Creating Cut-outs in Photoshop

For this spread I'm going to be using character cut-outs of Doc and Marty, the main characters in the Back to the Future series. To do this I will be using Photoshop to remove the background before importing into InDesign.

 

This is the image I started off with. It should be fairly easy to extract the characters from this image. I'm using the highest resolution version I could find. I think it was 1024 x 768

 

After opening the image in Photoshop I used the polygonal selectional tool to draw around the outline of the character.

Then I took that selection and cut it. I made a new Photoshop file and pasted the cut-out into it. Even though I had a blank background, in order to make the rest of the image transparent I had to first delete the layer underneath so that there were just the hatched markings left.

And I saved it as a PNG file since they're able to save transparent layers in image files.

 

I did the same for Marty. Now I have two cut-outs that are ready to be imported into InDesign when I need them. 

Development

I started to develop one of the ideas I was most interested in. I really like the idea of having the iconic main characters back to back in the middle. I think it would really bring the two pages together and I can balance the spread around the center. I want to have the characters looking at parts of the spread that are supposed to attract attention or be read first. So for example the left character can be facing the header with the header aligned to the top of the characters head so the eye is lead across from one to the other. The other character can be looking at the pull quote. This is useful as the characters in the center will be the first thing people see which then lead the reader to the next stages of the layout. The article or the pull quote.

As I wrote under the sketch it's hard to tell how many columns I should use at this moment. It all depends on how the cut-outs fit into the spread as I want the article to be text wrapped around the characters so they're all interlinked. This will mean the column width can't be too narrow so a 4 or 5 column layout may be suitable. I think when I start building the grid I will put the character cut-outs in first and then figure out the best column number for the job.

Initial Ideas

These are some initial thumbnail sketches I did for this layout. After looking at some of the images I found for this game I was really interested in using character cut-outs of Doc and Marty (the two main characters) for this spread. I experimented with different ways I could place them on the spread. I also jotted down some notes in the sketchbook.

For each idea I also tried to analyze the balance of image and text by drawing a scaled down version of the layout and grouping images and text into colour coded blocks based on the overall shape. This helped me to get a clear idea of how the spread might flow as there would be lots of different types of information on the page.

Article

This is a review of the game from ign.com. I think this will be a suitable article as it covers all the aspects and is a good length to fit on two pages. I will use this article as the basis for how I design the spread and will try to draw on conclusions from the tone of voice and the subject matter when deciding what images and design elements I want to use.

Back to the Future is one of those films – one of those franchises – just about everyone loves. The DeLorean, Marty McFly and hoverboards are all part of our lexicon thanks to those three films, and although there were some early attempts at Doc-inspired video games, you'd have to be crazy to decide in this day and age that you're going to develop a game based on something so beloved. Well, Telltale Games is that crazy, and after playing through the first episode of the Back to the Future game, I'm happy that the folks over there are.

 Back to the Future is a point and click adventure game picking up a few months after the third film. You play as Marty McFly and start dealing with the fact that your best friend -- Doctor Emmett Brown -- is gone after climbing into his time train and sailing off at the end of the third flick with his family.

Yes, this isn't a remake but another chapter in the Back to the Future legacy. I never really thought about life after "The End" of Back to the Future III, but here, Marty is missing his best friend who has been gone for a number of months. At the same time, the city of Hill Valley isn't cool with Doc not paying his mortgage, so it closes in to sell off all his crap. Preventing all of Doc's secrets from being sold off is the player's first real mission in the game. As you guide Marty around the lab you're going to recognize the dog food machine and wall of clocks while as the same time get a feel for how the game plays – click on objects and people, investigate and maybe use an item from your inventory to get a different response or result from the interaction.

 Eventually, the DeLorean shows up, we find out Doc is in trouble, and Marty's got to figure out when that trouble is going down and how he can help – and all of that's actually a lot of fun. Telltale's telltale humor is intact here as you're treated to witty dialogue and fun conversations. Remember, you're picking Marty's dialogue responses, so you can branch things in a number of ways.

 However, the nicest touch in the game is the love and care the Back to the Future universe is given. I've waxed on about the attention to detail in a previous preview, but the best example from the actual game came when I climbed in the DeLorean to shoot back in time. I clicked to punch in the date on keypad, but Marty couldn't because I hadn't turned on the time circuits via the little handle in between the seats. That is such a mundane Back to the Future detail, but Telltale added it to make the game feel like you're playing a part of this mythos. For a BTTF nerd like me, that's awesome. The game is littered with nods like that. You need the help of a Strickland to figure out the mystery at hand, downtown Hill Valley has the theater and courthouse it should, and you can even bust out a "What the hell is that?!" to get out of a jam. Of course, that also means that the BTTF cliches we know are back – Marty waking in bed, the requisite chase scene, etc. Most (if not all) are welcome, but if you were sick of that formula, know it hasn't changed much.

 Now, I'm not the world's biggest adventure game fan. I'm familiar with Telltale's work with Sam & Max and Strongbad, but those weren't franchises I was into, so I didn't give them much time. The puzzles in Back to the Future are clever but a bit simplistic. That's good because the game's going to draw in so many new players, but it's worth pointing out that there was really only one time where I was stumped with a "What the hell do I do now?" puzzle. Still, trying to get people out of the room so that you can root around through their stuff or so that you can build a rocket is entertaining and fun.

That simple feel carries over – in a way – to the art style. Doc, Marty and the other main characters look great and so does their world, but players need to know that Telltale's aiming for a cartoonish theme here so Hill Valley is bright, colorful and not huge. You'll only wander into a few buildings in this episode to complete your quest. Also, lip syncing is only kind of there as mouths tend to just move at random when someone's talking. It's not a huge knock, but the story's being told very cinematically and it's based on a film so it can take some getting used to.

 Lip syncing won't be that big of a deal, though, because Telltale really outdid itself with the voice work. Christopher Lloyd is back to play Doc and the guy playing George McFly sounds pretty good, but A.J. LoCascio is amazing as Marty. Michael J. Fox let the developers use his likeness but not his voice. So, Telltale went out and got LoCascio, and the guy sounds so much like Fox that it is truly scary. There's a point when Marty screams and if I didn't know better, I'd swear it was pulled from Fox screaming on Mr. Strickland's porch in Back to the Future II. The music is pretty much the classic instrumentals pulled from the movies and tweaked here and there, but they do get used over and over. I was OK with it, but having part of it play over and over while I worked on a puzzle did cause a coworker to tersely ask me if they only had that one song.

Content

Video game reviews rely on a variety of images from the actual game as well as any promotional artwork that has been produced by the creators. To gather items I could use for my spread I went to the official website of Back to the Future: The Game and found some downloadable screenshots. I also sourced images from ign.com, gametrailers and google images.

Close-ups

These shots will be useful for balancing the spread against larger images. They can also be easily placed in column widths or next to columns as they can be scaled down without losing too much detail.

In-game Shots

These are direct screen shots from the game showing the playing environment, controls, typical scenarios etc. They're useful for showing the reader a more accurate depiction of the game. They can also be useful when explaining how the controls work in the review. They're usually considered to be long shots as they're designed to be shown on TV screens and not a magazine layout. So they should be set quite large in order for the reader to see everything that's going on in the image clearly.

Promotional Artwork

Promotional material can be really useful in a double-page spread as they have an eye-catching artist quality that can be used to draw the reader into the article. They can also often be used as cut-outs which add visual interest and variety to the spread because everything isn't contained in a box. Additionally promotional artwork is mostly designed to make the game look more exciting or more impressive whilst emphasizing important characters and setting the scene. This makes it a good idea to include in my spread as the characters in Back to the Future are one of it's most iconic features.

Depending on the layout and quality of the image, sometimes promotional artwork makes for a good background to the layout. It's one way to make the spread look like it's consistent with the same branding. This is something I will consider when designing this spread.

Back to the Future: The Game

Back to the Future: The Game is a point and click adventure game based on the original movies. It's fairly new and I've recently been playing it so I've chosen to use this game as the subject for my game review article. I think it will be interesting to design a spread around it as I'm a fan of the series and it's already well-known so there'll be lots of resources I can use for inspiration and research. I also like it because it's very colourful and different compared to most popular video games at the moment, which are mostly serious moody first person shooters. I think I could have a lot of fun with the design.

I've already been looking at some spreads that feature movie inspired games from this period so this will be useful when deciding how to display a similar topic.


For this spread I will need to have find an article and collect content such as artwork and screenshots from this game that can be used in my design. I want my spread to appeal to fans of the series and capture the excitement that the creators have tried to instill in this product. If I want to design a spread that draws on the style of the game I will need to research existing branding such as websites, posters, advertising, logo design and anything associated with the original franchise of movies that it's based on. I'm already aware of several iconic features of this franchise that would be good to feature in my design (Marty, Doc and the Delorean for example). These are what fans think of when they hear Back to the Future.

Retro Gamer Magazine

One of my spreads will be based around some sort of video game view. For inspiration and research I've decided to look at some existing games magazines by scanning in double page spreads from issues I own. I picked out the ones I found particularly interesting or relevant to my project.

Retro Gamer is a monthly magazine that looks at classic video games. It has many features such as 'the making of', 'retro inspection' and 'the definitive guide to..'

One thing I noticed about Retro Gamer is they like to use really bold images  on the first page which then lead to the article on the second page. In this spread for 'The Making of Outrun' the designer has set the main image bleeding on to the next page so it appears to be the primary focus of the spread, taking up a larger percentage of the two pages. They've also chosen to crop the screenshot of the game in a way that there is a lot of white cloud in the background which blends nicely into the white space on the second page. Retro Gamer very much use iconography to their advantage, which makes sense as they look at nostalgic products that their audience are very familiar with. The iconic 'Outrun' logo is spread right across the spread taking up about 50% of the space horizontally. I noticed it has been set over the feature title in the top right corner giving it even more presence over the spread. Not only does this really jump out at the reader but together the image and the logo emphasize the nostalgic feeling that the writers want to the reader to feel, because they're so iconic.

The introduction is text wrapped around the Outrun logo but you can see it has been aligned to take up the same width as the columns. The way the 'R' sweeps down towards the introduction helps guide the readers' eye through the spread.

In terms of visual balance I noticed the cars and the road lead off towards the 'O' of the Outrun which is set equally between both pages so that Out is on the left page and Run is on the right page with nothing being lost in the fold. By pull the main image across to the other page the objects in that image, which usually would be looking out of the shot, now appear to be looking into the shot. This eases the tension between the image and the edge of the format.

As the spread continues you can see the designers have used a constant 5 column grid for their layout. They've utilized this grid to allow for the article to be set across 4 columns (in 2 sets of 2) and the 5th column, which is thinner, to be used for extra information like fact files. It also gives them space to set images across both pages. Although this unifies the two pages and makes the layout seem less rigid, I feel that some of the images in the center are too small and much of the shot is lost down the fold.

Apart from that this spread is fairly well balanced. The bulk article sits towards the left of the spread, the array of smaller images sit in the middle and the one large image sits to the right. The effect is two large areas of information being separated by lots of smaller pieces of information, which makes the spread feel more central and less lop sided.

I like the way they use white borders around the smaller images when placing them on-top of another image. This stops the spread from looking too cluttered because the shots are all very similar and makes the images clearer and easier to view by the reader.

Setting the text across two quite wide columns gives the article a more authoritative and informative feel. The paragraph indents stop it from appearing like a large block of text which could look intimidating to the reader.

 

I really like the inventiveness of this spread. The designers have created a background which draws from themes of the indiana jones movies and branding, like the crinkled parchment and the torn brown leather material that associated with explorer films. The designers have also used similar earthy colours for some of the text to further continue the Indiana Jones style. In this way the spread really submerses itself in the well-known franchise it's talking about, which helps unify all the design elements as a whole.

By the using Indiana Jones style branding as well as the iconic Indiana Jones logo and shot of Indy himself the spread is more eye-catching to fans of the series so they're more likely to read on, even though it's talking about a game not the film itself. This could be a useful technique when I come to designing my spread. Familiar characters are often a good way to attract readers' attention because these are usually the most memorable parts of many franchises.

This layout is quite busy but I think this is common for video games magazines. There's a large emphasis on screenshots and extra information probably because the video game industry is a very consumer driven market.

This spread uses a 4 column layout, differing from the 5 column I looked at earlier. This makes for thinner article columns but allows the designer to set images equally across any given page. This is because they can take up the width of one column (and be place next to columns of text) to be set across two columns and have two images meeting at the middle of the page. This makes for a more symmetrical and balanced looking layout. Even on the left page, where the image of Indy's face and the introduction don't strictly follow the column grid, they have tried to keep the design symmetrical by having the two elements meet around the middle of the page.

I personally think the article is easier to read when the columns are this size. I also like the breaks created by the images and the pull-quote that are placed around the text. It makes the type look easier to digest.

I can see that this magazine uses a consistent brand for this feature (and all other features) by using the same logo and having the feature title in the top right corner of the page.

The designers don't use borders or white space in this spread which helps the design elements blend with the Indiana Jones inspired style.

I thought this spread on the Star Wars arcade game was interesting. The whole design plays on the style of the game. Like the previous article I looked at it uses iconic imagery from the film to make the article more appealing and recognizable to fans. Although the design appears initially busy it's layout is actually quite simple and easy to follow. The first page features a simple design with everything aligned in the center. Essentially it consists of the feature title, the article title, an image from the game and the introduction, reading top to bottom in a straight forward way. I think this gives the first page a similar feel to a poster as it is laid out and read in the same way.

The black background which is prominent in all the screen shots means all the imagery and the text blends seamlessly into each other when placed next to each other. So even though in terms of structure the pages differ, the designer uses colour to create continuety across the spread. There is also a white border which goes around the whole spread. This further helps to unify both pages so the reader associates the two pages as being one.

The second page appears to be designed on a 5 column grid allowing space for two article columns and smaller column for extra information. The fact that it's a thinner column and set to the far right tells the reader that it has less importance than the bulk article. The green border and the change in text colour tells the reader that the information is of a different type or subject from the main article.

I noticed that this spread features a limited colour scheme in terms of text. White is used for the main article and headers whilst orange is used for alternative information. I also think it makes the text a bit more visually interesting.

 This article style differs greatly from most of the magazine. The collage of shots from the game takes up about 5/6 of the whole spread giving it a lot of presence. The array of bright colours definitely makes the spread look very bold. It's likely to catch the attention of anyone looking through the magazine. Interestingly I find that even though the article is placed on the far left, it's not the first thing you look at. This spread actually reads right to left I think, simply because the imagery has to much presence that the eye is always drawn to it first.

This spread has the style of a mini-feature. It's a good example making a short article more interesting. All the text is set in one long column. The thin width of the column implies it is a more of a quick read than an in-depth informative article. The article actually functions more like an extended fact file because of the bullet pointed information placed between the header and the bodytype. The position of the column, being close to the edge of the page, and the fact that it's placed inside a white box helps to further emphasize this style.

An Evaluative Note

After completing the design I exported the spread as separate pages. I think when you look at a design in this way you can start to deduct whether some of the design choices were good ones based on how the pages work on their own. 

 

  For example it makes sense that the fact file is on the left page because when you look at the left page you see the car and the information about it. Additionally it makes sense that the pull quote is on the second page because it looks appropriate next to the article it was taken from.   

 

 You can also assess the balance of image and text placement on an individual bases. In this case I think the pages do appear well balanced, which is reassuring. I think it's fair to say that if the pages work well on their own they should work well as a spread.

Finalising Design

When finishing off my design I added in the footer with a page number and the name of the magazine (TyreTrax). I thought to continue the minimalistic style I'd only add one page number and one magazine title on opposite sides of the page. I think this keeps the design cleaner and arguably less redundant as one page number is all you really need to tell you what 'double page' you're on.

Another alteration was changing the alignment of the fact file. The bottom now sits parallel with the top of the car and the header on the opposite page which raises the fact file up slightly and keeps the spread from looking too bottom heavy I feel. This became apparent after adding the page footers. However keeping it clearly aligned to other design objects stops it from looking like it's just floating and thus separated from the rest of the design.

I had originally designed the fact file with a vertical line leading to the car like a diagram. I've since removed this line as I feel it was quite a redundant feature. Since there's only one image of the car that takes up the whole spread it would be obvious to the reader what the fact file was talking about so there is no need to have it. This also maintains the clean design style I've been trying to achieve with this spread.

Dropping in images and text / Creating the Spread

 

Importing the image and text
To start creating the finished piece I took the image of the car I wanted to use and dragged it into the image box I'd made in the grid. I then used the direct selection tool to alter how the image sat inside that image box. I altered the size and positioning of the photo within that grid until I was happy with the result. The car was originally more centered and smaller in the frame so I enlarged the image and then dragged it further to the left so that the front of the car sat in the center of the first page, like I'd planned in my sketchbook.

The text was pasted in from the original word document. I set the type at 7pt with 12pt line spacing as I found this was commonly used in existing magazines. It also worked with the length of my article as it fitted nicely in the space I wanted it to. I also set the type to align itself to the baseline which ensured the lines on each column were level. This helps make the type easier to read as it improves clarity

Typeface choice and Typesetting

I considered several typefaces to use for the bodytype of this spread. Because I'm setting it over an image which is quite busy I wanted to choose a san serif as they retain more legibility than serif typefaces. I also wanted a san serif but they usually have a more contemporary feel about them and I wanted my design to have a clean modern feel about it.

I decided on using Myriad Pro for the article because of it's humanistic qualities that I think make it welcoming and give it good readability. I've used Myriad in the past and it's given great results with bodytype so I was confident in using it for this article.

The typeface choice for the header was slightly different. I wanted something bold and that reflected either the characteristics of the photo or the article. After searching I found this typeface called 'Viva Allende' designed by Vic Fieger in 2005. It has the appearance of a bold san serif condensed typeface (reminded me of Trebuchet MS bold) but with parts rubbed away. To me it reminded me of how the light shines through the trees and bushes in the shot of car driving through the forest. I think this makes it tie-in quite nicely which my article. I think it has quite a dynamic appearance and it's roughened appearance, to me, suggests connotations of freedom or nature.

 

 After applying the typeface choices I noticed problems with their positioning. Firstly the pull quote obscured the bottom of the car which made the quote hard to read and also spoiled the main focus of the image. Pulling the image around didn't solve the problem because of the way it was framed so I decided to move it. Because the car made a diagonal line across both pages I decided to place the pull quote to the right of the car mirroring the position of the fact file down that line so that the eye reads the page from top left to bottom right, which then takes you to the main article.

Another problem I faced was that the bodytype was set across a background which had varying levels of brightness. This caused it to not entirely legible in black or white. Moving the background image around didn't help because the area of intense light was so vast. So I had an idea to use a faint outer glow effect around the article which would darken the areas of the background image that clashed with the type, similar to creating a shadow or a translucent box except less noticeable. This allowed me to set the type in white and keep the overall colour consistent. I chose to set all the type in white because the dark tones of the photo worked better with a lighter text colour. I didn't want to chose an actual colour from the spectrum as this would look tacky and almost certainly clash with the background in some way. White is good because it's neutral like black.

I added a drop cap to the start of the article to indicate where to start reading to the reader. This is a frequently used design feature by most magazine across all genres. I used Viva Allende for the drop to give the body type the same style as the header. Visually this links them together.

I also used the concept of typographic hierarchy to emphasize certain parts of the article like the introduction and the pull-quote. This was done by changing the point size or by making the type semibold instead of regular. These devices draw the readers eye to certain parts of the design and imply importance over lesser emphasizes parts. For example the pull-quote needs to stand out from the main article as it is designed to be read first and encourages the reader to go into more depth. Setting the introduction in a larger size than the article but smaller than the header implies the reader is gradually moving down the hierarchical scale whereby each section acts as a summary or introduction to the next part (header leads to the intro which leads to the article).

 

Columns and Composition

Originally I'd designed the grid with columns per page after dropping in the article and setting the pull quote I wasn't happy with the amount of space that the main article took up. I wanted to give the image of the car more space to breath because it's the main focus of the spread. If the image appears cramped then it loses much of it's impact. So I changed it to a 7 column layout. With 7 columns I had more control over the column width and positioning whilst not altering the actual size of the columns too much. Using this new layout I moved all the type on the second page slightly further to right giving a good amount of space between the type and the car. Less of the road was obscured and this made the car look more striking.

  

Article Final Draft

I went over the article and made the review more concise whilst removing much of bad humour.. I think this draft is much better.

The extensively revised Fiesta Mk4 put the fun back into functional during the mid-1990s. It was as good to drive as any rival super-mini and still looks fairly modern with curvy, youthful styling, though it’s less radical than its funky little sister, the Ka. Ford’s bestseller got a fresh lease of life in the form of 16-valve engines, improved suspension and handling, good security measures and modern safety features.

The Fiesta may have a reputation for being a fairly subdued little runner, but a twitch of the throttle reveals the excitable yipping terrier under the bonnet jumping up and urging you to go faster. In that sense at least, it certainly puts in a good effort thanks to its lively 1.25 and 1.4 litre Zetec engines. It’ll easily manage 100mph if you keep your foot planted long enough and don’t encounter any hills or corners. And when you’re not braking this speed limit the Fiesta’s great grip and responsive handling make it fun to drive in the corners. Even today it still offers impressive performance for such an old banger. It’s arguably stood the test of time better than any of its old rivals, besides perhaps the Saxo in terms of handling. As a result of the refined suspension there were also vast improvements in the ride quality over previous incarnations. The Mk 4 handles the bumps and potholes of country lanes with surprising ease. Unfortunately this does mean there’s noticable body roll but this just makes it more fun in the corners if you ask me. Seats in the higher rang models like the LX and Ghia are reassuringly comfortable, whilst long journeys in the lower end models such as the Encore can be a tad painful on the.. erm.. lower end.

Overall the Fiesta Mk4 makes for a surpringly enjoyable drive thats packed with little surprises to keep you on your toes. No, it’s not perfect but it doesn’t have to be. That’s why I love it. It’s enthusiastic, willing and as many of you will know, doesn’t let you down. It’s a ford. It’s fun. Why, you might even say.. es un fiesta! 

Building the Grid

In order to transfer my design into InDesign I had to first set up the document and create the grid I'd be using the place my article and image into.

I've decided to base my page dimensions on Audi magazine because I drew alot of my inspiration from there and it's also slightly wider in it's proportions than other car mags which means my image, which is landscape, should fit well across the spread.

The page dimensions are 210 x 275mm. Similar to A4 size but shorter by 22mm.

I set the number of columns as 6 to start off with. This seemed to work in my sketched plans but may be subject to change. Most magazines I looked at (Audi included) used a gutter width of 4mm or just above that so I left the gutter at its default setting of 4.233mm.

I now had the basic page layout for my spread. I dropped the column height down by 8mm to allow space for any page headers I might want to include later on such as a feature name or the name of the magazine etc.

Last thing to do was to create the template for my design by drawing image and text boxes where in the desired positions. Once I have the basic template I can then drop images and text into these boxes and the spread will start to take shape. It's a good idea to plan out where these boxes are going to go before importing any actual articles or images because you can check the spacing and alignments of each element clearly. I filled the article text box with placeholder text to get a rough idea of how much space it would take up compared to the rest of the spread. I still need to finalize the article before I put it into the layout.

It became after adding the placeholder text that the article size I'd originally planned would be too thin. When the text is 7pt size you can only get a few words in one line. So I'm changing the columns so that they each utilize 2 of the over column widths spliting the page into 3rds instead of 6ths. However I am now aware that the space between the back of the car and the left edge of the article will be thinner. I may have to make further changes once the image is dropped in.