Production process of the front cover

for my music magazine

I opened Photoshop and began to create the front cover for my music magazine. I created a text box and tried out various fonts and eventually chose Impact as it was bold and made the masthead stand out. I used size 115 font.

I created a new layer and used effects tool on Photoshop to modify the text with all effects for example - the shine in the corner of the text, also the colour change through out the text.

This is the end result, the masthead stands out and the effects make it attractive.

I then used the fill bucket tool to add the background colour. I tested out a number of colours and felt black would be best as it made the masthead stand out but also wouldn’t clash with the front cover image. However, I felt the black was too heavy so used the gradient tool to add some white and it made the background colour lighter. It makes the masthead stand out and the front cover look appealing. This also fits in with the colour scheme through out all 3 of my products.

I then created a smaller text box to add my strap line below the masthead. I used size 14 font compared to size 115 font I used for the masthead. I chose a black font for stylistic reasons as it is simple but still stands out from the grey background so the reader can see it easily.

Here is the original image I took for the front cover.

I then imported my front cover image on to Photoshop and flipped the image around due to the layout of my magazine I felt it would look better.

However, some of the original image still appeared beside the new one so I sampled the background colour and painted over the original image and this is how it turned out.

After I used the lasso tool to take out the background of the image. I felt like the girl in the image was too small and that there was too much space surrounding her. So I imported the image again and cropped her out so that I could resize her.

I then began adding my cover lines. I used Britannic bold font in the colour white so it would stand out against the dark clothing of the image, for the caption of the cover line I used the same shade of red which I had used in the masthead to keep consistency through out my product. I then used the effects tool to add a white outer glow to make it easier for the reader to understand as you couldn’t make it out before.

I continued to add my cover lines in the same font being Britannic bold to fit the codes and conventions of a front cover only using 3 different fonts. I chose the colour white to fit the colour scheme of the magazine but also because it stands out against the grey background.

I then created 3 rectangles to break up the cover lines as it is part of the codes and conventions to have a graphic feature on your front cover. I chose the colour red as it fits part of the colour scheme but also because it is a bright colour instead of white or grey.

I then imported a barcode from Google and resized it to the actual size of a barcode. I then created to small text boxes on top of the barcode which I then added the issue number and the price of the magazine so the reader has a clear idea of the price of the magazine and when it was published. Underneath, I added a website for the magazine which the reader could access for more information.

For both of the text I chose size 8 Arial font in black so that it was small enough to fit with the barcode but the reader was still able to understand it.

I then used the shape tool to create a black rectangle at the bottom of the front cover as a graphic feature. I then created text box over the graphic feature, I used size 30 Impact font as I had used the same font through out and as it is a unique selling point, this font makes it stand out even more. I chose the colour yellow to fit in to the colour scheme of the magazine but also because it stands out to the reader. By offering the audience free merchandise it gives them incentive to buy the magazine.

This is the finished product of the front cover for my music magazine.