Spread Mockup

Spread Mockup

For this post I will be creating a mock-up of the two-page spread that will be based on Draft #2 from my previous post Two-Page Spread Planning. I will be using Canva to create the mockup.

Process

I started out by just laying out the design elements in the same way I had it on Draft #2 in Canva. The next thing I did was change the color headings to the same cyan color of the title.

I added in the byline at the end of the final paragraph in the same color and font as the headings, but I emboldened it, so it was clear. I then began editing the photo I used. I started off by using the Auto Enhance tool and setting its intensity to 70.

I then applied the Dalliance filter and felt that aspects of it were in need of improvement still. So, I changed the tint of it so it would be more blueish and would fit in with the color scheme, lowered the brightness to -5, and increased contrast slightly, and set Highlights to -67, These things all made the image look much more high quality which I feel was important for it to make up not being conventional in featuring a picture rather than an artwork or screenshot of a video game.

Final Design and Choices

For the title I used the Squada sans serif font because sans-serif fonts were common, and I feel that Squada had a technological aspect about it, which I felt went well with video game magazines. I placed it centered at the top of the page because it was clearly readable and gave it importance in the layout. Under it I put the "Which is Best?" part of the title under the title as additional descriptor text. I did this because otherwise it would make the title much longer and simply be redundant to have in the title because the sentences are very similar. I had the first paragraph with a drop cap and emboldened because it was always present in my research described in Writing Style and Audience.

The placing of the heading was under the first paragraph and slightly above the second, I wanted it to be closer to the second paragraph on that range because it would create more of an association between the heading and the second paragraph, but I did not place it right on top of the paragraph, so it did not become cluttered in that area. I arranged the paragraphs of the first page as two separate columns because they were of equal size and because they were discussing two sides to one topic it felt suitable. I put the large pull-quote at the bottom of the page to make the design more interesting and because I did not want it to be too close to the sentence that it was pulled from to prevent any redundancy. For the second page I placed the heading similarly to the first and had the fourth paragraph end and the fifth start in the same column because it added some variation in the layout and also was more efficient in standardizing a font size. I placed the final heading in the same way as the others and then finished the last paragraph with a byline which was in the same font as the headings but emboldened to give it more importance. I placed the page numbers in their respective corners at the bottom of the page to not be as noticeable, but I made them large enough so that they would be visible if necessary. 

I placed the image in the top of the second page and had part of it spread out to the first page as well. By doing this I feel that I have used conventional methods in making a two-page spread as stated in Making a Magazine. I feel that having it take up part of the other page in the layout gives the image more significance and more quickly draws the eye to the image which in turn creates more of a mental image of the article for the reader.

I used Roboto Condensed for the normal text as well as the pull-quote which was emboldened for distinctiveness. The Roboto Condensed font was sans serif, so it conveyed a sense of modernity, and the font was, as the name implies, condensed so it was easy to have more text in the same area. I chose the Robot Mono Regular font for the headings and other important text that was not the title or pull-quote, another sans-serif font so it conveyed a sense of digitalization, but it also had a more retro look to it, so it felt more important, so it was used for important text. I used a white and cyan on black color scheme. I used this color scheme because it was very futuristic in nature with the contrast between the neon vibrance of the cyan and the darkness of the black background. It also connected to the previously used color scheme of the table of contents without the red because I felt that another hue would clutter the layout. The futuristic color scheme was in line with the trendiness of video game magazines.

Conclusion

The mockup of the two-page spread is promising. I feel that it is in line with many of the conventions that have been described in previous blogs, aside from the use of an actual picture instead of art. I am sure that after receiving comments and feedback from my peers I will be changing some things, but those changes will be for the better.