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1. Print Production research, experiments &
Planning

2. Double Page Spread mock up -
production Experiment CES-2019
This was the product of my first time using Adobe in Design to try and create an
article for a magazine. Prior to doing this however we had a session were our tutor
showed us how to get images of the internet and import them into photoshop to
change them to the correct resolution and scale in order to import them into
InDesign. Once we learnt how to do that as well as how to use several other text
settings and techniques in InDesign we were ready to begin creating an article. In
terms of the actual article text itself we were allowed to copy and paste some content
on the web as this was just a production experiment and would not be published
work. As this was an article about CES I tracked down several sources of information
about the event and put them into in design on the right hand side of my document. I
then experimented with how to resize and reposition some of the text so it would fit
neatly into four square segments like how many mainstream articles have there text
laid out. I then copied a design element that many articles have. Making the first
letter bigger then the rest of the text. This is called drop caps and is used to clearly
mark the start of the text and has been in use for almost two thousand years.
In terms of the font design I wanted to choose something that would be good for
representing technology as that is the focus of the CES event. I found a font called
Computerfont on www.dafont.com in the technology section which I thought was
relevant to use for a magazine about CES as it represented technology and computers.
One think I didn’t do much of was have any color in the text or have an overlaying
background image. The simple reason for this is I was still learning how to use In
Design and I was finding parts of it frustrating and confusing to use therefore I
focused on trying to produce something using the techniques I had already learned
which saved me from overcomplicating the task and taking too long on it. Defiantly for
my final version I would like to make sure I have more images in it and that is has
more visual elements to it. I would also make it a point to try and blend my images in
with the background a bit more I could perhaps achieve this by changing the
background colour or by adding an overlay image or a colour gradient.

3. Website mock up -production Experiment
CES-2019
Link to website:
https://collegewebsitetestces.weebly.com/#
This website mock up was created as a production experiment to allow me to
practice using online website creation software so I could produce my final
product when the time came. To create my website I chose to use Weebly
website creator which isn’t a very well known piece of software. The most
common one people use tends to be wix however I have used Weebly in the
past in order to create my own websites for personal projects and so I can
upload some of my portfolio work onto it. Please note that as this is merely a
production experiment it is by know means representative of the quality of the
final product. The You Tube link on the top left of this slide shows the website
and how it works on a PC web browser. It demonstrates a working web link,
scrolling through the website as well as the menu bar, embedded YouTube
videos as well as download links. It also shows the implementation of a
countdown timer on the homepage which is counting down to CES 2019 as well
as well as a photo slide show gallery on the final page which contains several
photos from CES 2018.
Unfortunately due to time constraints and to family issues meaning I missed a
lot of college sessions I didn’t get to any more pages or content to the website
as I had to move on to other elements of the project. However this gave me an
solid idea of what I want to improve therefore meaning that when it came to my
final product I knew what my goals were and were I could improve from the
previous website design. For example in my final product I did want the
background and the foreground images to blend in more with each other as
especially on the front screen the countdown timer didn’t really feel natural
against the background image.
Demo Video (no sound)
https://youtu.be/ckFH1ddHZFo

4. Website mock up -production Experiment
CES-2019
Link to website:
https://collegewebsitetestces.weebly.com/#
Another issue I had was that on the second page the design wasn’t really consistent between the
sections of the page as some sections had a large image at the top with text underneath (which was
how I wanted it to look) and some others had small images of to the left side with text along side it. I
later realized that this was due to the resolutions of the images that I had chosen and if I made them
any bigger they would appear pixelated and blurry. I therefore knew that in my final product I would
have to make sure I find the necessary images that all have a consistent resolution with each other in
order to make sure they fit correctly on the page. One thing I did manage to do however was to make
sure my website stayed true to the design philosophy of simplicity and that less is more. This is
something that was really important to me right from the very beginning as I am Dyslexic so when I
find a website with cluttered text and images that are hard to read I often find I can’t cope as its visual
overload and that renders the website and its content often useless to me. Therefore it was very
important that I stick to this design element and I believe I successfully did this and that is something a
visitor to the website will notice.

5. Production Planning, Front cover–Flat plan
This was the first flat plan I did which provided a general outline for how I
wanted my magazine to look I started by getting the logo and title bar right as
these are usually the most iconic things on a brand and as a result are therefor
usually the most eye catching element. I decided to go with the classic style of
having the title bar at the top. I liked the idea of having it appear on tabs coming
out of each side of the magazine. This is actually a design element I kept in the
final product as well as on the website as in my opinion it provided an iconic and
eye catching look when done right. To save space however I moved them closer
together in the final product.
One other feature is the banner that goes across the page diagonally that was
intended to have competition information on it however after talking to
numerous people about it I concluded that this wasn’t the type of thing someone
would usually see on a magazine of this type and that it could also distract others
from seeing the title bar first. I also realised that it didn’t have much order to it
and that things were just placed in randomly wherever I could fit them.
I decided to go back and rework it and this time produce an actual mock up of
an improved design in photoshop.

6. Production planning front cover test
This was the first test design I produced for my front cover. I took some of the elements that I came
up with in the flat plan and expanded on them. Others I reworked entirely as I realised that some
design elements that looked good on a flat plan wouldn’t translate across very well to real life. For
example the title bars are the same as they were in the flat plan. I came up with the idea of using
car wheels in the place of the letters O in the typeface. I thought this was a fun and clever visual
tweak that while small would have a big impact on the audience as they are likely to immediately
react to that with amusement in the back of their minds.
I have also added in a quote on the front page as many magazines do however I realised that usually
when magazines do this they have a quote from a specific person rather then just a made up tagline
for the magazine. As a result this design element did not make the final product. In terms of the
background image I deliberately added a grey to white colour gradient onto the page because apart
from looking simplistic and modern it also reflected the gun metal grey colouring on the Aston
Martin cars pictured on the front page. I did decide in the end that instead of having a colour
gradient having a background image would be better and look more professional as that is what
magazines tend to do. I learned from this that simplicity is good design philosophy for a website but
not for a magazine as if you do that it tends to make the magazine look boring and uninteresting. It
can also make it look unsophisticated and basic especially if you have bright colours and clearly
defined black lines as I did on this design as it looks like something a child would make in MS-Paint.
Another thing I quickly realized is that I couldn’t use Daniel Craig's image on the magazine or
fictionalise an interview with him as there is likely a law against that so I decided I would create an
interview with a made up person and find a stock image of someone and use that instead.

7. Production Planning –Article
Flat plan This was the flat plan mock up I made in advance of me
making my final article so I could get an idea of how I
wanted the final product to look. Surprisingly this design
didn’t really change at all from this mock up to my final
design. I think this is likely due to the fact that creating a
article in In Design with the way we had the software set
up was very self explanatory as you could just follow ideas
and conventions that many other magazines use to create
ours. For example many articles have the title at the top,
then an image below them and then the text laid out in
neat squares on the next page. Not all articles follow this
design element but it is very common. This in my opinion
differs from making a front cover as when you are doing
that you have to try out many different designs, fonts,
image placements in order to create something that
works for your topic were as articles are usually laid out
very similarly to each other.

8. Website plan
This is my basic plan for my website which I started from. I found it
easier to draw it out and scan in rather then doing it digitally on the
computer. The simple reason for this is I had never done a website plan
before and I didn’t really know what I was doing. After some research
however I concluded that all I needed to do was list the pages on the
website and the content that would be on those pages. I then realised
how useful doing something like that actually would be as it would allow
me to almost have a checklist of things that I needed to include on my
website. One thing I would have liked to do would have been to produce
a more complex website plan and as a result a bigger website however
having missed some college sessions due to family matters I was
struggling with time constraints as well as running out of ideas. If I did
have more time however I would likely have included a comments and
reviews section as well as trying to find a way to implement some sort of
discussions forum for fans of the magazine to talk to each other in. I also
was planning to add a twitter feed from the writers and I did find a way
to do that however that would involve me creating a fake twitter
account and building up a profile which would have taken too long and
is likely in violation of twitters terms and conditions agreement.

9. Production Schedule
This was supposed to be an outline of when we were supposed to do certain
segments of this rotation. Unfortunately I had to do a lot of my work in my own
time whenever I could as well as after the rotation had ended as I had missed a
significant amount of time on this rotation due to some family matters that
required my attention meaning I was unable to come to college for a while. I
did try to keep to this schedule whenever I could though either from working
from home or from when I was able to come into college and work as normal.

10. Final Products
Website: https://clutchcontrol.weebly.com/

11. Final Products
Final Front Cover
Version 2Version 1