Construction and development:Development of my font cover.

The picture I chose to use for my front cover was not one I originally intended to use, however I then thought that it would look well because there is enough room around the picture therefore this meant that my final front cover would not look to cramped, and this is one of the things that I wanted to avoid when researching other magazines. This picture is a mid shot which helped with the choosing of the photo, and it follows normal convention. One thing I like about this picture is that the subjects hair creates an ideal background to fame the title of the magazine. I didn’t like the flash that is on the subjects face and this is one of the main reasons as to why I chose to edit the photo.

Step One:

The first thing I did when I opened this photo in Photoshop is I edited the subjects face, as I did not like the flash and I thought that it was too bright for the style of the magazine. First of all I used the colour pick tool to pick out a colour that was desirable and I painted over the parts of the face which had the flash on, I then reduced the opacity of the layer to make it more realistic. After this I used a brush called mixer brush to make the subjects face softer, which also reduced the flash further. To enhance the subjects eye-lashes I used the burn tool to define them more, and then to produce the eyeliner effect I used a normal brush and painted across her lower eye-lash lid I then reduced the opacity of the layer and added a Gaussian blur which made the eyeliner look more realistic.Another thing I did was I got rid of the stray hairs that were above the subjects left eye to do this I used the spot healing brush to clean it up more.The last thing I did when editing this picture was I darkened the colour of the subject’s jeans by going over them with a simple brush tool with the desired colour I wanted, and changed the layer blending mode to colour so that the paint fitted well on the jeans and did not look stupid.

Step Two:

Step Three:

I decided that the picture did not look symmetrical, and the right bottom corner, as there was a door there, so I decided to use the lasso tool and cut out part of the background on the left and I flipped it and made it fit to the other side to make it look more symmetrical, I also erased the edges to make the picture look more natural, I also think that the picture works well without the door at the bottom.

Step Four:The next thing I did was add my title. I created my title in Photoshop, the font of my title is one called bleeding cowboys. I got the idea of this font from the internet, and I thought that it would work well with the theme that I am trying to set with my magazine as it is more of a gothic theme of writing. To create the purple burn effect around the edges I used the smudge tool and dragged it up, and down to make the effect more noticeable. This was originally orange as I wanted to create a burn effect but then I decided it didn’t stand out enough against the subject’s hair so I changed the colour, to the colour of her trousers, and I found that this worked allot better. Another reason as to why it worked better is because purple is more of a gothic colour, along with black, whereas orange is not and I don’t think it would of been as effective as the purple is now.

Step Five:

The next step I took was the making of band name, I wanted this to be one of the first things I put on my front cover so I knew that I would have room for it and I could base my other articles around it. The font I used for the band name was Algerian, I thought that this text was an appropriate text to use, as it is clear and readable but the particular font adds an artistic element to the front cover, which I feel is important in attracting readers. I also added a black blur behind the text to make it stand out more. To do this I duplicated the layer and changed it black, I then Rasterized the text and added a Gaussian blur and duplicated the layer more than once to make the blur stand out more.

Step Six:

The next step involved me adding two articles to my front cover, these articles are simple, but I feel they are effective, I used the colour purple as I feel it stands out more, and also it allows the reader to know that purple is the main colour of the magazine it’s self. I have used different texts for these articles to show that they are two completely different things. Meaning that the top ten most wanted is more relevant to do with the whole theme of the magazine then the You Me At Six Vs All Time Low article. Again I used the blur behind the text to help it enhance it more, and I think that this worked well.

Step Seven:The next step I took was to create the black bar I have at the bottom, to create this i simply opend a picture in Photoshop and painted over it black, I then dragged the picture over to my front cover and changed the opacity of the layer and size to make it fit across the bottom of my page. To make the red arrow that is on top of the bar I created to red squares by selecting the shape tool in Photoshop and turned one square around to make it look like a diamond and I then merged them to make the arrow. I then added the text and thought that by using the red plus sings it may make them stand out more, and I think that this worked well.

Step Eight:

The next things I added was the barcode, the little red lightning bolt and the album art. I created the album art in Photoshop, I used the same subject that is in my front cover and took the picture of her holding a rose. I then changed the colours and made the rose purple instead of red I thought that this would work well with my magazine as my theme is purple. I think that were I have placed my barcode has worked well and has followed normal convention of a magazine.

Step Nine:

The next step I took was adding another article, this article was my first picture article and I feel that it collaborates well with the page, I tried to use the same text when I felt that the article was important, as I tried not to use a variety of different texts as this may make the magazine look unprofessional and scattered. I also used the same blur behind the picture and the text to make it stand out more, and also to make it obvious that the text is to do with the picture.

Step Ten:

I added some text above the bands name as I found that this is of normal convention in other magazines. By adding this I also thought that it added more to the magazine and so the magazine didn’t look so bare between the text and the subject’s chin and I feel that it lessened the gap well.

Step Eleven:

One of the last things I added to my front cover was my final article, I feel that by using only two picture articles it makes them stand out more on my front cover and it doesn’t look cramped I did not edit the picture in anyway, however I did tilt it to not make it straight as I did not want it to look to formal but on the other hand I didn’t want it to look symmetrical with the other side, so I did not tilt it much. I used black boxes with reduced opacity behind the text as I thought that it would make it stand out more because the text is on a white background, and it helped the text.

Step Twelve:

The final thing I did to my front cover was I added a darker effect to the background, to do this I painted over the background with a black brush and reduced the opacity, I thought that this just made the whole front cover look better, as before I think that it looked to bright for a rock themed magazine so I feel that the darker background helps the front cover a lot.