I completed research into an assortment of magazines and templates to decipher which I felt suited the visual language of idem best. I have always wanted idem to be fairly minimalist and paired back to highlight the strong photojournalism and styling. Even so, I researched a variety just in case I felt there was a style/aesthetic that I had not yet considered.

I first read ‘Anatomy of a Magazine Layout’ by Shumi Perhiniak to refresh my knowledge of magazine layouts and their technicalities. I also checked the bleed, slug and quiet area on Mixan (the printing service which I will be using) to ensure I knew how much space I would need to leave around my borders. I found this really useful for reassuring myself that I was using the right dimensions as well as boosting my confidence. 

I got myself a bit confused when thinking about the front/back cover as well as the first/last page and how I would create these so they were correct for not only printing but for my digital pdf, luckily Mixam is clear on where pages go, as well as the paper types. This then reassured me and I continued my research.

‘Anatomy of a Magazine Layout’- diagram highlighting key aspects of a magazine layout.

 

I then researched various visual styles such as the ones included below:

I really like this layout from Cult Magazine due to how the text warps around the image and how the article heading ‘nail your colours’ is placed next to the models nail. I feel that this layout helps boost not only the image, but the narration of the written work.

This is taken from a large A3 newspaper and so very different to idem, but even so I really like this style of layout and how the images are placed. However, I feel that this is only successful if the publication can lie flat, and due to idem being perfect bound (where single sheets of paper are laid on top of one another and attached to a spine with strong adhesive) this is not applicable.

A selection of double page spreads from Philosophy Magazine. I really like this more abstract art style as it works well with the theme of youth culture, however I feel that it is not the style that I have developed for idem. I explored this style more in the first zine I made in first year and although really fun, I feel that my style has changed a lot over the past few years and I want to create a more minimalist piece.

This layout I found on Pinterest and is by an unknown artist. However, I really like the minimalism and use of coloured photography contrasting with black and white. I feel that the way these images are laid out is visually aesthetic and pleasing to the eye. Out of all of the layouts included in this post, I feel that this is the one I relate most to within my work and visual language for idem.

I then moved onto experimenting with my own images. I already had a strong starting point due to using my flat plan throughout the creation of content, continuously swapping out images from my moodboards for my own from my own photoshoots. I also had a test layout which I created over Easter to see how many pages of content I had, as well as to get a stronger idea of how idem would flow.

Some of these layouts I quite quickly decided I liked, such as this double page spread:

This model has a tattoo which spells okay in a written language invented by the popular band Radiohead, and I thought it would be interesting to use the symbols with their corresponding letters to spell out the word. I feel that this is really unique and I am lucky to have sourced a model with such an intricate and specific tattoo.

However, other layouts I have changed quite drastically since first experiementing:

Above is the first layout I created for the opening double-page spread for Disrupted Sanctuary, and below is the finalised layout.

I decided that the text for the heading was not clear enough and so added a thicker outline- I feel that this has transformed the page massively. I also decided to use a bigger background space so that I had more room for writing and my QR code. I also made the decision not to include idem x reverie as I knew that I would explain in the introduction that it is a collaboration. To really ensure that it is clear that this is a collaborative piece I have made sure the image caption is clear.

I feel that I was quite nervous to put together the final layout for idem due to it being such a big task but once I got into it I found myself having fun and being able to explore my creativity with the content I have been planning and creating over the past 5 months.