The last major project of the semester is the magazine spread. During the last two classes, we learned about the anatomy of a magazine layout. Please download the handout if you didn’t get one in class.
Here is the assignment:
- Design a magazine article: 4 pages, 2 spreads; design the magazine cover
- The trim size is 8.5″x11
- Topic
Choice A: snowboarding – the text and photos have been provided for you.
Choice B: a topic of your own, but it must be approved by the instructor first. You will be responsible for providing the text and photos for the assignment. - Requirements include use of grid, headers, subheads, dropcaps, indents, columns, page numbers, images, captions, margins, gutters.
This project will be done is phases. The first phase will be your brainstorming and research to determine your topic. You will then sketch ideas for a possible layout. After that we will do a style guide and begin the first draft layout.
Due Monday, Apr 29:
- By now you should already have your topic and rough sketch ideas for your layout. We did a class review of the thumbnails and the rough sketches last week. Begin to collect your text and imagery if you will be doing your own topic. You would be ready to begin your style guide.
- Create your style guide—it is time for you to select your typography choices for your magazine spread. The typefaces you select will depend on your topic and the emotional feeling you are trying to convey. Remember, limit your type selections to 2 typefaces and select typefaces that are contrasting. For example sans serif + serif = good contrast; light + bold = good contrast. You can download an example of the style guide here.
- Begin working on your rough layout. On Apr 29 we want to look at what you’ve begun as your layout.
- Bring in examples of 2 different magazine spreads. These must share a grid, but have different layouts
Here are a few links to information we covered in class:
Creating a Magazine Style Guide: Design
