I chose a feature article of Natalie Portman written by Rebecca Ascher-Walsh in the LA Times. Natalie Portman is a very intelligent, interesting and creative person whose acting I admire. I love the movies she has done, and find her edge and liberal views fascinating. The article emphasized her new approach to acting, and working with her emotions to tap into emotions for roles. The article also discusses and more grown-up and darker side that is not often showed by Natalie Portman. Since the article emphasized her stronger side, I chose images that demonstrated a darker and edgier side. I picked all of the images from the Internet from previous photo shoots she had done for other magazines.
For the typefaces I chose mostly simple and fashionable fonts. I wanted to create a high fashion magazine, and to emphasize the sophistication I used Bodoni for the majority of the titles. The title of the magazine, MUSE, is done in Times. After numerous attempts in different fonts, Times looked the best, and portrayed high fashion and sophistication the best. For the pull quotes I used Adobe Caslon Pro, and for my body text I also used Times Roman to stay consistent with the title. Although, I realize Times is a trite font, it made the text readable and familiar. The contrast between san serif and serif fonts also seemed to go nicely together. The font on my first spread is Helvetia Neue, to contrast the Bodoni, and to match the modern picture and contemporary picture of Natalie Portman. For my side bar I also used Helvetica Neue, and Century Gothic to contrast the Times and obviously stand apart from the rest of the text.
For the magazine I used very basic colors since most of my pictures were in black and white to emphasize her more adult self. Black and white also adds a sense of sophistication. To go along with this scheme, I used a lot of gray scale and gradients. I used 75% gray for the pull quotes, and I used a gradient for my first spread. I also used 75% gray for my drop cap. For my side bar I used the CMYK, C=0, M=0, Y=0 and K=100. I used the red to match with the red shoe shown in the lower part of the sidebar. I wanted the entire magazine to look elegant and edgy, while still captivating audiences to read the entire article. The pictures I used are taken from the URL sites below.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/gucci%20ads/ajbar7/fashionising/seven/gucci1.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/almg5t.jpg
http://blog.geertbollen.be/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/war1.jpg
file:///Users/student/Desktop/natalie-portman-4.jpg
http://www.awardsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/NataliePortman.jpg
http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/natalieveganshoes1.jpg
Such a great spread Elena! Not only would I agree that Natalie Portman is an amazing woman, you captured her "fierceness" with your typography, photography and the layout. The balance between type and pictures if very even and therefore very pleasing to the eye. I liked how the spreads have this almost dark "ora" that also contributes to the intensity of the article.
ReplyDeleteMay I also say that the photographs also give direction to the article (see the front spread...awesome) and are very intriguing.
I am also a fan of the bold color used in your sidebar, this really does pop the information in the side bar pop out. Overall, i have a lot of good things to say about it. Looks great!