Creative Review front cover design research

When looking at other designs for the front cover design for the creative review magazine, i see that they are all unique in there very own way. All the designs are completely different like sometimes there are vector designs, conceptional designs, photography designs and even fine art designs.

Sometimes with these designs on the creative review front cover, they tend to have different elements with the creative review title on top of the magazine like sometimes the design overlaps the text and sometimes the title has a drop shadow on the main design, this is a clear example of that every design is unique.

When looking at these designs i noticed that there is always a key colour scheme that the designs use as well as when looking at these designs i also noticed that the title magazine (Creative Review) is all the same in most of the designs and is only changed rarely depending on the colours that is used in the design.

 The vector designs above gave me the inspiration to have a go at creating and designing my own vector character. Also when looking at the vector designs, I’ve noticed that the background colour is normally either white or another dark colour that is used within the design. One of the designs has a large letter in the background with low opacity on it and that gave me a idea to stick something that is to do with my design in a way in the background of the main design.

Creative review double page spread research

I went on the internet to look for interesting and inspiring magazine layouts to help me create a page layout that is eye-catching and also easy to read. From the research i got, I looked at layout of the images and text so that I can develop my double page spread layout knowledge. A pattern in these double page spreads is that most of them have an image covering the first page with the article on the next, with drop capitals included for the beginning sentence. Most of the text is positioned in the bottom two thirds of the second page split into two paragraphs.

From this design you can see that half the page has an image on it with a structured template over the top drawing the audiences eye to the centre of the image as well as the headline as well. The text has been positioned so that it is formed around the template shape to give the article a more interesting shape. The use of the coloured drop capital brings the reader’s eye to the beginning of the main article.

From this layout you can see that the background image is a cityscape that covers the whole double page spread with what looks like marks where the image has been torn. From the double page spread the headline to the article is featured on the first page as well as a sub heading inside of the torn areas which is where all the text is positioned. All the text in the article is coloured white to stand out against that background.

This double page spread has all the images in black and white which shows that the designer kept his colour scheme with the main image of the of the artist covering the whole first page with a quote just under his face, the other half of the double page spread is coloured to look similar to the first page. The headline of the article is coloured yellow so that it stands out against the dark grey background. The main article is split into two large columns of text which are coloured white so that they can be read easily against the dark grey background.

Subculture ‘Steampunk’ Research

Here is my inspiration/research so far into looking at designs for what other designers do and used for this subculture.

i like all of these designs and i have also found out that they all have something in common, that they are all based around the same colour scheme (green, brown, red, black, grey, etc.) and that they all have a sort of grunge on the design to make the image look like it is old and was advertised in the victorian times itself.

In my final piece for the subculture creative review front cover design, I will be including a dark grunge to create a old fashioned look so that the image looks like it was created back in the victorian days as well as i will be using the dark colour scheme as it suits the steampunk subculture look.

Subculture Creative review front cover idea

Here is a slight idea i had for the front cover of the creative review magazine.

So what i was going to do and did is get a picture of a guy wearing some well known steampunk styled fashioned cloths and for example i got this image.

And with that image is that i vectorised and made the guy wearing the clothes look like a cartoon style drawing. I think this style that I’m going down will be good for my portfolio and good for the front cover of the creative review magazine. the reason why i used the colour green in the background is because the main colours when i think of steampunk is brown, green, gold, black, grey, etc. From this idea i will develop more interesting and better ideas to eventually create my final piece for the front cover design. i think the cartoon/vectorised image is more interesting than the normal stock image. Ignore the text at the bottom as i was experimenting with different text and 3d elements to see what fits the steampunk style.

More information about Steampunk

Steampunk as a genre is a nutshell. Steampunk has also cross-pollinated its way into other genres, so there is steampunk romance, steampunk erotica, and steampunk young adult fiction. And it isn’t just written fiction anymore. There are steampunk games (e.g. Bioshock II), steampunk graphic novels (e.g. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and even steampunk movies (e.g. Sherlock Holmes and Hell-boy) and TV shows (e.g. Warehouse 13). There is even steampunk music and steampunk performance art.

Steampunk however, has become a lot more bigger and interesting with all the cool contraptions in the subculture, it was only natural that some people would decide to make some of them (or at least things like them). Thus, steampunk gadgets came into the real world. People has “steampunk’d” everything from computers, desks, telephone, watches and guitars to cars, motorcycles, and whole houses. These objects can vary from a grungy look of a forgotten antique to the shiny overwrought newness of a Victorian gentleman’s club. Think brass and copper, glass and polished wood, engraving and etching, and details for the sake of details. So, steampunk is also a design aesthetic. This aesthetic design can carry over into personal style with both clothing and jewellery being made in a “steampunk” style. The clothes are not exactly Victorian, adding in technological bits or hints of a more adventurous life than a typical Victorian citizen likely enjoyed.

Steampunk has a philosophical angle to it as well, which is somewhat a combination between the maker ideals of creativity and self-reliance as well as the Victorian optimistic view of the future. This last bit has led to accusations that steampunk includes a fair amount of empire worship, which is a reasonable concern. Another criticism has been that steampunk focuses on the best of the past and quietly sweeps the bad past away.

Steampunk clothing choices

Steampunk’s fashion has no specific guidelines on what they wear but most of the styles they are mainly wear and portray is the modern styles with influences from back in the Victorian times. This would include people to wear: bustles, corsets, gowns, petticoats, suits with waistcoats, coats, top hates, tailcoats and many more.

New Assignment – Subcultures (SteamPunk)

For our new assignment, we had to come up with a subculture that we would pick and research on and base the front page and 2 pages within a creative review magazine on. I initially chose SteamPunk.

What is SteamPunk?

SteamPunk is a science fiction subculture that is mainly based around and features steam powered machinery as well as it is mainly in a setting inspired by industrialized Western civilization during the 19th century. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the 19th century’s British Victorian era or the american wild west, in a post-apocalypic future during which steam power has regained mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. Steampunk perhaps most recognisably features anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, and is likewise rooted in the era’s perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Steampunk also incorporates additional elements from different sorts of genres like fantasy, horror, historical fiction and alternate history.

Why is it called Steampunk?

Steampunk has always been first and foremost a literary genre, or least a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy that includes social or technological aspects of the 19th century (the steam) usually with some deconstruction of, reimagining of, or rebellion against parts of it (The punk).

When did Steampunk start?

Steampunk’s first known appearance was in 1987, though it now retroactively refers to many works of fiction created even as far back as the 1950s or 1960s.

Whats the evolution from when steampunk was first noticed and now?

The evolution from now and when the subculture first got noticed on a large scale in the 1960s-1980s is that over the years, steampunk has evolved into more than just a sub-genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Steampunk now extends into fashion, engineering, music, and for some, a lifestyle. With the Victorian British Empire or American Wild West as the backdrop, steampunk projects are a challenge of making something elegant out of random bits and bobs.

What sort of clothes do they wear?

Steampunk’s fashion has no specific guidelines on what they wear but most of the styles they are mainly wear and portray is the modern styles with influences from back in the Victorian times. This would include people to wear: bustles, corsets, gowns, petticoats, suits with waistcoats, coats, top hates, tailcoats and many more.

What other type of accessories/fashion does this subculture include?

The other types of fashion that being part of the steampunk subculture includes is that Steampunk-influenced outfits which are usually accented with several technological and “period” accessories including timepieces, parasols, flying/driving goggles, and ray guns. People in this subculture can use modern accessories like ell phones and music players but they are modified to give them the appearance that they were made in the victorian times. Also in the steampunk subculture you could see people wearing post-apocalypic clothing which would include: gas masks, ragged loathing and tribal motifs.

What type of music does Steampunk get involved with?

Im not too sure on what music is involved with steampunk but after listening to a few songs from some steampunk subcultured artist like ‘Steam Powered Giraffe’ and ‘Doctor Steel’, all i can say is that the music in general is all different but they mainly go around normal punk/rock although steampunk has its own genre of music, its just like normal punk but with a more old fashioned/futurist sound to it as well as in a way the music that they listen to is pretty much alternative rock.