Final Designs

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Final Layouts

Cover Idea 2

Cover Idea 1

Contents page

In my final layouts I also added a spread for my long feature (Steam in the London Underground), in which I wanted to implement the social aspects of the railway life/ workers. This can be seen in the images I used; one from the late 1800s displaying the workers building the underground, and the other showing the organisers and workers, who worked on the 150 years celebrations.

Final Covers

Cover Idea 1

Cover Idea 2

In my original designs for the cover I produced this vintage poster style, however I thought that a full scale image might be more appropriate, as the margins on my previous design were very small and it didn’t really connect well with the rest of the magazine. Also I needed to incorporiate my masthead, and I thought that the dark blue contrasted well with the greyscale of the image.

Developed Layouts

Layout 2

I played around with perspective in the text and images. Thinking about the shapes I could make, for example, the text clouds I produced on one of my short feature spreads. I also thought about how I could separate content on my news spread, thinking about train tracks, by separating information into columns. However, when creating the spread for the contents pages, I felt that the fold out might be an unnecessary feature, as it would thicken the magazine awkwardly and I found it difficult to make the spread flow effectively.

Layout 3

I wanted to unify the spreads more effectively, in which I placed this blue bar (logo/ colour scheme) at the bottom of the pages to run through the magazine. I used the small dots for my page numbers, as I thought they could represent stops on a train map. Also, I decided to use the colours from my contents page image, at the top of the different articles, to show whether it was news (light blue), or a feature (green) with a vertical line at the end, used as a stop point. I thought that all of these aspects made the magazine more coherent, as the spreads were easily able to link from one to another.

Spread

Cover Ideas

Research and Inspiration

I looked at vintage style posters, as I thought that they would enhance the nostalgic edge I wanted to produce. I collected two British Rail posters, as well as some work from the artist Andy Tuohy, which I thought incorporated the vector styling from the posters.

Andy Tuohy – Ramsgate

Tuohy – Golden Arrow

Cover Idea 1 – Vector Collage

I looked at producing a vector based collage design for my covers, showing the evolution of steam through the early 20th century, which would reflect on the posters above. However after I had collected the images in photoshop and began to create the vector in illustrator, I realised how time consuming it would take to produce. I didn’t want to rush the designs or sacrifice time on developing the spreads within the magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover Idea 2 – Train Silhouette

I experimented with the idea of perspective, in considering a more abstract route to take. Ho0wever I wasn’t sure how appealing this would be to an audience, and don’t think it reflected on my nostalgia concept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover Idea 3 –Vintage Photo Poster

After thinking about the research posters again I thought about producing a cover in a similar style, in terms of layout. I thought that the grainy, black and white imagery could really enhance the nostalgic edge and would appeal to the audience.

Initial Layouts

Initial Content Spreads:

Within these designs, I considered producing a fold out, from the magazine, which would have the content map, and images of  trains on the back. I thought that the fold out could enhance the idea of the map as a kind of guide.

Layout 1:

I experimented with ideas about perspective within these designs. Thinking about tunnels and bridges to enforce the idea of the reader going on a journey through the magazine. It was interesting to see how I could manipulate images and text to communicate this, but at the moment the spreads look unorganised and there needs to be more flow, within the magazine.

Map Research

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I became interested in thinking about navigation within my magazine, as it relates strongly to the idea of communicating a journey. I started looking at train maps, from older underground maps to british rail. I thought that I could use them as inspiration to produce a map  for my contents pages, as well as something, which can show you moving through the magazine, on a continuous journey.