Media progress on front cover

Progress On The Front Cover

My Front Cover

• When I started my first draft of my front cover, I kept referring to my layouts and designs that I made before hand so that I could get things to look exactly as I wanted them.

Choosing The Cover Image

• I decided to edit my favourite photos and then test them out by putting them on the cover and seeing what I liked best. Here are the ones I considered but didn’t pick.

Possible Cover Photos

My cover

• Here is a step by step showing of how I created my cover

• First I moved the image around until I felt it was in the right position.

• I wanted there to be enough space above and below the image so I could evenly spread other information.

• I looked back at my plan and I originally wanted a slanted banner across the page to display information.

• I also incorporated the hint of light blue into the banner.

• I then I put in the information that I used in my plan and I’ve used Photoshop to make the fonts different.

• I also tilted the text boxes to fit the slanted banner.

• Next I did the band logo which, again, I tried to make just like the one I had drawn.

• And the same with the Exclusive Interview sign which, at first, I decided to place under the banner.

• In my plan I had a small section of dotted red to put a bit more colour into the page.

• I then made the font look just like my plan by changing the width and height of the letters on photoshop.

• I then added the ‘inside’ to fit with my plan. I put a back drop shadow effect to make it stand out more.

• I decided to more the Exclusive Interview because it looked a bit out of place at the bottom.

• I then saw that there was a space above the Nimbus logo and thought something needs to be there so I made a tagline for the magazine.

• I then inserted 2 of my own pictures of the bands mentioned on the cover. Other pictures are often seen on covers of magazines so I think it makes it look more professional.

2nd DraftWorking on Photoshop

• Here I moved my main pieces from the Microsoft publisher document to the Photoshop document. This gave me a starting point but I wanted to make it more professional.

• I decided that the large gaps in the picture banner looked unprofessional, so I moved them to the side. Then, to make it clear what picture was what, I put the words over the top of the corresponding pictures. This also meant I had to change some of the fonts slightly to make them stand out like using a shadow or back drop.

• I then put in another picture of mine from a concert and used a glow and transparency effect on the fonts I was putting over the picture.

• My next problem was that there were gaps between the pictures and banner lines because I couldn’t get the to rotate all exactly the same, so I thickened the lines and moved them in front of the pictures.

• After looking at the banner again, I decided that I didn’t like the thick banner because it looked slightly unprofessional so I thinned them down.

• My next dilemma was that, in my last draft, I put information in different places with different fonts and it looked quite messy and I got comments about it so I tried a completely different idea to make it look neater and more attractive.

• I started by moving the Nimbus sign to make more room to pack more information onto my cover.

• My aim was to attract customers and a way I have seen this done is by using the same font but different sizes, and use band/artist names to attract fans.

• Here I added a barcode, price and date at the bottom of my page.

• I think it is neater when its smaller and fits perfectly into the gap at the bottom.

• I managed to find things that fit in perfectly as I reduced the font size.

• I think it makes it look more inviting and like the customer is getting good value for money.

Audience Feedback

• I conducted another piece of audience research and asked people about my cover at this point as I was happy with this finished draft.

• The audience feedback on my cover that said I should make the picture smaller so that I could fit a main cover line on my page.

• I decided that when I reduced the image size it looked too insignificant and wouldn’t be eye-catching to an audience. However I agreed that I needed a cover line like a normal magazine and some feedback also said that it was too text heavy at this point.

Solution

• When figuring out how to solve this problem I thought it may be better if I changes the main image all together allowing me space for my main cover lines.

• The picture I decided on also includes instruments which makes it even more obvious that it is a music magazine.

• Another piece of feedback suggested to me was that I increase the size of my masthead to make it more important-looking on the page.

• This meant I had to move my ‘exclusive interview’ so that it also had some significance on the page.

• Also, moving it next to the Nimbus logo makes it more obvious that the interview is of them.

• Following the colour scheme, I made the titles bigger and brighter with extra information, in smaller black font. This draws the reader in then gives them the information.

• I continued with this theme and then, gradually with smaller fonts, mentioned more artists to attract fans of them to read the magazine. I have now got main cover lines and less text.

• I then inserted a plug as, in my magazine research I often found these on the cover pages.

• The first magazine we looked at was Kerrang and on this cover, it had a plug.

• I thinned the blue banner lines as I think it makes them look less tacky and over whelming on the page.

Here are some other ways I have edited pictures for my magazine.