Chelsea Kierans describes the process of designing the cover of her magazine "Alt Nation", which focuses on alternative and pop-punk bands. She chose a simple white background and included a picture of the band All Time Low. She edited out the background of the picture and added the magazine title and issue number. Additional details such as band names, pictures, and a barcode were added to make the cover look professional. Kierans then describes setting up the inside pages in a landscape format and including more pictures and an interview to provide more in-depth content than the cover.

1. Production Reflection
Chelsea Kierans

2. Process
Firstly, I opened a Photoshop document. I
then made sure the paper was A4 (297 by
420) ‘international paper’. I then decided to
have a white background colour for my
magazine cover. I thought it would make my
cover stand out a bit more because it isn’t
often you see magazines with plain white
backgrounds. I also liked the idea of a
simplistic magazine. I thought I’d make a
magazine for bands with less of a platform,
because of the kind of music they play, which
is alternative/pop-punk. I decided to call my
magazine ‘Alt Nation’ because it was shorter
than ‘Alternative’ and was a name I think
people would get behind.

3. Process
I picked a picture of All Time
Low to put on the font of my
magazine as they are well
known in the alternative
world, and I like them
personally. I used the magic
wand tool to get rid of the
background of the picture
that I chose, as I still wanted
to keep it as a simplistic
magazine. I made sure I didn’t
cut anything important off
and then put the masthead on
next, to make sure I had a
better idea of what my
magazine was going to look
like once it came together.

4. Process
I made the writing
black to emphasise
that it is important and
that you need to look
at it. It is very bold
against the white
background and it
makes it look as
important as it is, as it
is eye catching. It also
matches their outfits
and makes it a little
more pleasing to the
eye as it is dark, like
the picture. A nice
contrast.

5. Process
I then decided to put
the bands name ‘All
Time Low’ in a good
place, near the
bottom, I used the
eyedropper tool to
take the colour from
one of their shirts and
then wrote their name
in the same colour,
and kept a theme
going with the colours.
I did this to keep the
contrast that I have
going and make sure it
still looks nice.

6. Process
I then added a picture
of another well
known band in the
‘alternative’ type of
music (Mayday
Parade). I did this so
then I had another
band in my magazine
and I hinted at what
was in the magazine,
like a sneak peak. I
did this underneath
the picture as a
caption with the
textbox tool.

7. Process
Afterwards, I put a caption under
‘All Time Low’. I then found a
barcode on the internet, and used
the picture to put onto my
magazine to make it look as
professional as possible. Then I
added my price to the top of the
barcode. My price was £5.99, and I
came to this conclusion by thinking
about how thick the magazine was
and the information in it. I thought
it would be quite a large magazine,
and that the information inside
was official and never heard before
information so it would be silly to
sell it for anything less. After doing
this I added the issue number
underneath my masthead, where
people can see, so the they know
what issue they are buying.

8. Process

9. Process
The way this double page spread is set up is different to my cover
because the information that needs to be included on this bit of the
magazine is more in depth than the cover, there is a lot more to write
and you have more room to do so. To start with, I made the paper so it
was A3, and then made it landscape instead of portrait, this then made
it look more professional and like it should be in a magazine.
I picked a picture of all time low and made sure I could edit out the
background, as I did with the cover. I then moved this picture to the
bottom right of the page. Before I did this, I made sure I had the
guidelines of where the middle was and where the bleed line was so I
knew where to place things on my page. I then took the All Time Low
logos and made the words one into y title and then used the picture
logo as a background for my interview that I wrote myself. I also chose
some pictures of them from the internet that I thought I would include
within the magazine because it made it look less plain and made it
more interesting for people to read and look at.