The document provides details on the layout and design elements of a music magazine front cover that the author is constructing. Key elements include: 1) Programs used - Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. Photoshop used to edit images and InDesign for layout. 2) Basic layout follows conventions including masthead, cover lines, main image, issue details. Colors, fonts and effects are used to attract the intended hip hop audience. 3) Elements are described in detail including editing a poster image in Photoshop, designing the bold gold masthead in InDesign, and positioning the cover lines and main image to follow industry standards.

1. MUSIC MAGAZINE FRONT COVER CONSTRUCTION.

2. The programmes I will be using: Adobe Photoshop CS3- I will be using this programme to edit images. InDesign- I will be creating my magazine here.

3. FLAT PLAN Box out with freebie Poster MASTHEAD COVER LINE COVER LINE COVER LINE Main image Issue number Price Date Barcode Box out with competition on it This is the basic layout I would like my magazine to follow as I feel it is very basic but still effective. As you can see the layout very much follows that of the magazine opposite with a few of my own ideas.

4. Here is the background of my magazine, first I had to create it on Photoshop and then imported it to InDesign, I have chosen a black background as I feel the typography will stand out on and contrast well on top of it. Also black is a colour that is associated with hip hop therefore using this colour will play a role in attracting the audience.

5. In the top left hand corner I have decided to have a poster which will represent a freebie that will be present inside my magazine. Freebies are an effective way of attracting the audience as they cause the audience to feel the excitement of receiving something new further attracting them. I firstly opened my picture on Photoshop where I edited it. Having edited on photo Shop I saved it as PNG and placed it on to InDesign. After putting it on InDesign I had to play around with the angle until I felt it was right. Here are the steps I took in producing the poster: Firstly I opened my image on to Photoshop and erased the background. Continued on next slide.

6. I then added the posturize affect. After this I applied a black background to the image. Also if you look closely you will be able to see a piece of thread on the face of my model which is hanging down from his cap, I used the clone stamp to remove this. I cloned a part of his face and then used it to get rid of the thread. Finally I placed it on to InDesign.

7. As you can see here the Masthead is quite bold and simple. Masthead- On other hip hop magazines the typography is usually quite bold and simple therefore I selected a font that I felt reflected this( Gills San Ultra Bold). I have used gold because it was one of the colours I have selected for my house style. Also gold is a colour that represents wealth and power therefore by making the mast head gold I believe it will cause my audience feel like they are buying something that buys them in to this. Having coloured my font gold I have applied the outer glow effect as I feel it causes the gold to stand out. I created my mast head within InDesign as I have previously mentioned using the Gills Sans Ultra Bold font, after selecting the font I manipulated it by increasing the height by stretching the font.

8. I have created a box out creation in InDesign which I have decided to coloured red. This is because red is a colour which is bright and will catch the audiences attention. On this box out I added text about the freebie (the poster) . As I have mentioned before freebies are an effective way of attracting the audience. I then coloured the font which explained the freebie white as it stood out well on the red.

9. COVERLINES I placed the cover lines on the left third of the magazine following the codes and conventions. This causes the magazine to stand out while on the shelves and allows the audience to see the featured articles which play a part in attracting them. Articles are another convention which play a huge part in attracting the audience as they allow them to be aware of the content inside the magazine. Therefore I had to make them short and snappy and something that would attract the audience. For the first article I used the name of my model who if she was someone famous in real life would attract the audience as it would be about somebody they admire. I varied the colour of the text to cause the article to look more diverse. For the first article I left the inner part of the text black and added a gold out line, I felt this would draw the audiences attention. For the gold outline I used the outer glow effect on InDesign. After this “I wanna go solo” is in white as the contrasting colours cause the magazine to look more effective. Also to “I wanna go solo” I added a satin effect as I felt it made it look quite edgy and different reflecting the genre of the magazine and also contributing to the mis en scene.

10. For the rest of my cover lines I varied the colours to enhance the appearance of my magazine causing to look eye catching which would attract the audience. For the second cover line I again used the outer glow, as you can see there is a pattern of solid text and text with an outer glow.

11. Having selected the image I was going to use on the cover of my magazine I erased the back ground in Photoshop, I chose a picture I felt would be placed well on my magazine and portrayed a hip hop stars persona best. I knew the picture had to be extremely good and excellent quality as the main image of the magazine plays a huge part in the presentation of the magazine. After erasing the back ground with the magic wand tool I inverse selected it and then feather it to give it a smoother finish allowing it to blend in to the background well. After doing this I saved my picture as a PNG ( so the background would be transparent) and imported it on to InDesign. On InDesign I played about with the positioning until I had positioned in such a way that I felt looked right.

12. I created a second box out on InDesign for the bottom of my magazine which I coloured red as I would after put a competition on it, I felt it contrasted well with the black and having it in red would again catch the readers attention. I varied the colour of the words limited edition Ipod as I had it in black instead of white like the rest of the text. I did this as I felt it emphasised the importance of the prize.

13. As you can see here there is a blank space therefore I have decided to place something here. I have covered this area by adding another cover line.

14. I placed the barcode in the bottom right hand corner of my magazine front cover in the portrait position, bar codes allow the magazine to be easily identified. Above the barcode I added the Issue number, date and price which would allows the audience to be aware of what they are buying. These conventions are vital as they cause the magazine to look more professional.