AMR // Cover Designs // Printing & Stock

I printed out 3 of the cover designs in both colour and black & white to see which stock would be most appropriate. I wanted to use the black and white design as it is the staple colour of design, and thought that to make the print more exiting and stand out, using a bright coloured stock would work well.

I printed the covers in both A4 and A5 format to see which one was better for reading and overall as a design and magazine.

I replaced the yellow design with yellow stock and the black and white design. The black ink didn't come out very well but overall I think that it is a good outcome and I will use two other colour stocks for the other issues. I would ideally like to have blue and pink, but I fear that the blue may be too dark. Ideally I would like to be able to screen print the covers as well as print them however I am running out of time to do this!

This was the first of stocks that I chose and I think that it is the best out of all the print outs because it has a creamy colour without being too intense and changing the colour of the gradient. I also think that it looks good in contrast the blue, black and grey of the design. It is a good gms, thick but not too thick, and the matte nature of the stock makes the cover more 'retro' and interesting to touch / pick up. 

I think that this stock does also work; the slight orange tinge to the stock makes the design more interesting and the whole design stand out, however when it was printed out I think that the colour of the pink gradient has been slightly impacted as in reality (not in photos_ the pink is bordering on red and the orange is more pink. This would be my second choice of stock although I still want to test out a gloss finish 

This stock was white card, much thicker than the other three stocks, giving the print a higher quality, however I didn't like this print out as much because I felt it was too white, and the print lost some of the character it gained with the cream and yellow stock. The quality of the print was much better on this stock but I don't think that this stock is appropriate for the type of publication that I am designing, it made the design seem more like a birthday card than a cover to a magazine. 

These are all the A5 designed lined up against eachother. I still think that the coloured stock and monochrome print and the off white medium thickness (second print) are the best for the publication printout. 

For the final design outcomes, I will be printing both A5 and A4. I originally just wanted to use the A5 designs, also because it would keep the print costs down; but after printing out the covers, I feel that the A5 is too small to look like a proper publication, the A4 printout has more of an impact and nicer to hold in your hands. 

AMR // Cover Design // Stage 6

I have made small adjustments and tried to bring the cover design more back to the colour scheme of the logo and the logo that I have used on the blog page.

Cover Designs_Stage 5.5

On screen and when i uploaded it on 'scribd' the gradients have come out with a strange line effect, this is only on screen and they were find when printed out.

AMR // Cover Design // Stage 5

I have moved on with another pattern design and changed the colour of the green, pink and yellow.


Cover Designs_Stage 5

AMR // Cover Design // Stage 4

Here I was just testing out what the designs would look like if I used the different colours for each of the publications instead of changing the pattern. I think the design does work well acrross each of them.

Cover Design_Stage 4


Printouts.

The colours of the designs are very different printed out even on normal 80 gsm printer paper. They are much less bright but I think I actually prefer this. Although I originally intended for the colours to be bright / vibrant to make the design stand out, I think that the blue and green especially work. When I have settled on the designs I am going to use I will test these out on stock, at the moment I have a creamy matt stock in mind to print the covers on because I like the rustic / vintage effect it will give, it will also fit well with the slightly dulled down version of the current colours.

The pink has come out much darker than it is on screen, it is almost red, this is not exactly what I wanted so I will change this to a lighter colour.

The yellow / orange I am not overly keen on as a colour for the design at the moment. I do think that it fits well within the 4 designs however on its own I think don't think it works as well and interns of it being on a shelf on its own (not with the other 3)...I don't think it would be very appealing for people to pick up.

AMR // Cover Designs // Stage 3

After printing out the designs I could see which parts of the design and layout worked and which didn't. The final design of this PDF is the one that I will be applying to the other designs and the one which I currently intend to use for the front cover of the publication. For the other publications I want to develop different patterns but I will also see what this design looks like in the 3 other colours. Covers Stage 3

AMR // Cover Design // Stage 2

Stage 2

I was deciding between Geosanslight and Bebas Neueu. On screen I prefered Geosansllight but printed out it wasn't strong enough and the characters weren't clear. Although I like the mix of two colours in the design, I think that the cover is much stronger with just the blue, so this is what I will do for the other covers, but have a look at different 3D shapes but still in this format and using 3 different transparencies. 

Bebas Neue typeface is definitely better and more suited for the type of music the publication showcases. I also think that the name of the featured artists are much better when in the bottom left corner and aligned at the bottom of the page rather than aligned with the 'alternative music' room.