Witht the skills learnt from photoshop and the ideas to emulate magazine front covers I was able to produce my very own front cover of a magazine using photoshop and including all the key details such as a mathshead, a barcode, the date, puffs of information and a central image. The evaluation and key stages of this process are shown below;
STARTING IMAGE |
On the left hand side here is the preview of the original image I used for my front cover. I especially picked out this image to be the central attraction of my front cover on the basis that it was simple and went well the title of my magazine cover which is explained below. When thinking about doing another magazine cover I will be sure to use a Digital SLR Camera in future because the image became slightly pixilated when zoomed in on photoshop. Overall this image worked successfully with my front cover.
STAGE ONE |
Here on the right hand side shows the first stage of making my magazine front cover on photoshop. I originally had the idea of siding with a black and white theme because I wanted my magazine to be different and follow an 'old school' style. I thought this complimented the central image picture and allowed the magazine to look slighty more sophisticated. When comparing this image to the one shown above, not only has the colour contrast changed dramatically but I have used my photoshop skills to crop and erase the background so that the image of the girl is more prominant and the plain background can be filled with key details on information about the contents of the magazine. Overall I think the grayscale theme works well with the image and helps promote the style and theme I was heading for.
This image here is the representation of my second stage in the process of producing my magazine front cover. As clearly shown, it has come a long way from the image shown above. The first step was thinking and creating my magazine title, otherwise known as the mathshead. My main title for the magazine was chosen to be 'That Girl Daily' with a strapline promoting 'An Insiders View'. I have chosen these titles because I wanted the magazine to come from the view of a sixth form school student, therefore 'An Insiders View' is complimentary to both the title and the central image. I used a well known website called DaFont to create these titles, by copying, pasting and then applying to the image and multiplying so that it blends well with the background. The text fonts I used were 'Today' and 'Travelling Typewriter'. I used the website of DaFront rather than the text tool in photoshop because it allows a more varied option of text fonts to add variety to the magazine, using the 'text flip tool' I was allowed to add variety and have the writing going vertically down the page for a different effect. I think using two different types of text for the mathshead really makes the magazine original, and also sticks to the 'old school' theme. In stage two I have also added a barcode, date and price to the magazine as these are the key essentials to making a magazine more realistic. I have put the price in a darker grayscale puff in order for the cheap price of the magazine to stand out and have thoughtfully placed it by the title so it is noticable for the buyers to see. The last stage in this process was creating the background puff behind the text in the top right hand corner. I believe allowing the puff to go behind the text allows for a more varied look and although it is being covered, makes it stand out more. Inside the puff reads 'Bringing You Your Weekly Edition'. I have chosen to put this in my magazine because I believe it makes it more personal, the use of personal pronouns allows for the reader to feel more engaged and essentially wanting them to buy the magazine. The 'Weekly Edition' allows the reader to know that the magazine is produced on a weekly basis. I chose the choice of having a star shaped puff to add a greater effect on the magazine which works well. Overall I was really pleased with how the first few stages of my magazine were coming along and how my knowledge of photoshop and websites such as DaFont has allowed me to create a sophisticated effect to the overall magazine.
Stage three in the process of making my magazine mainly involved adding the information of the contents of my magazine. Firstly, at the bottom of the magazine I used the 'Text Tool' in photoshop to create a simple but clear website link address. It reads 'Feature Stories Now Avaliable Online At www.ThatGirl.Blogspot'. The main reason for adding this feature was not because it was an important piece of information to get across, it was because the magazines audience is aimed at young sixth form students and the youth of this century are extremely familiar with the avaliabilty to internet access that it was more of a promoting point for the magazine to help attract the younger readers. Therefore it is has been positioned at the bottom of the page on the left hand side so it clearly notable yet not a feature point. I especially like the way the text covers part of the central image aiming for more effect, again sticking to the grayscale theme. After following through with lots of research on the emulation of magazine front covers, I mainly picked out the point about how I liked the fashion ideas to stand out on the front covers. Good examples of these are 'Look' magazine, 'Heat' magazine and 'Teen Vogue'. Therefore my inspiration came from these magazines and so I added a fashion style part to the front cover. 'The New Mix For Autumn Trends' was the catchline I used to promote my fashion style part. I designed this magazine around the time of autumn and so the theme connected to this. For this I created a Text box in microsoft word and used a light 'Broadway' font in 'Italics' to create a different typewriting effect. I then used the copy and paste technique, cropping and then selecting and multiplying to get it to the professional standard it is now. By this point my magazine was really starting to come together and look professional, I believe it was beginning to hit and aim for reaching the needs of its target audience which was young female sixth form students aged between sixteen and eighteen.
Stage four was the final stage before my magazine was initially checked by my media teachers. By this point I was almost finished, I had included the esstential details a magazine needs such as the date and the barcode and the price, I had used key skills and knowledge of photoshop to create different fonts of text which stand out to the reader, and including ideas from magazines I had previously carried research out on. So for my concluding part I decided to add an 'Exclusive' story and an image on which I imported along with some more inserted text. Through research on other magazines and through my own knowledge and understanding of media texts it was an obvious point that each and every magazine had at least one cover or feature story. Therefore I included one in my own. I had the word 'Exclusive' written underneath the date on my magazine which is almost directly under the headline, the reason for this positioning was because it needed to be recognised. Therefore I used a clear font, and placed the words in 'bold' to make it stand out, I also used the text tilt tool on photoshop to make the positioning of the word titled so it can again, stand out. I then inserted another grayscale puff onto the magazine which is the exclusive cover story, in order for it to stand out I wrote the words in block capitals and used the words to make the reader feel more engaged, 'Why Pride And Prejudice Worked For Me'. Lastly to fill the last gap on my magazine front cover I used an image of a music note, it was small enough to not block out the central image but not so small that it wasn't notable to the readers eye. I think the image of the music note promotes the less formal part of the magazine, 'Including The Latest Must Have Tunes To Get You Motivated'. As the magazines audience is young students, and I am trying to make the point that the magazine is written and produced by a student, it comes as no surprise that people will be interested in the music inductry and what they produce. Therefore I added in this section to help get the readers wanting to buy the magazine, again using personal pronouns to make them feel a part of it. Handing in this as an initial front cover, I was pleased with the overall result. I had stuck to my 'old school' theme and used different tools and targets to create different effects.
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