Katherine Heigl

 

Magazine Identity & Readership

My magazine “Serendipity” is inspired by females in there 20s and 30s and designed to give fashion, relationship, and health advice and celebrity interviews. The focus of the publication is to give advice in order to survive life and a magazine that is fun and relaxing. It gives tips on ordinary obstacles in life and insight that females need to make it through the month. My ideal reader would be a female college or graduate student who is into the entertainment industry, celebrating their youth, and going through the challenges of maturing into an adult.

 

Magazine Visual Identity

My magazine is based on vibrant colors and images. Images need to catch the reader’s eye and the color schemes have to complement each other and be feminine. The fonts used are bold but easy to read and use simple colors because the backdrops and pictures are usually bright and I don’t want the look of the magazine to look tacky or too overwhelming.

 

Article Visual Identity

I wanted to use Katherine Heigl for my article because I think she represents the identity of my magazine and she captures a young free look to complement the visual identity I wanted for the magazine. I wanted the article to be easy to read but bright so I used color and close up images of Heigl and fonts that were simple but bold. When designing the article I aimed to make it look classy but not boring.

 

Article Design Identity

The bright colored pictures capture the attention of the reader and I used the most colorful image in the feature spread to get the audience to read the article. The title of the feature spread is fun and I used three different fonts to get attention. The Italic Gazette gave a feminine touch but I used a bold version of Frutiger and a yellow to make the word charmed stand out and complement Heigl’s blonde hair.

I used similar colors and fonts within the jump spread so the article did not clash. The pink color of the interview questions and the drop cap are the same color as the title of the article and also derive from Heigl’s lip color. The sidebar is also a faded version of the yellow used in the word charmed.

 

Cover Headline: 

Copperplate Gothic Bold, 72/86.4, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Cover Teasers: Frutiger LT Std 95 Ultra Black, 32/38.4, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Opening Spread:

The Life of: Gazette LT Std Bold, 70/84, -18 kerning, tracking 0

Charmed: Frutiger LT Std 95 Ultra Black, 72/86.4, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Katherine: Gazette LT Std, Italic, 72/86.4, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Opening deck: Gazette LT Std, 10/12, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Jump Spread Pull Quote: Minion Pro Bold, 20/24, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Sidebar Title: Frutiger LT Std 95 Ultra Black, 20/24, metrics kerning, tracking 0

Sidebar font: Frutiger LT Std 45 light, 8.5/10.2, metrics kerning, tracking 0

 

Document Grid

I decided to use a two-column grid system because the article would be easy to read and the images I used took up more space. A three-column grid system would look crowded and a two-column grid fits the visual identity better because it gives more space. The margins were set to 3p10 because it gave room for text but also made the margins wider to create a sense of space.

 

Sources

All images were found by a Google search that took me to this website:

http://top-angels.blogspot.com/2008/06/katherine-heigl.html 

Sam MacAvoy - Magazine Project

Magazine Identity and Readership
My magazine, titled Florida Ball, is intended to be a sports magazine that focuses on high school, collegiate, and professional sports and athletes in the state of Florida. It is a relatively new magazine that is trying to cash in on the niche audience of Florida sports enthusiasts. Its primary contents are athlete profiles, game previews, and features on special sporting events. The magazine’s intended readership is primarily male between the ages of 15 to 60, but it is available for any Florida sports enthusiast.

Magazine Visual Identity
Visually I wanted this magazine to be an entertaining read, but I wanted it to portray sports seriously. Given the large demographic of the audience the magazine had to be easy to read and appealing to the eye. I am seeking a tone that mixes light-hearted entertainment with a die-hard passion for Southern sports.

Article Visual Identity
In constructing the visual identity of my article I wanted to portray Tim Tebow as unstoppable force who is going to break all sorts of records during his senior season. I did this by minimizing white space and alternating color. I believe this strategy helps give the feel that nothing gets past Tebow (minimal white space) and that he is such a versatile athlete (alternating color) as a passer and rusher.

Article Design Strategy
My design communicates my message to my audience through bold type, repetition of color, and large images. The initial impression made by the feature spread is surprise in the sense that it catches you off guard. I wanted the bold declaration of the title to reflect a Tebow stiff arm, and the callouts in the deck to foretell the future of his senior season. I chose the image I did for the feature because it shows my subject in motion and command, and his eyes lead directly to the title. The type complements the title by seeming immovable. Tebow Time is here and it is not going anywhere basically. I chose the type I did for the deck because of its readability and contrast to the title text. I use both types in my jump spread, where the title type calls attention to rest points in my story as drop caps, and the deck type is used as a pull quote. Repeating these types, as well as color and use of line, in my jump spread help to make the design look more unified.

Document Grid
For my design I decided to build a grid with six columns per page, with each column having a width of 6p8. This set up offered the flexibility I needed to make my design look cohesive as I altered between one column, two column, and three column text boxes. My margins are 5p8 on the top and 6p5 on the bottom with my left and right margins set at 3p0. These large top and bottom margins allow me to run my orange and blue stripes through the jump spread comfortably, and the short side margins give my text room to breathe without being too condensed.

Sources
Feature Spread Image: http://media.photobucket.com/image/tebow%20passing/gbabie2/2002/passing.jpg
Jump Spread Image 1:
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/100308%20/%20col_339728367.shtml
Jump Spread Image 2:
http://www.blogger.com/www.blog.newsok.com/sportsmedia/2009/01/12/sooners-lose-to-jesus

Extras
In using color in my design I wanted to keep with the primary colors of the Gator logo (blue, white, and orange). Using these colors I wanted to emphasize that Tebow is returning to the University of Florida and that these are going to be his colors for one more year. Thankfully the colors are complimentary and naturally work well together.

Katie McInerney-Magazine project

Magazine identity and readership

My magazine, entitled “gametime,” is intended for avid sports fans. The primary target audience is 18-35 year olds, but it would be able to address older fans that are able to communicate with a younger generation, as well as younger fans, such as teenagers, who are knowledgeable about sports. However, it would not be the same as other sports magazines; it would have an edgy and youthful look to it, along with a more creative layout and design, similar to that in fashion magazines with larger margins and eclectic design ideas. The magazine would be marketed towards males, because they make up the largest demographic of sports fans, but women would be able to read and understand it, even if the advertising wasn’t necessarily catered towards them.

Magazine visual identity

Most sports are aggressive and physical games, and I want to convey that “in-your-face” attitude through my layout by using heavy, large slab serif typefaces as the basis for my magazine. These typefaces would reflect the types of articles and sports covered in the magazine (it wouldn’t necessarily be featuring things like cricket and bocce ball). Passers-by who would see this magazine on a newsstand would know what sports they could find covered: football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and other traditional sports that have a relatively widespread audience. The design is full of thick lines and deep, vibrant colors, emphasizing the heaviness of the topic itself.

Article visual identity

My article discusses the brutality and competitiveness of the Big East NCAA basketball conference, so I chose deep colors and slab serifs to bring that aggressiveness to the page. My choice of visuals, which consist of photographs that actually show aggressiveness (pushing, blocking out, etc.) helps to further convey this combativeness in college basketball.

Article design strategy

As stated before, my message is conveyed through my choice of slab serif font (Aachen), set large and continued in different places throughout the entire design. The initial visual of Jonny Flynn was edited to be pushing away the title, “Step Aside,” to again emphasize the aggressive nature of the league. The huge title font overpowers the sans serif deck, which shows that the text is important (it is on the feature spread) but it is not as important as the headline, which conveys a lot on its own. I used a consistent theme of orange and blue for the majority of the layout to provide consistency, along with the sans serif deck font (Calibri) in orange for sub headlines within the text to break up the long article. In some spaces, to provide a different color scheme, I pulled colors from the images (the text color in the sidebar corresponds to the color of the image; the pull quote on the second jump spread matches the uniform of the Pitt player above it). I opted for a simple-to-read serif font for the body copy, Legacy, to make it easier for the reader to skim if they want. I was lucky because my images were so bright and vivid that the saturated colors also reflect the nature of the league, and I was able to further implement those colors in the text.

Document Grid

I chose these specific margins for my document (Top and bottom: 3p9, left and right: 3p0) because I wanted a feeling of consistency for the shape of the entire page, but I also didn’t want the words to be hugging the edge, so the reader has room to “breathe.” I decided on three columns because my article is relatively long and I wanted the reader to not have to jump around too many pictures and pages to finish, so I decided to keep it to the smallest number of pages possible, while still being creative. To do this, I opted for three columns instead of two. I decided not to go with more columns because I felt it would have the feel of a newspaper, and I want to differentiate my magazine from the typical sports magazines that could be read as news magazines, with lots of text and not much difference in font or style.

Extras

I chose the orange color in Jonny Flynn’s uniform as the basis for my entire spread. It connected all the pages through the use in the deck and subheads. I chose the blue in the headline because it is also Syracuse blue, and opted for the colors in the pull quotes based on the images on the page. The color choice was based entirely on what was already on the page to provide connection between the words and the pictures, so people don’t just skip over the words and look at the images.

Swift Success

Magazine Identity & Readership

Sparkle magazine is a magazine geared towards teenage and tween girls, typically ages 13-20. The magazine includes subjects and features relevant to a teenage girls’ life, such as fashion, entertainment, and music.  It is available both on newsstands and via subscription.

 

Magazine visual identity

Sparkle magazine is a fun, upbeat magazine for teens without the cheesiness and clutter that other similar magazines have. The design of the magazine is more streamlined, but still young, modern and fun. I did this with my article and cover through the use of color, imagery and fonts.

 

Article visual identity

The Taylor Swift article I designed conveys the fun, upbeat and happy personality of Swift. This is the tone of the article, and I wanted to convey that in the visual identity. Using the graffiti-like background for the feature spread helps portray this idea of youth and fun. The images I chose also give off the feeling of joy and excitement.

 

Article design strategy

My goal for the article was to create a fun, young, and energetic feeling. I did this on the feature spread with the background of graffiti writing using words that represent my subject, Taylor Swift. I used black and white with a pop of color to call out certain parts of the page and tie in the feature spread with the jump spread. The pinkish color is used throughout the jump spread to create a sense of uniformity. The pictures I chose show off Swift’s personality and keep with the lighthearted, fun theme of the article’s design.

Document Grid

My article doesn’t have much of a grid for the feature spread. The feature spread is random looking by design so the type and images are set all over the place. For my jump spread, I utilized a 3column body copy and my images pull quotes align with a background grid for the most part. My margins are all 3p0 because I think this is enough space to not feel cramped, but not too much space.

 

magazine project--overtime

1. I have no idea why there is so much space between my magazine and the following text...sorry!!

Magazine Identity & Readership
My invented magazine is a victim of my immense obsession with the NCAA basketball tournament this year. The magazine is called OVERTIME and is centered around college basketball (both female and male, but for this project I focused on just Men’s Basketball). OVERTIME is a specialized magazine designed for coaches, athletes, students, and fans. Each monthly issue would be commemorative in it’s own way, in an attempt to ensure readership and sales of the magazine. The issue I’ve made is centered on March Madness and the Final Four (cover).

Magazine Visual Identity
I think my cover in a way sets the tone for the following spreads—the background is black to create a dramatic effect, and the headlines are big to grab attention. I cut out four players from each team in the Final Four and set them on top of each other at the bottom, while displaying the other stories in the issue at the top of the cover. I used an orange gradient on the magazine title to give it some layers and also noted that it is a ‘special issue’ (as they basically all are). I tried to make my designs parallel the action from the photos showcased on the pages.

Article Visual Identity
My spreads are just the start of many pages that will preview and recaps various points of the NCAA tournament. I want the look to be bold and bright while also providing a lot of information, professional opinions, statistics, and other interesting and useful items of discussion.

Article Design Strategy
My headline and cover type is called Eurostile, and I feel it mirrors in a way the look of a scoreboard, and that is why I chose it. My body copy font is sans serif Calibri and I picked it because I think it complements Eurostile while still looks relatively professional. I went for the sans serif body copy because I think it more easily represents movement and action. Overall, my font is big and bold to balance out the photos I use. I think sports photos are one of the best genres of photography, so I made my pictures large to feature them. I used the cut out of the UCLA player on my jump spread cut into the text and I used a text wrap to create some action on the spread. In addition I’ve curved the right sides of both the feature and jump spreads in an attempt to create more movement. I use the color orange because I think it’s bright and bold, and also because it’s the color of a basketball. My sidebar module is called out by my use of the curve, and it features the other important people involved in basketball who aren’t necessarily on the court. Through my design, I tried my best to create a unified marriage of elements that works and still looks professional.

Ketchup Packet Design

The Winner of the 3rd Annual Heinz Ketchup Creativity Contest was decided! An 11 year-old girl from Flushing Queens has won the fifth grade category. The winner, Melissa Reuda, portrayed the ketchup bottle as a rockstar and its surrounded by french fries that represent fans. 

She won $ 1,000 for her winning design and it will appear on approximately 17 million ketchup packets.

I think the new design is awesome! It is so much more modern and creative than the original design. I've noticed that lately many companies have been changing their packaging to make it more appealing to the senses. This is necessary in a society where people buy products based on the visual appearance. 

What a job well done! 

Another movie post.

Basically three-quarters of my blog posts have been about movies.  I'm really that lame.  Anyway, new DVD's are coming out this Tuesday, among them two big Oscar names:  Slumdog Millionaire and Doubt.  The latter of these was a must-see for me as a self-described Meryl-ophile...I won't give my review of the movie itself (suffice to say that the acting was phenom but some plots are just meant to stay on the stage), but rather I'll focus on the graphic design aspect of the film.  Here are the two covers released for Doubt's DVD debut:

The designs clearly demonstrate two different moods pertaining to the plot as well as the actors involved.  On the left we have something of a trinity going on where our eyes are drawn to the two most famous faces, Meryl and Philip Seymour Hoffman, before going to Amy Adams, who is the lesser-known star on the rise.  Because of the way we've been conditioned in our culture and the Z-pattern we follow from left to right, we see Meryl, then Philip, and lastly Amy.  The tone of the cover is also noteworthy, as it is shadowy and somber, two words that could very accurately describe the overall tone of the film.

The second cover doesn't seem to illustrate any sort of celebrity hierarchy, save for the part where Meryl Streep's name is highlighted at the top for her nomination.  The images themselves only serve to illustrate the plot of the movie, which features Amy Adams' character being torn between the diverging stories given by PSH and Meryl.  The color (or lack thereof) in this second design is stark, harsh, and dividing, with black-clothed figures against a purely white backdrop.  There is no hint of the "shadowy" or "somber" tones of the previous piece, which is perhaps a less honest portrayal of the movie itself.  That said, graphically speaking I'm fonder of the second cover.  I find the layout to be more interesting, and if I knew nothing about the movie, I would be more likely to pick it up for closer inspection as opposed to the first.  I mean, if it didn't have Meryl, that is...her movies could have blank covers and I'd still be interested.  Point is, I prefer the second.  Thoughts?  Agree?  Disagree?