Cover Layout and Photoshop

Flat plan vs Final

To start off the magazine I first placed my final shot and positioned it to where I wanted it. I then proceeded to add my masthead in the top left hand corner of the screen. I did this as it follows the conventions and houses style of music magazines such as ‘Q’ and ‘XXL’. I then placed a black banner on the top of the cover.

I originally wanted the colour of my masthead/logo to be red. But then I noticed there was no red within my cover image. So I then decided to experiment with different colours. I first picked out the dark blue from the jean jacket. I also did another experiment by focusing on the grey in the interior of the clothing. I placed the logo next to the final image and I felt that the red was the one that worked the best. I felt that if I had used the blue there would have been too much of the colour. I also was against the grey because it made the magazine look a bit dull. Something I didn't want an R&B magazine to come across as. I later decided to Photoshop the lips of the model red to help make my magazine more cohesive.

I wanted to have my model in my cover image behind my masthead. This is because I had this idea within my flat plan, which followed with positive reviews from my target audience. As well as the fact that I wanted my cover image to stand out to the audience.

I first made a duplicate of my background, on the copy of the background I then selected the magic wand tool. Using the tool I selected the white background and then pressed the delete key on my keyboard. This got rid of all the white from the image. I then dragged the copy layer above my masthead layer so the image would be on top of it.

Magic Wand tool

I continued to add writing to my banner of my cover. The words I used were ‘THE UK’S GREATEST R&B MUSIC MAGAZINE’ I was inspired from ‘Q’ magazine. I experimented with different fonts to see what worked. To create the banner I used the shape tool from the tool bar to make a long rectangle I then filled it in black. The text I used was within Photoshop making it easier for me to try out different fonts.

As I progressed into creating my front cover I got rid of the banner because I realised that I was looking at conventions of a more contemporary music magazine. I then went back to look at my research on R&B magazines and I noticed very little covers used banners.

In the centre of the magazine I had the name of the artist in capitals. The name was then split into half. I did this by making two separate layers of the name. The first layer was the top half of the name and the second was the bottom half of the name. I then used my arrow keys to move the layer away from each other until there was a big enough gap to fit more text in. On the name I used bevel and emboss to make the name stand out, I also made it match the colour of the masthead to make the magazine more cohesive. To do this I selected colour overlay option and selected the colour I wanted.

Within the gap I used the text option on Photoshop and typed the words ‘THE NEW QUEEN OF R&B’, I scrolled through the font options within Photoshop and selected the one that was the most similar to the Masthead, I did this so there was more cohesion within the cover. This followed the layout of my flat plan.

Here you can see that I changed the cover image. I did this because I found that when I zoomed into the photo it was slightly blurry. I then found that the picture was slightly out of focus. I then selected another image from my test shots and continued to work with that. The image is very similar to the previous one, this one being more focused and higher quality.

I wanted to place my Pull quote near the name of the artist, I did this so the audience can see that it is from the artist and not some random text. I looked at where I could place the text. I first placed it in one line underneath the artists name. I chose not to do this as it looked over crowded and it was not standing out against the black shirt. I then chose to have the words within three lines. This makes the words easier to read and more spaced out.

I then started to add cover lines and a graphic within my work. To add a graphic I copied and pasted a plus sign shape onto Photoshop. Using the magic wand tool I selected the background of the image and then deleted it leaving me with just the graphic. I did not have a graphic within my flat plan. While creating my front cover I found that large amounts of R&B magazines have graphics which are ‘plus’ symbols. So I added one into my work to conform to the stereotype of an R&B music magazine.

Another feature of an R&B magazine which I chose to include was the banner of words at the top of the magazine. I also coloured the name ‘Chris Brown’ red. I did this so it shows the audience what other artists would be included in the magazine as it stand out against the other black text. The red also helps make the cover more cohesive.

I placed my cover lines to the right of the cover so the magazine would not look empty. I also made sure that it did not cover my models face when I was finished.

I added a barcode and a Quick scan code. For this magazine I created my own code by using the site http://www.qrstuff.com//. I created a website name for my music magazine and from there the website generated my own code for my magazine. I then saved the code and then pasted it onto Photoshop. I then used the transform option to manipulate the size of the code. I also had a barcode for my magazine. On top of the barcode I added a website address, price tag and a date. I added this to it because I found that a majority of music magazines have this convention within the covers. I placed the two at the bottom right hand corner of the cover. I didn't make them too big so it doesn't distract the readers from the cover image and cover lines.

I added ‘April 2016’ on my cover. I did this by clicking the text tool in the side bar, I then used the transform option to make the words smaller. I positioned the words underneath my masthead. I made it big enough to read but not too big to make it distracting.

I chose to add a date, as it shows what addition the magazine is as well as the fact almost everyone music magazine has this feature. So I added one to my cover to make it as genuine as possible.