The Project
This was completed for an introductory graphic design course at San José State University. This assignment was focused on using Adobe InDesign to create a magazine. For the design, we were asked to select our favorite song, where the lyrics would become the content of the magazine, followed by a brief biography at the end. So, I selected “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic for this project.
The Process
While this assignment was focused on using Adobe InDesign, I did use Adobe Photoshop to edit some of the photos that I was using in my design.
I began this assignment by creating an outline, where I chose which lyrics would be featured on each page, as well as blocking out spaces I would use for pictures.
After I had this outline, I began finding pictures to use as my content, as well as selecting colors and fonts to use for the lyrics. Once I had the pictures, I began experimenting with the overall layout of each page, which changed some of my initial ideas for the placement of the text. However, it allowed me to visualize my ideas better and give me a better version to work off of to get to the final.
For the final, I took many of the ideas that I came up with and refined them so that each page spread felt more connected. I began to adjust the size and placement of the text, as well as sampling colors from my images to use for the text to make the overall design blend better together.
Outline—Cover
Rough Draft—Cover
Final—Cover
Outline—Spread 1
Rough Draft—Spread 1
Final—Spread 1
Outline—Spread 2
Rough Draft—Spread 2
Final—Spread 2
Outline—Spread 3
Rough Draft—Spread 3
Final—Spread 3
Outline—Spread 4
Rough Draft—Spread 4
Final—Spread 4
Outline—Spread 5
Rough Draft—Spread 5
Final—Spread 5
Outline—Spread 6
Rough Draft—Spread 6
Final—Spread 6
Outline—Spread 7
Rough Draft—Spread 7
Final—Spread 7
Outline—Back
Rough Draft—Back
Final—Back
The Purpose
This was the project that I had the most fun with in this class because I felt that I could let my ideas loose and experiment with each individual spread.
Cover: I chose the album cover for Native, which is the album that “Counting Stars” appears on. I also took a band picture and experimented with opacity effects to blend these two images together in a way where both were visible yet connected.
Spread 1: My main focus was the starry sky, so I wanted to include a constellation illustration as well. It just so happens that I am a Gemini, and the song was released during the Gemini zodiac, so I felt like it was fitting to use this constellation. I wanted to draw attention to different words, so I increased the size, or used the yellow accent color of a way of building hierarchy.
Spread 2: I really resonated with the contrasting ideas found in these lyrics. So, I wanted to make this a big focus and have some kind of similarities and contrast between the two pages, since the two lines are very similar. So, I chose the same picture and inverted it, as well as making it black and white to show this. Also, I wanted to connect the two pages, just like how the lines are connected, so in the middle there is a bit of a bleed from the full color to black and white.
Spread 3: I chose an image that related to the line “Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.” So, I found a graveyard image under the stars so that the following chorus would fit as well. Then, since the chorus is repeated, I mimicked a style of showing translations below the lyrics to show this repeated chorus.
Spread 4: I felt that “hope” was the word in this verse that stood out to me so I wanted to bring emphasis to it, as well as playing with the counting the letters of the word that is mentioned in the lyrics. Also, I mimicked the style used on the previous spread for the “I couldn’t lie” lyrics, but changed the color so that it matched the image of going from sunny water, to the dark depths.
Spread 5: I came up with an idea to repeat the lyrics, since this part of the bridge is constantly repeated, and there are multiple voices that join in to echo these lyrics. So, I wanted to create something that visually showcased that same idea in the song. I once again came up with a unique idea of repeating the chorus lyrics by reflecting the words in the water, which is a unique feature that allows the reader to interact with the magazine by reflecting the text in a mirror themselves.
Spread 6: The repeated lyrics are back, but I wanted to bring attention to each of the members that make up the band. So, they all receive attention, and there is a color overlay that corresponds to the adjacent image.
Spread 7: This was the biography section. So, I wrote three paragraphs, first about the band’s history, second about the song’s history, and third about my own experience with this song and artist. I also took a pull quote from an interview with the band where they described their inspiration for the song, which I felt only added to the history.
Back: I ended up choosing to keep it simple, and I sampled colors from the color to connect the two together, making it also look like a page spread. At the bottom, I included my name, my design Instagram, and design email. Also, connecting back to the first spread, I included the same Gemini illustration to round out the whole design.
