The document describes the process of designing the cover of a fanzine magazine. The designer experimented with different fonts and layouts to create a punk aesthetic and make elements like cover lines prominent. This included using a stencil font enlarged and feathered to look handmade, and choosing a bold "Impact" font for cover lines against a brick wall background. The main cover image was edited by removing the model from the original background and adding a shadow to make the composite look realistic.

1. First Draft

2. Plan First Draft

3. As I was going to use a stencil font, I was inspired by “Kerrang” to make it look like a real stencil had been used to create the masthead. This also added to the punk image I was trying to create. I selected the text and then expanded the selection by 10 pixels and feathered it by 5 pixels. I then selected the inverse and on a new layer went round areas of the edge with a graffiti spray style brush. Following a common magazine convention, I made the models head slightly cover the masthead as it creates the illusion of depth by creating layers. Masthead

4. Main Cover Line I was inspired by the David Bowie song to call my band “Suffragette City” as the song appeals to rock fans but also the reference to suffragettes reflects the female fronted band. However, when I tried to write the name in my chosen font, I didn’t like the way it looked. I decided to use a different font that would add to the fanzine look I was going for.

5. When I added my cover lines on top of the brick wall, I realised that the font I had chosen was not appropriate as it was not bold enough to stand out against the brick wall pattern. I also realised that cover lines needed to be more prominent as it is the features they advertise that will sell the magazine to the potential consumers. I chose to use “impact” as it was bold, simple and also looked liked the fonts used on posters advertising gigs. As I wanted to make my feature cover line “Billy Tee” stand out from the others, I made it slightly larger and decided not to use a image for my final cover line. This also meant I had room for a barcode, making my magazine look professional. Following a common magazine convention, I put my price and date line win the barcode. Cover Lines

6. After my photo shoot, I realised that the background of my image was not appropriate as there was a washing line a bricked in window on the wall which framed my head. I decided that I would cut round the model using the lasso tool and put it on a new background. So that I could follow the photographic rule of thirds, I positioned the model on the right third. I also made her bigger. I didn’t use much editing on her face as she had used lots of make up but I did clone out a hair that was on her tooth, making it look brown. I also removed the red eye by selecting the area and changing the colour balance. I wanted the models eyes to be bluer and so I coloured the area in with the paint brush, then used soft light and changed the opacity. As I had removed the model from the natural background, I wanted to add a new shadow to make it look realistic. To do this I selected the area the model was in and expanded it by 15 pixels. I then feathered it by 12 pixels and on a new layer filled it black. I then used the gaussian blur and opacity levels to make it less hard and moved it into the correct place. Image

7. Image Before: After: