Becky Tye AS: Main Task OFC Problems

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Main Task OFC Problems

I've been working on a new idea for an OFC. I'm happy with the layout I want to create, however making it into reality is proving difficult. I've made a montage of some of my photos I intend to use as the OFC:

This part worked out okay, but as it looks very mismatched and unfinished I tried adding borders and a hexagon in which the logo would go in:

The lines I added, I still thought looked a bit too amateur-like. I couldn't find a shape to fit where I wanted the lines, the lines had to be equally balanced on each side, but then the photos didn't fit. I still can't find a way of getting round that without using a fairly advanced program compared to what I'm used to using.

I then had the idea that I want to stick with. Seeing as I'm doing an MCR live special of my new magazine "RockNote", I want it to be as authentic as possible. I found myself just staring at the second of the lined montages, hoping something would jump out at me, and for once, instead of going round in circles for ages; it did.

My Chemical Romance have a logo of a spider for their new album. Here is the spider:

What I want to do, is extract only the spider outline, fill it so it is a white spider; and import it into my image montage, so it is a new layer over the top - seperating the images, but not with crude lines and unprofessional quickshapes. It can't be seen, as I have yet to figure out how I'm going to do this; but hopefully from this screenshot you can see what I'm trying to achieve:

I searched for ways to extract only the foreground spider, but most of the results required advanced programs that I don't have acccess to; and the others mainly made some variation of what I needed. I did find one site that looked promising, which used a tool called "Smart Scissors" which seemed at first, to be working quite well. Unfortunately it could not pick out all the edges of the spider and failed to work:

So I will carry on searching for a way to do this properly, as now I've come up with an idea I like enough to properly use, I don't want to let it go until I've tried everything.

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Magazine Terminology

BALANCE - the design principle that one side of a layout must be given equal weight compared to another. Balance is achieved through the placement of type and graphic elements.
BANNER - the place where a magazine's logo (and its MOTTO or SUBTITLE) appears.
BODY COPY - the main text of an article.
BRAND - the magazine is a "brand", in the same way as GAP or Levis is a brand. With the growth of SYNERGY, a magazine might have spin off products such as a radio station, TV channel, clothing line or merchandise.
BULLET - a circle or dingbat before each item on a list.
BYLINE - the name of an article's author.
CALLOUT - explanation of a specific area of an illustration or diagram.
CAPTION - also called a CUTLINE.
CONSISTENCY - the principle that a magazine should retain some elements throughout an edition of a magazine and also from month to month. Inconsistency in typeface, design, layout etc. can confuse and alienate readers. See also: UNITY
CONTRAST - the principle that important elements are given emphasis on a page through the use of size, colour, texture or placement whilst less important elements are minimised.
COPY - the written text.
COVER - divided into OFC (Outside Front Cover), IFC (Inside Front Cover)
COVER LINES - also known as SELL-LINES. The lines on the front cover that will advertise the contents.
CROP - to cut or trim an image.
DECK - text below a headline that summarises or provides a lead-in to the article.
DISPLAY TYPE - type that is larger than the body copy, such as sub-headings and pull quotes.
DROP CAP - the large letter, like illuminated writing, sometimes found as the first letter of an article.
FONT - all the sizes and styles of a typeface family.
FOUR F's - Format, Formula, Frame, Function.
Glossy - a magazine with glossy pages. Also refers to a magazine that is the standard magazine sizes of 8 by 11 inches to 10 by 13 inches, or 20 by 28 cm to 25 by 33cm.
GRAPHIC - the visual elements of the magazine like illustrations and photographs, as opposed to typographic or copy which refers to fonts and words.
GRID - an invisible structure that guides the placement of graphics and text on a page.
LOGOTYPE or LOGO - the name of the magazine, also known as the FLAG. Found in the banner space, but often repeated elsewhere, like on the CONTENTS page.
MARGIN - the measured white space at the top, bottom, left and right edges of the text. If anything goes over the margins, it is said to BLEED.
MASTHEAD - a box, usually about a column wide, that lists the magazine's editors, designers, business staff and information about the publishing company, subscriptions and contact information.
MATTE - a dull, unglossy finish on a page.
MONTAGE - the assembly of several photos or illustrations into a single piece of art.
PAGINATION - the process of creating complete page layouts and putting them in order using DTP (Desk Top Publishing) software.
PALETTE - a set of colours that can be used in a magazine, defined in advance to ensure a consistent look and brand from issue to issue.
PULL QUOTE - an excerpt from an article, often a quotation from an interview, that has been pulled out, enlarged and used as a design element to break up body text.
SANS-SERIF - a font without feet.
SEQUENCE - the design principle that the designer can choose the order in which readers look at items on a page, using size, colour, shape and placement.
SERIF - a font that has feet.
SLAB-SERIF - a typeface using heavy, even serifs
SUBHEAD - a heading beneath the logotype that acts as the magazine motto.
TYPEFACE - a style of font or type.
UNITY - a consistency in design style throughout the magazine.

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Wednesday 23 February 2011

Main Task OFC Problems

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