Front cover construction

Construction of my front cover for my music magazine

(Genre Rock)

I started with a blank canvas on Photoshop using my flat plans as guidance and an main idea for the construction of my magazine cover

I then chose an image for my front cover and adjusted the size to fit the A4 size page. I chose this image because some of the other images were of a lower standard of quality and were unfocused. I also chose this image because it was a clear medium shot and the model is looking at the camer/audience. The model is scowling at the camera which I think represents the rock genre very well.

As the image was a studio image, it was too light and needed to become sharper to make it seem more 'Rock'. As I created my magazine in Photoshop, I changed the levels of the image to adjust the darkness of the image. This helped the image grasp a more metal rock look, which I was going for. Also it has really shown the light across her face which gives the image that extra something.

After I had constructed my masthead I applied it on my magazine cover. I tried to follow the common conventions by making the masthead take up approximately 1/8th of the cover. I chose this masthead because it really suited the genre of magazine I am creating. Also I have been researching different music magazines and the majority of them have a short and snappy masthead and this is what attracts audiences to a magazine.

After creating the masthead, the magazine needed a slogan of some sort and what better than something to do with 'Rock 'N' Roll'. I made it so that it would fit the length of the masthead. I think it suits the masthead very well. I had some inspiration from a few other rock genre magazine cover which helped me create this.

After completing the masthead and slogan, I needed to fill additional space to make it look like a music magazine. To do this I needed sub-headings and that is what I did. I created little headings about pop and rock bands/artists that are quite popular at the moment and wrote little comments about them, like most magazines do. I constructed these using the UrbanFonts website. This helped personalize my magazine in my own style and allowed me to expand on my design.

When I finished that, I created the models name using UrbanFonts again. This time I used a different font for her name to make it stand out like most music magazines do, and I have followed this. Once that was finished I created a stamp in a separate Photoshop document and used brushes to put it together. I changed the colour to a white background to make sure it stood out on the harsh black and red background.

After that I needed to fill more space and I created extra bits of text related to the genre of the magazine and I added more titles and headings. Also I added a barcode to make the magazine look more professional and like a real branded magazine.

I created another stamp informing the audience that it is the first magazine, I created the stamp again in Photoshop, but warped it this time because the image of the flag did not fit on the stamp without it being warped. The Union Jack gave the magazine stamp a sort of patriotic theme which helps give the magazine a rock theme and this was aimed at the target audience which appeals to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the finished product. I have made a few minor changes to the layout and added a few more comments to the headings and I have added in some crucial details to make the magazine more conventional. I also added an overlay of a vintage rock type of brush from Photoshop and this made the magazine cover look more like its genre. Personally I thought it was a nice touch and really completed the who magazine cover.