I don't want to make multiple prototypes and get them professionally printed as this would make the price go up, and I also believe by using ordinary paper I will still be able to view my magazine and review/ assess it. By producing a prototype it allows you to see the product and what it should eventually look like, this will show me what things in the layout work, and do not work, things such as colour and text size and more. I can then edit my work and improve these details before I send it off to be professionally printed. 

Experiment Reflection.

Review so far

 So far in my project I have created a spread sheet in which contains every piece of work that I want to produce. This has enabled me to stick to a schedule firstly, as this is paramount when producing a project like this. I found out I was able to do a large portion of the pre production fairly easily, but first I produced some mind maps showing visually how I want my product to look like. It included a variety of inspirations, possibilities, colour themes and more. From doing this I was able to really specify the types of things I look for in magazines, and what from that I want to apply to my own work. From these initial small ideas I was then able to produce primary and secondary research to build and expand my idea further. This consisted of producing a questionnaire for peers to complete, the questions ranged from content, to purchases, as this would give me a good over all opinion of magazines and what my target audience prefer. I wrote more in depth about it in this blog post!

  After creating experiments such as Fonts, Editing and Test Shoots I have acquired a lot of knowledge and experience through the whole process. I researched a lot of inspiration pictures to use as a guide, and in addition to this I looked on youtube to find out how to produce text in which looks like 'neon tube lights'. This was research as well as experimentation as I wanted to find out the different ways to edit images to get the best out of them. In my test shot blog posts I inserted the finished edited pictures without using Photoshop, this was because in my editing experiments I only used photoshop, so therefore wanted some variety and decided to use Lightroom. This was an application I had not yet properly used, however I found it simple enough to work and bring out certain colours to enhance the images. These experiments were all useful for knowledge and research to add to my project, it shows the thought process and growth throughout as time has gone one. 

 By undertaking these experiments I hoped to achieve to produce the aesthetic with images I want to use. I wanted to explore the different types of font available and possible that would best fit my vision for my magazine too, which was why I thought it was useful to create a mood board of all the fonts I liked. From these experiments I was able to decide the font I will use, the way in which I will edit my images and the layout of my magazine. I briefly created a mock cover and contents page to allow me to look at what space I have to work with and how I want to place the images in comparison to text. My thoughts through the experimentation research process were that I think it was successful. I set out to discover and try new things that I can apply to my final product and that is what I completed. Research has played a massive part in the process as it has allowed my to take my small idea and grow it, adapting it to things a lot the way, such as the outcome of certain experiments, and the reality of creating the magazine with the resources, time frame etc.