Markland/Week 12

** I used some extra spreads because of the concept of my magazine (a small, sophisticated feature story on one inspirational figure every month). I wanted to keep it very clean and simple and wanted to incorporate many of the different styles of the featured person, Alicia Keys, so I utilized extra pages to have a different theme of photos each spread to keep a form of consistency but create my ideal magazine.

The Story

The instant we were assigned this project, I knew that I wanted to do a feature story on Alicia Keys. I have been playing piano and singing since I was six so she has always been an inspiration to me. Also, she has risen to the top of the pop culture world, and I knew I would be able to find very striking images of her. I chose this story in particular because although it is a bit dated, it portrays her roots and her personality just the way I wanted to. It was a Rolling Stones article that I found through Google.

Typefaces

I wanted the headline typeface to be fluent and a bit feminine, reflecting the sound of Alicia’s music. I chose Spring LP Std because it was a script font but has a casual feel. For the body text I chose ITC Stone Serif Std, as we discussed that this is a great and legible font to use in class. The body text is 11 pt font, and I chose to use the same font for the captions but in smaller font (9 pt) and a different color, white. I liked the consistency of using the same font for both. The leading of the captions gave me difficulty; for some reason InDesign would not cooperate and let me alter them! I got assistance from both Shruthi and the lab assistance, and the leading just would not change! So I am unhappy with that aspect of my project, but I tried my best to work with it.

Sources

All of my images, including the ad on the back, were taken off of Google, except for one. On the third spread, there is a picture in the bottom left corner of a hand with Alicia’s song lyrics and her face over it (with altered opacity). The hand is a picture I took myself. I wanted to incorporate a touch of my own photography, and I liked the symbolism of a hand since she is a piano player, almost saying the music flows from within. The links to each picture can be found on my InDesign file, and I have marked each picture size on the grayscale copy.

Colors

It was difficult to find pictures that were big enough and all had the same color scheme. So, I chose to reflect color from the opening spread picture. I liked the bluish hue in the hat so I used that for the headline and the captions. I tried to match the color scheme of pictures on each spread while still keeping the deep blue consistent throughout the article with the pull quotes and song lyrics. Alicia has an extremely eclectic style, so I think that the little differences in each page reflects her diverse background ethnically and her personality. I want this magazine to be an upscale, monthly subscription magazine with feature stories on contemporary influential figures. Thus, the cover is very simple and sophisticated.