Skills development journal

Skills Development Journal

Making a magazine front cover..

First, I loaded up a A4 page, and added a grid so I would be able to place things in a neat way.

Masthead

Next, I started to think of ideas of a masthead, using photoshop default font. I used Sans-Serif because the magazine isn’t aimed at older people, but young people between the ages of 13-15.

Medium Close Ups

Then, using some images of four young men, I added them in and made them big enough so they are a medium-close up. Using the quick select tool, I made their backgrounds transparent.

Lead line

Using the text tool, I created the lead line which is relevant to the main image and the main article that would feature in the magazine

Cover Lines

As well as a lead line, the front page also needs cover lines so the reader will know what is inside the magazine, and if they see something interesting or fun they will want to buy the magazine.

Banner

Banners are used to show the reader what is inside the magazine, but in less detail than the cover lines. I did this by making a box, bringing down the opacity.

Finishing Adjustments…In the end, I rotated my masthead slightly, and added a pink shadow to make it more colourful and would appeal to the target audience of girls. I right clicking on the layer, and using the drop shadow options in ‘Blending Options’.

To make the magazine look more realistic, I added in a barcode I found on the internet.

Stages for my actual magazine

My final magazine is called ‘Beat’. I went through numerous stages on Photoshop to create three separate pages; The front

cover, Double Page Spread and Contents page.

Front cover…

My first stage was to put in my masthead. I simply did this by opening the JPEG file, then dragging the image using the ‘Move Tool’ onto a plain ‘A4’ page which would be the ‘Background’ layer of my Front Cover. I adjusted the size to fit nicely into the left corner of my magazine. The reason for this is because it is where magazines traditionally place their mastheads because of where they are placed on shelves in shops, so they can be easily seen from afar.

Masthead…

Tools I used:

Move Tool (v)

Lead Image…Next I put in my lead image, I did this again by opening theImage and drag and droppingonto my Front Cover. I then changed the image layer to greyscale because I wanted to make the image look more serious.

How I changed it the layer to greyscale:

Select the ‘Image’ option, then ‘Adjustments’

Then I clicked the ‘Black and white..’ option from the menu.

Then I was greeted with this screen, I used some of the sliders until the image looked how I wanted it to, then clicked ‘OK’.

Banner and vital information…Next I put in my banner and my vital information, this time I usedthe ‘Text’ tool and the ‘Rectangle Tool’ tool to create the banner. I simply made it by creating a rectangle, then placing the correct size font on the top. I alsocreate a Plus sign using the ‘Line’tool, then Merging the two layers together, after which I used ‘Blending Options’ to create adrop shadow.

For the information I simply usedthe ‘Text’ tool. I used the font ‘Centaury Gothic’ which is very similar to the font used for the masthead.

Tools I used:

Blending option

Text Tool

Line Tool

Rect

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Lead Line…For my lead line, I wanted itto be slightly off centred in the page, and in the same font as the current text on the page. I also wanted it to have the samecolours as the rest of the Front page, so I used the colourpanel to change some of thetext to white and some to orange to create a more interesting look. I also used the italics button to make some of the text italic.

Tools I used:

Text Tool Character Tool Box

Cover Lines...