Progression and improvements

Font research

I have been doing a small amount of research on fonts and what I could use for a font. I have come up with the conclusion, that my font will have to be either like a festival or bold or written like a scrap book. Here are a few that I liked the look of.

This font is quite good, but I don't think that it would be great for the title/logo of the magazine. I like it because it looks nice and gives off a "Skater" feel. I think it's because it's almost like graffiti and looks rebellious. I would not use this as my title/logo font because I want my title to look inviting. I could use this font somewhere in my magazine, but definitely not my title/logo.

I personally really like this font because I like the style of it. This is a potential style for my magazine title/logo because it is inviting and does not look aggressive. The only thing I'm unsure about is whether it will fit my graphic that I will use as a kind of underline. If this style does not fit my graphic very then I will probably use it as a the main feature font. The font for the text that tells you what will be in the magazine.

This is another font that I think would be a good contender for my title/logo. I think this font would be nice to use because it is easy to read and it looks good. I am not sure whether it fits my idea of going on top of a longboard graphic. I will use this font somewhere, but not sure where it could be used. Probably would be best if I used it on one of my other pages for a head line or sub heading or label for my product reviews.

Progress update

Today I have started to create a design for my logo. I have managed to make a good start on my idea and I personally think it looks alright, but it's not complete yet so I think it will look a lot better. Here is a screenshot of my progress so far.

I still have to add my title to the logo so that is what I will try to do in my own time or next session. I also need finish the colour in the wheels and trucks.

Progress Update 23/04/2015

I have made quite a bit of progress today with my project. I have added more detail  to my annotations on my research so that I can bump up  my grade. I made sure that all my notes were relevant to the pictures used. I also corrected a few grammar and punctuation mistakes.

Another article for magazine

I have written a small list of what to do and what not to do.

My own recommendation

I have written a recommendation for people to start longboarding or progress in the chain of difficulty. Here It is:

My personal longboard recommendation

Hey dudes, I’m Josh the designer of this magazine and I would like to spend a moment talking to all the new riders out there. This section will be dedicated to all the new riders and anyone who wants to start riding a longboard.

Firstly, there are different ways you can ride a longboard. There is cruising, freeriding and downhill riding. Cruising is the easiest and simplest way to longboard. All you need is a cheap longboard and then you can cruise. Cruising is just going around on your longboard like using it for transportation or just using it for some relaxing time. To cruise you don’t need any crazy setup. All you need is a cheap board, but I do recommend that you get some good bearings because you won’t need to push as often. You could also get a nice pair of trucks suck as the Holey trucks because they are cheap and great for turning and carving.

After you have been cruising for a while, you might want to step things up. If you are one of those people then you may want to try freeriding (my personal favourite). Freeriding is faster; more fun and more dangerous only because you have to be in the road or if you’re lucky you can find a wide path to do it on. Freeriding is mainly different kinds of slides, but you can do other tricks like grabs and some various jumps. If you are going to ride this way I would recommend a shorter longboard with a bit of concave. The Loaded Tan Tien is a great example, but the price is steep. For trucks you should grab some Caliber 2 trucks 50 degree angle. You will need some durable bearings if you want to pull off slides because they will wear out quickly. I would recommend that you grab some Magic Shrooms Longboard Bearings because they are very durable.  For wheels, you should grab some oragatang stimulus or orangatang Durian because they provide a good smooth ride and are great for sliding and freeriding in general.

If speed is your thing then I would recommend you try downhill longboarding. This is the most dangerous variation of longboarding because you will go at crazy speeds that could seriously harm you (not trying to put you off). I personally don’t like downhill only because the first time I tried it I got hurt bad, but if you want to I would recommend you buy a lot of protective gear and have a strong board. This riding style is the hardest and I only recommend doing it if you know you won’t get scared because that’s how you fall off. You will need a drop down deck or a strong non flexible deck. I would recommend that you buy a Bustin 2015 sportster pro. The trucks you should get would have to be 183mm gullwing black reverse longboard truck. For bearings you will need fast but durable bearings so I recommend that you get the Bones Super reds. You will want grippy and big wheels if you are going to go downhill. I would recommend that you get the 73mm Biggie Hawgs because they are grippy and used for downhill.

Colour scheme design

Colour scheme research

I am going to create a colour scheme using a website called Adobe Kuler. I will use this because it helps to create many different colour scheme ideas quickly and efficiently. Here is a link to the website: https://color.adobe.com

This is my main colour scheme idea. I have chosen these colours because I believe that they are relaxing and peaceful colours which suits that atmosphere of longboarding. The green is to represent the natural and “healthy” side of longboarding. The blue is to represent the peaceful atmosphere within the community of longboarding. The light yellow is used represent the thrill of longboarding and how it is nice to learn. The white represents the simplicity of the sport. Finally, the green represents the people of the longboard community and how they are all approachable by others.

I think these colours will fit quite nicely on my magazine, but I want these to be more specific.

These colours are the more specific versions of my main colour scheme

Main Research/planning

On the first day of properly working on the final major project, I decided that I should some research. I thought by researching some information would be extremely beneficial to me because I will need it to use within the small magazine that I will create.

I have collected research from various sources. this information is reviews on long board products such as decks, trucks, wheels and bearings. I needed to collect this information because I want to use reviews in my magazine so that it becomes more informative and useful. I also want to make sure that the language used sounds like the language skaters use.

I have managed to create a few sketches of my magazine front cover so that I can get a clear idea of how it will look. So far looking at them I think I will go with my second sketch idea because it is better and looks like it will be less cluttered. I also Like the way I did the name of the magazine down the side of the page.