Chat with us, powered by LiveChat PROJECT 4 – Three Magazine Pages In this project, you will create a THREE-PAGE design for a PRINT MAGAZINE of your creation. You will create a portrait-oriented, full-bleed doc - Writeden

 

PROJECT 4 – Three Magazine Pages

In this project, you will create a THREE-PAGE design for a PRINT MAGAZINE of your creation. You will create a portrait-oriented, full-bleed document of specified size. On page one, you will create a MAGAZINE COVER. On pages two and three, you will create a graphics-heavy MAGAZINE SPREAD. A spread contains a headline, an article (words in small-size copy/paragraphs), and images and other things too. In a graphics-heavy spread, the article text is minimal, and images and graphics dominate. Your first tutorial video shows lots of examples to get you started.

 

REQUIREMENTS

Your Final Magazine Pages will need to meet the following requirements:

DOCUMENT SETUP:

  • WIDTH: 8.375 inches
  • HEIGHT: 10.875 inches
  • PORTRAIT orientation
  • 3 Pages, CHECK Facing box
  • 2-3 COLUMNS with default 0.1667 inch Column Gutter
  • MARGINS: 0.5 inch on all sides, or other if you choose to have smaller or larger margins
  • BLEED: 0.125 inch on all sides

MAGAZINE COVER (Page 1) REQUIREMENTS:

  • Your magazine cover must feature the following elements:
    • The name of a fictional magazine in a MASTHEAD, at the top of the page. The font should be chosen carefully to reflect the personality of your magazine, and the letters KERNED to perfect the visual spacing between letters.
    • A small DATELINE – the month and year, or full date of the magazine issue
    • COVER ART – At least one Royalty-Free Photograph or Illustration
      • All photographic images must be processed to 300ppi in Photoshop first via IMAGE>IMAGE SIZE (remember to UNCHECK resample!)
      • All art must be placed as a link in InDesign via FILE>PLACE
      • All art must maintain at least 300 EFFECTIVE PPI and maintain aspect ratio/proportions where appropriate in InDesign – only one number for Effective PPI.
      • FULL BLEED – Graphics, background colors, or images that go to the edge of the document must go out beyond the page to the red bleed lines. At least ONE graphic,  color or image MUST be planned to be full bleed and go out to the bleed line. 
    • A TOTAL OF 2 (TWO SEPARATE) COVER LINES (teasers to tempt the reader to check out features inside the issue):
      • Cover lines can be only one line, or include more text that takes several lines for a fuller description. Think short and catchy – ex. 5 ways to beat the winter blues. Cover text should be fictional but real (Not Lorem Ipsum placeholder text), and written by you. 
        • INCLUDE ONE MAIN COVER LINE – styled to have more emphasis than any other cover line (The reader should know that it's the core feature story of the issue just by looking at the teaser). The MAIN cover line will be for the main feature story of the magazine (THIS IS THE STORY YOU WILL FEATURE IN YOUR 2-PAGE SPREAD! So decide what you want to do your spread about, then write your main cover line to entice readers to come check out your pages).
        • INCLUDE AT LEAST ONE OTHER COVER LINE to another story the magazine would include in this issue, with lower emphasis/hierarchy than the Main cover line. No, you do not need to design any pages for this fictional story. 

MAGAZINE SPREAD (Pages 2-3) REQUIREMENTS:

  • Your magazine spread must feature the following elements:
    • TEXT:
      • HEADLINE – a large prominent title for the story featured on the spread
      • INTRO/SUMMARY SENTENCE – a full sentence that sums up the story as briefly as possible, smaller than the headline, but larger than the article copy text. It can be located above the article or anywhere else on the spread. Headline and Intro must be real text made up by you.
      • BYLINE – credit to the Author of the story – make up a fictional name… Bylines are usually simple – ex. By Jimmy Jones. It can be located directly above the article text or anywhere else on the spread.
      • COPY2-3 THREADED (linked) columns of Lorem Ipsum placeholder text, styled in paragraphs with INDENTS at  You may use real story text if you write it yourself or get permission from the author. Your copy should take no more than 1/4 to 1/3 of the total spread space (in a graphics-heavy spread like you are to create). Be cautious when positioning columns – when reaching the end of a column, will a reader know where the article continues in the next column? If it's too far away or located to the left of the intro column, maybe not. Think like a reader.
      • Copy must be styled in specific ways:
        • It must be 11-12 point in size, in a HIGHLY readable font. No fancy fonts here! Look in any book or magazine – paragraphs of text are in tried and true fonts, mostly serif-style fonts, which are proven to allow for faster reading IN PRINT than sans-serif fonts. If your point size is too large, it is uncomfortable to read lots of text, and you feel like the designer must think you are a great grandma 🙂 If text is too small, then great grandma has no chance at reading it, and the effort it takes for others will prevent them from reading it either! 
        • DROP CAP – The first letter/word of the Copy must be styled as a DROP CAP
        • INDENTS – Copy must include paragraph breaks styled with First Line Left Indent, NOT with gaps or empty lines.
        • PULL QUOTE – A quote taken from the article that "pulls" readers in and makes them want to read more of the article – in your case, you will make up a quote from a fictional person on your topic. Pull quotes must be styled larger and bolder than copy, and can be located anywhere on the spread you choose. Styling can be plain, or include quotation marks, or include color or a colored frame. Fictional name of the speaker can be included below the quote or not.
      • PROOF all text in your magazine for spelling, formatting, punctuation, and grammar.
        NOTE: Magazine name, cover lines, headlines, and intro/summary sentence text – all of these typically do NOT include periods at the end, even if it is in fact a full sentence. Copy DOES includes periods between sentences.
      • Use of PARAGRAPH STYLES is optional. Create them if they save you time in your design process, and they very well may if you repeat the same text style in more than one location.
    • 2- PAGE SPREAD ART:
      • At least one Royalty-Free Photograph or Illustration
      • Shapes may be used to add color, define spaces, or add decorative elements.
      • All photographic images must be processed to 300ppi in Photoshop first via IMAGE>IMAGE SIZE (remember to UNCHECK resample!)
      • All art must be placed as a link in InDesign via FILE>PLACE
      • All art must maintain at least 300 EFFECTIVE PPI and maintain aspect ratio/proportions where appropriate in InDesign
      • FULL BLEED – Graphics or images must go out beyond the page to the red bleed line in at least one location.

 

Follow the instructions below carefully to turn in your project BY the due date and time. 

For submission and posting the EARLY DRAFT :

  • In one week submit and post an early draft of your design:
    • Multiple text elements must be placed into the design with a clear visual hierarchy between them
    • At least 2 photographic images or illustrations, or shapes/graphics must be placed and positioned in the design
  • To generate files to turn in and postPAY ATTENTION – there are a FEW CHANGES THIS TIME:
    • File>Export  - set Save as type to Adobe PDF (Print) – choose the location to save to, name the file, and click Save
    • To produce a PDF for CLIENT VIEWING (I’m pretending to be your client for this project, and I sure want to see the feature story spread show up as one single SPREAD, not 2 separate pages), in the Export PDF dialogue box:
      • For Adobe PDF Preset at the top, choose [Smallest File Size] – this keeps the file size down for sending to your client.
      • Under GENERAL in the list of categories on the left, change Export As to SPREADS (NOT PAGES) – this will put pages 2-3 on one PDF page to be viewed as a spread
      • Under OUTPUT, Color Conversion should be set to No Color Conversion
      • All the other categories on the left are fine to leave all with their default settings. If you have changed from defaults in the past, ensure that NO boxes are checked in the Marks and Bleeds category, and that NO password security is set.
      • Click Export
    • Submit your PDF file from the Submit Assignment button at the top of this project page.
    • After submission, File>Export again – Change the Save as type: to JPG.
    • In the Export JPG dialogue box, set to ALL, and again set to SPREADS (NOT PAGES), quality HIGH is fine. Click Export to generate 2 separate JPG images - one for your cover, and one for your whole spread.
  • Go to the P4 EARLY DRAFT – Discussion/Critique, and POST both JPG images by embedding them BOTH in ONE REPLY. Size them carefully for good screen viewing of each page/spread.
  • Don't forget to give feedback on TWO other designs

Remember to CHECK THE RUBRIC below before submitting 

PURPOSE

  • Recognizing the terminology and purpose of page elements in magazine design
  • Setting up a 3-page INDD document for magazine layout
  • Kerning the space between letters for larger sized text
  • Understanding the differences between color models – RGB for screen, CMYK for print – and how that affects color choices
  • Understanding the differences in tone between Standard Black and Rich Black, and how to build custom blacks with appropriate Total Ink Coverage
  • Pasting image into shapes, compound shapes, text, and complex text
  • Creating and managing Layers in InDesign
  • Creating Threaded text frames that conform to InDesign column guides
  • Creating InDesign Lorem Ipsum placeholder text
  • Editing copy with Paragraph Indenting and Drop Cap
  • Exporting PDFs for sending to a client, and for sending full bleed PDFs to a professional printer
  • Exporting a JPG image of a spread