Derrick Keough's Magazine Blog

InTime by derrickkeough5

   Today’s update is all about my main story; behind the scenes, I’ve been gathering information about my topic - the history of the Rolex Daytona (also known as the “Cosmograph”) - and it’s relationship with the space race of the 1960’s as well as the now famous Daytona speedway in Florida in regards to Formula One racing. I’ve read   through   some interesting sites and text that delves into the rich history associated with the Daytona and have been periodically adding citations and creating my story, one sentence at a time!    When first brainstorming ideas for the main story on my two-page spread, I realized that if I chose the topic i did, that I might not have enough to say about the watch itself. However, as soon as I started scratching the surface about the timeline of the Daytona it was easy to see that I’d have a lot of content to work with; this story won’t be some one-dimensional blabbering about some random watch, there is so much to tell about the people, places, things

   Well, I'm back after a bit with much to share. I've been steadily working on the content for my two-page spread, wrapping up the majority of the shooting for my images today. Among some photos of the main watch my headlining story will be on I also made sure to snap a few photos of some other accessories and watches for my "Strap of the Month" mini story and other things!    I shot with a Nikon D5100 with a 50mm f1.8 lens, typically stopped at f3.5-f4 for focus. I set up some shots around the house using some natural lighting as well as using an LED panel kit I got on Amazon for some more consistent lighting and shot away! After I was done I brought all my files into photoshop for some touch-ups and edits in the color and exposure departments mainly... And for the magazine itself, I've made some decisions on the cover since I last posted my work here; let's play some spot the difference! Original                                     Redesign

   As time goes on the mental picture of my magazine gets clearer and clearer. My aim for this product in regards to target market and such would be towards a male audience, ages 21-55, with a higher socio-economic status; let's be honest, most of the watch enthusiasts of the world have some money to spare.  (Here, WatchTime Magazine's advertising page shows us their reach of 600,000+ "affluent watch collectors") This lends my magazine to market itself quite perfectly as a premium, subscription based issue. Furthermore, this leads to some things to keep in mind when creating the cover and content...    I'd like to avoid cluttering my cover page with cover stories, which is a lot easier to do for a subscription magazine as I don't need to "sell" it as much with the cover. In my mind, the cover is a natural extension of the artistic aesthetic that this magazine is geared to be. Here's a quick mockup of the minimalist clean idea I had.    I'

   After some deliberation, I thought it'd be best to make my decision on the theme of this project as soon as possible so that I can devote more of my time to developing my final product. That said, I've weighed out the options I presented to myself from my last posting and have decided on an horological magazine; a wristwatch magazine.    So, see what I did there with the title? It's time to get to work! Now, I've mentioned my most notable example for a watch magazine, (my personal favorite!) "Hodinkee", but among others include "WatchTime" which harks back to a more traditional format for a product-based magazine. Example of a typical WatchTime issue, coverlines highlighting some stories, main image being the product of the main story, etc.    Now then, let's take a look at how these two examples differ from each other in their formats (notably with their layout of content and "focus")    On the left, we see the

   Well well well, the time has come. Welcome to my cozy little corner of the internet, where I will be sharing my journey of creating what will hopefully be an exceptional concept for my magazine!    As I have run through my roughly drafted plans for this project, there's one part that concerned me the most; the start. I've noticed that beginning a project always seems to be the most daunting part of the process no matter the type, so I've set out some goals to help me ease myself into this large undertaking!    First off, I need to decide, and quickly at that, what the main theme of this project will be about; I have some ideas here. In my limited experience with magazines, I can jump to a few names of those that interest me... for my first topic of interest, fashion, GQ comes to mind.   What intrigues me here is not only the topic (I'm enthralled with men's fashion) but the focus on visuals. As for my other possible choice, these topics are mainly visu