*DISCLAIMER*
All content for filament is not my own, unless otherwise stated. This documentation serves to illustrate my ability in creating a magazine. References to work used can be provided upon request.

Week 1 had me frantically trying to catch up on lecture work I'd missed whilst overseas. However, even though I'd missed out on a few lectures and tutorials I was able to sketch out and make notes on potential layouts for the prospective magazine.

Week 9 (Week 1 of project check in 2) or (w01c02)
As a group, we explore potential concepts for our magazine including topics like textiles, programming (the software) and its tangible interations, etc. We quickly settle on textile design with a focus on sustainability. We chose textile design because its visually interesting and would hopefully present us with quality images and interesting textures. It was narrowed down further to sustainability because not only did it give us somewhere to start, but it gave us the challenge of changing how sustainability is perceived. We agreed that sustainability isnt often perceived as something well designed, it tends to be more DIY and we wanted our magazine to reflect that sustainability can be visually beautiful and well-thought out.

We also delegated the pages in the magazine to the different members of the group.

 

w01c03
After choosing to have sustainable textiles as our theme for our magazine, I did further research. I looked to pinterest (sigh) and behance for textile trends, content and further layout inspiration. My personal research into magazine layouts that I had access to included Desktop Magazine, the D/zine, Frankie Magazine, Flow Magazine, No Cure Magazine, TBC and several design books that I had. As someone who regulalrly reads I knew what I liked about certain magazines, and what I thought worked, but it was a new experience to be looking at them and apply the theory.

I've spent the beginning of this week (as well as part of last week) searching for content that would fit with a personal story and a featured designer. I eventually settled on using the work of Shilo Engelbrecht for the featured designer and the work of Niyi Okuboyejo for the personal story.

I've also found two typefaces that I think would be particularly effective for headings which are High Times and Calendus Plus. I chose High Times as a potnetial contentder because the lower x-height is meant to imply sophistication. Calendus Plus was chosen because it looks like it might hold up better against potentially busy spreads (I also think its really beautiful/classic).

As a group we decided to all do our own grid layouts and then reconcile them together during the middle of the week. During this experimentation it was agreed upon that the only thing we must strive to uphold was a minimalist aesthetic. I think I've achieved this in my iterations of the Niyi article but I was also inspired to  to give it a more collage-esque feel. This probably most evident in the bottom spread of the examples below with how the first column of text on the right hand page sits over the image. Additionally, I tried to direct eye-gaze in my speads by playing on the theoru that eye gaze cannot be ignired. Therefore, where I can, I've directed the gaze of the models towards the text.

When it came to reconcile the overall style of our spreads and to which grid we'd stick to I found that my style and grid wasn't as effective as the other option put forward. However, I found it really difficult to adopt the other layout style in regards to the the bottom image on the right hand page. While I could have cut the text to make it fit better I actually really like the artilce and didn't want to alter it. Additionally it was also decided that High Times was definately too simple to be used as an effective heading style. The typeface was not only too expensive for the project budget, but its thin stroke width would have caused it to disappear next to a busy image. Calendus Plus was also deemed not as effective as Tex Gyre Bonum which featured a more organic appearance. Calendus and Tex Gyre were similar but Tex Gyre was more appropriate given the theme of our magazine. This is shown in the image below (Tex Gyre Bonum is on top and Calendus Plus is on the bottom).  Additionally, Tex Gyre had wider letter shapes and therefore meant that not only was the text bolder but it was able to command attention next to a busy page.

 

In reconciling our styles all body copy was justified

This week was spent further consolidating our styles. So far the group has made the decision to justify all text and I've spent the beginning of the week reformatting my text and layout so that there are as few rivers and valleys in the body copy as possible.

After the milestone presentation, we changed our text back to ragged right.  

By the end of the week we changed the name of the magazine from Texstyle, to filament. This change was neccessary to just elevate the overall image of the magazine. I personally wasn't so enchanted with the name Texstyle. While I'm one for puns I thought it didn't reflect the image we were striving to create for our magazine.  However, with filament, I really liked how it looked in lowercase because of the ligature. I thought it was an intersting element in a masthead, as from what I've come across that isn't too common.

Nothing has changed to much visually. We've put in the running head, and added pagination. We've also spent our time removing widows and orphans, adding captions and generally making sure everything is consistent. I think the below images are basically ready for print.

Again, as we're in the final stages of preparing our document we nothing has progressed visually. We've been experimenting with the cover layout as a group. Mine are below. I don't really like this image for the cover but it's the biggest one I had. I think that some of the other images would be more visually intersting, especially something with more texture. The idea I was playing with in these layouts is that the masthead would be the only thing that remains the same on each edition. The image would change to reflect the content.  It would also mean that if you had all of these editions together, they'd be something someone would be proud  to display as a collection. They'd all be beautiful covers that mostly let the image shine.  I really like the delicacy of the masthead when its unbolded, but when it is bold it draws a reader in.

We've also been double-checking image quality and dpi this week.

We have a cover! Also a masthead! Also a cover image! After many revisions and lenghty discussions we've decided on a cover!

We've also gotten the file ready for print. While we're maintaining our sustainability ethos by printing on recycled paper we're maintaining that association of value by printing on a higher gsm cardstock. I mean I've always associated that tangibilty to be linked to the perception of a magzine, even before I flick through the pages. We've also chosen to go with colour chiefs for the quality and their printing process. We've also decided to print on Via Linen for the cover pages because it has a really lovely texture that compliments the textile theme.

filament is ready for submission. Its printed and is everything we could want. The only issue we have is that the margins could have been bigger, but its a minor detail. The rest of the week will be spent getting our documentation ready and preparing to present our final concept!