The first thing I did when starting the front cover is to choose my image and edit it. I edited in Photoshop which I have a bit of experience with as I use it in photography to edit digital photos. I then renamed it ‘Front cover photo’ so that I would not get mixed up when putting it into InDesign.

Then I created my Masthead and magazine name text. In research I have gone through the different names that I came up with and settled with ‘Assault!’ which works well with a genre where other magazines are called ‘Revolver’ and ‘Metal Hammer’. I found the font on Dafont, then downloaded and edited and tweaked it to look like this in Photoshop. As you can see the background is not there (shown by the chequered grey and white in most software) so that I can add it into InDesign without the background. This also meant I had to save it as a ‘.PNG’ file instead of a ‘.JEPG’ file (standard picture file type).

I opened InDesign and started to put my Front page together. First I adjusted the width and height of both the page and the picture to the ‘mm’ above. Then I added the background picture in, but before I did that I had to make a copy of the image in Photoshop and crop it to just the middle persons outline. By doing this I could overlay it on the original image and over the top of the masthead and create this 3D effect. Then I added the pre made masthead and adjusted it the right size to fit nicely.

This step added a complication to the so far easy process of production. I wanted to use this text font for the band name, but because of the differing colours of the image I would not work in black or white, and that was my colour scheme. I tried overlaying both black and white, and changing the colour but I would not work. I looked back on some of my research for inspiration and realised that on the front cover the band names are in normal font of the magazine, so I didn’t need a very fancy and unique font for this section of the task.

I decide to go for this text, which looks out there but is still legible. For the problem with the image and the text colour I easily sorted it by putting a white box around it, which I think adds to the whole appeal of the cover. I also added a black ‘blood splat’ that I created on a Photoshop-like program called Sumo Paint.

For all of the magazines I looked at they all had a free posters advertisement on the front of the magazine. I had this on my plan so I added it in as I planned it. I made the ‘fade to black’ around the images in Photoshop so that they looked realistic and imaginative.

I also added a article plug as many most magazines have at least one if not more. I didn’t have much space and I didn’t want to clutter the cover.

So I had added all of my separate bits to the front cover including the footer of band names at the bottom and the issue and price. Now I waited to get feedback.

Feedback:• Very suitable colours and a

good composition. Its quite hard to read the footer of the other bands. I also like the poster pictures, they look very realistic.

• Suitable images and fonts that match the genre of metal/punk rock. Possibly too much white behind the text in some places.

• The cut out of the front guy is pixelated and shows up clearly that is cut out.

• Masthead and images suit the genre very well. The fonts work well and are clear to read.

The two main problems that came up was the fact that the footer text was hard to read , and that the middle persons cut out wasn't cut out well enough and was pixelated. For the footer, I tried making it easier to read but without making it too big or compromising the font that runs the cover I cannot change this aspect. And for the cut out part I did feather it slightly but I did not see it as a big problem as his hair is very dark and it blends into the masthead anyway.

To start my contents page I created these two banners that include the title of the page and ‘this week in Assault’. I put these in a bright colours so that they are highlighted and stand out on the page but at the same time I kept with the font from my front cover linking the pages together. I added the black splodge over the sub-heading to make it more interesting and stand out from the others.

This is the main body of text in on the contents page and actually shows the contents. The first thing I did was to make the sub headings and the lines down the page. Then I created the numbers which I had to do individually on Dafont and then place onto the document. The text was easy to do and fitted into the space quite well and did not bulk it out. The album cover I actually created in The online software Sumopaint, and then placed onto my InDesign document.

I had a slight problem when it came to number ‘31’ as the black splodge that made the contents page unique and more interesting made the black writing hard to read, I then had to make the text white with a black outline so you could read it on the white of the page and the black of the splodge.

I then finished of My contents by added the main image to the top of the magazine like in Kerrang. This image I took when I went and saw Biffy Clyro live and so would work very well in my rock, metal and punk rock magazine. I then added the article tag so that readers new who the image was of and what page It was on.

Feedback:• Really like the image you

have used and the font. You could make the sub-headings bolder so the really stand out.

• I really like this as the picture is good and the colour scheme works really well. I think that the white text in the corner stands out too much compared to the others, maybe get rid of the splodge and then make it black like the others?

• Contents page text box is too large. Layout of page numbers should be modified. Subheadings too large.

• Link really well to the front page with the type of image and the colour scheme. It is very well set out except for the splodges as I think they make the writing near them too hard to read. Otherwise excellent!

I think the feedback was very good for this piece of work and reassured me that I am on the right track. The main concerns were the black splodges on the page and the size of the sub headings. I think without the black splodges the contents page would be too boring! The splodges make it more fun and interesting and I do not think that 31s writing stand out too much as its small. Also magazines always miss out letters or cover them up like in the ‘This week in Assault:’ in front covers they are almost always going over the masthead. My magazine is a running thing (hence the issue 4) not a new one which means that the people that buy it would know what it says anyway. And for the sub headings I got a feedback saying that its too small and one saying they are too big, so they average themselves out.

I needed a suitable image for the double page spread that has enough space around it for the text and has a gradient side that fades to black so that the text can be a solid colour. I experimented with the white side but in the end chose to go dark and the left side on the image. I created the fade to black in Photoshop and saved the image as a different file just in case I needed the original image.

Edited image

Original image

I then added the body copy, by-line, drop capital, and the header to the main spread. I encountered a problem that I had to much content to fit on my double page spread without losing the effectiveness of the image so I made another page to add on as extra content. I created the typewriter –like font by getting the font off Dafont then deleting the background in Photoshop.

For the third page I made it quite basic but still as good as the previous page. I edited this image in Photoshop by sharpening it and increasing the saturation to really bring out the colours, I also made the bottom and the sides fade to black so that the white text could be fitted onto it easily.

For the main body copy of this page I shaped it around the image so that it stayed in the black but also looked more fitting with the image. I also added page numbers to my pages.

After adding tweaks to all three of the pages, I decided it was time to get feedback on my double (triple) page spread. I used the same method for my other feedbacks but I chose the people instead of having random people as they were the best at giving constructive feedback.

Feedback:• Make the ‘T’ on page 24 a drop capital, also I cant read your name under

the subheading.• I cant read the sub heading properly. I like the way that the article doesn't

disrupt the image. • The ‘They’ at the beginning needs to be the same size as the rest of the

body copy on that page(but leave the ‘T’ big). I cant quite read the sub heading so you could make it bigger.

• I cant read the sub heading very well. Also the title is too small and

should not have the white background. Nice background image. The article seems quite long and page three does not stand out.

I think this has been the best feedback of my three productions and has really helped me change the thing that need to be changed. Firstly I used the advice of making my name bigger so that its was legible. A lot of my feedback wanted me to make the subheading larger an so easier to read, but I think its perfectly legible and it could not go any bigger without losing the quality so a kept it the same. I tried changing the background colour on the title to transparent but as you can see above, it does not stand out enough so I changed it back to the original. Also I thought that the third page was boring and bland so I added a pull quote to make it more interesting and keep the reader hooked.