Choice of Story
I chose this story, because I wanted to art direct something about a band I loved. It’s nostalgic to reminisce about how good bands or songs from the past were, hence the name of the magazine.
I knew there would be plenty of pictures with Journey in performance, and the story visually described Journey’s performances. So, I used pictures of Journey in concert on the first spread and jump spread. The story also emphasized how the band was transitioning from one of Steve Perry’s to Arnel Pineda’s. I used this emphasis on my cover with, “the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin,” indicating that the band was still chugging along. The headline on the first spread of “we’ll be alright without you” also indicated that the band would still go on without its former lead singers. I used a timeline on the sidebar as well to underscore the story’s emphasis on how the band had changed. I wanted to use a story about Journey too, because their songs easily work for headlines and names. I used Journey songs for the text on the cover (wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’), headline on the first spread (we’ll be alright without you), deck head (worlds apart), and title of the sidebar (don’t stop believin’).
Choice of Typefaces
I wanted to use serif typefaces throughout most of the magazine so the cross strokes would differentiate the fonts from each other. The serif-like fonts also appeared older – and therefore more nostalgic – than sans serif fonts, which can sometimes appear more like they came off a computer. I used Dante MT Std for the magazine title, because of the stress on the various letters. The “Blink 182 Reunites!” text on the white railing has similar stress on its letters. The fancy “g” in the magazine title also gave the magazine more of an older, nostalgic look. I used a sans serif-like font for the magazine’s date, so it would be easily identifiable below the cross strokes of the magazine title. In between the title and Blink 182 text, I used the font of Flood Std for its rugged, paint job-like look. The rugged look of the text – like it had been there for a while but was still noticeable – connects with the story’s emphasis on how Journey had been around for a while and was still going. I angled the text so it would appear to be turning. I also angled it so it would flow down to the Blink 182 text on the white pole and take the reader down to the corner of the page to open it.
For the first spread, I used two versions of the same font (ITC Cerigo Std) for the headline and deck head so they could connect with each other. The strokes on the fonts extend out just as the lights extend their rays in the background. I used the same typeface in the drop cap, which connected the beginning of the story with its headline. For the pull quote on the jump spread, I used a more sans serif-like typeface to make it stand out on the page amongst the serif-like body text. I used a different typeface for the quotation marks to make them appear like actual, curved quotation marks. The name below the quotation mark was also a slightly different font, so the pull quote text itself could stand out the most. For the photo caption, I used a smaller serif-like font that was slightly different from the body, so the caption wouldn’t get confused for being the body. To describe events in my timeline, I used a thin, more sans serif-like font, so that the small font would be easy to read on the blue background (as opposed to small fonts with many cross strokes, which could be harder to read on the blue background). However, I used a more serif-like font for the sidebar’s title so it would easily identify what the sidebar was about, rather than blend in with the sidebar’s typefaces too much. I used Century Expanded for the page folios, because it had similar stress in its letters and the same looking “g” as the magazine title. The line identifying the writer and photographer on the first spread also had stress in its letters like the magazine title.
Images
1. Front Cover: The image has a resolution of 279 dpi. Its height is 11.8 inches and width 17.8 inches. I got the photo from the Bethel Woods Center’s Web site, and the photo was taken by the Bethel Woods Center group. I left some of the right and left sides of the photo out so the cover could mainly focus on the band members.
2. First Spread Picture: The image has a resolution of 240 dpi. Its height is 12.1 inches and width 18.2 inches. I found the photo on a Web site called Plokkers Global Forum, but the photographer is unknown. I increased the brightness from the original photo so the band members would show up lighter on paper.
3. Jump Spread Picture: This photo has a resolution of 173 dpi. Its height is 11.8 inches and width 7.8 inches. I removed a bit of the photo’s left, right and bottom sides from the original size so more text could fit on the jump spread. I found the photo on Wikipedia’s Web site, and the photographer was Dese'Rae L. Stage.
Choice of Colors
I used a black color for the magazine title to correlate with the black coats of the Journey band members. That way, the magazine title could connect to who the main story was about. I used white against the guys’ jackets to make Journey’s story stand out, and to make it readable against such a dark background. On the first spread, I used white fonts that connected with the round, white lights shining at the top of the background. I also put a slight blue outlining on the headline typeface to make it visible against some of the shining white lights.
The drop cap on the jump spread is the same color as the headline on the first spread, once again to connect and guide the reader into the body text. On the rest of the jump spread, I used the colors of purple and blue, because they correlated to the background of the main picture. A brighter purple was used in the sidebar’s title to easily identify what the sidebar was about. I also used a slightly different purple in the pull quote so that the pull quote could stand out from the other purple in the jump line and body text.
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