This document summarizes the progression of a magazine cover design. It describes how the designer began with a color scheme from a Mixmag cover and built upon it. Key steps included adding a layout layer, choosing a cover shot and editing it, developing a masthead, and refining text elements. By the end, the designer had created a neat, well-balanced cover featuring a central character, secondary story elements, and a menu bar along the bottom. The document also briefly describes the development process for the contents page layout.

1. EVALUTION
1: FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS

2. HOUSE ST YLE
M y h o u s e s t y l e w a s b a s e d a r o u n d t h a t o f t h e M i x m a g c o v e r, f e a t u r e d b o t t o m - r i g h t . I f e l t t h a t t h e
colour scheme of this cover helped reflect the style of music that I was writing about - dark and
bold - so I started with that.
I l i k e d t h e i d e a o f a c e n t r a l c h a r a c t e r, w i t h t h e t e x t f i t t i n g a r o u n d t h e o u t s i d e o f t h e m i n a n e a t
f a s h i o n . I d i d , h o w e v e r, w a n t t o m a k e t h e a r t i s t l o o k m o r e d o m i n a n t i n m y c o v e r, s o I t o o k a
dif ferent form of shot – a low angle shot.
I adopted the boxed text idea too. I felt like this would help my
text stand out more from the background, however unlike this
c o v e r, I u s e d l i g h t e r t e x t , w h i c h m a d e i t m o r e l e g i b l e .

3. THE PROGRESSION OF MY FRONT COVER
As I said in the previous slide, I started by adopting the colour scheme of a particular
M i x m a g c o v e r. I a p p l i e d t h i s s c h e m e t o t h e b a c k g r o u n d l a y e r ( I M G 1 ) . D o i n g t h e b a c k g r o u n d f i r s t
meant that I could built on top of it, as well as being able to choose colours that worked well
with the background from the get go.
Following this, I added a layout layer – a layer that consisted of labelled red boxes
that corresponded with my flat plans (IMG 2). I did this as it meant that, not only did I have a
visual representation of how I wanted the magazine cover to look , but also that when I had a new
piece to add, I new straight away where I wanted it to go, and that once the rough draf t was
down, it was easy to edit from there.
The next step was to choose my cover shot, then edit it, and then finally implement it
i n t o m y c o v e r. A f t e r a n h o u r o r s o i n t h e p h o t o s t u d i o , I m a n a g e d t o g e t t h e s h o t I
wanted, however the lighting was bad – this meant I had to edit the lighting ef fects in Photoshop
so that
the image could be used. Following this, I removed the
background of the image (by selecting the parts I
wanted, then duplicating them into a new document.)
IMG 1
IMG 2

4. MY FRONT COVER SHOT
STAGE 1
Raw Image
STAGE 2
Processed Image
STAGE 3
Implemented Image

5. THE PROGRESSION OF MY FRONT COVER
CONT.
The next thing I worked on was my masthead. As my magazine was to be called
„EDM‟, a spin on the three letter abbreviation was something simple, yet would work well.
It began with my choice of text. I wasn‟t ver y keen on most of the fonts readily available with
Photoshop and InDesign, so instead I took to dafont.com . I found a font I liked (IMG 3) – ensured
it was free to use – then went from there. Because the style of music I have been addressing is
very modernised, and can of ten be considered as quite futuristic (in terms of sound design at
least), I felt like I had to have a futuristic looking font to match.
From here, I felt like I had to add a tw ist to the graphic . I dec ided to use the single
letter graphic approach – similar to Mixmag. I felt that doing that by doing this it added
repetition to the overall elements and message the came from the title. For the graphic itself, I
replaced the „D‟ in „EDM‟ with the image of a bass clef (IMG 4). Hard electronic music is of ten
generalised as „Bass Music‟, therefore the idea of using the bass clef seemed appropriate.
In the lessons that followed, I soon decided that the use of a bass clef somewhat
cluttered the masthead, rendering it almost illegible – making it almost certainly so for the
a v e r a g e r e a d e r, w h o m p e r h a p s d i d n ‟ t k n o w w h a t a b a s s c l e f w a s . I d e c i d e d t o b u i l d o n t h e
original text by adding ef fects such as outer glow and stroke layers. I felt like, as this was
actually readable, that it was a much better graphic from the job.
I M G 6 s h o w s t h e f i n a l m a s t h e a d b e i n g u s e d o n t h e c o v e r.
IMG 3
IMG 4
IMG 5
IMG 6

6. THE PROGRESSION OF MY FRONT COVER
CONT.
IMG 7
B y N o v e m b e r 2 0 th, I h a d m u l t i p l e
cover conventions created and implemented.
The barcode was easy to generate –
I simply went (again) to dafont.com , searched
for a barcode font, then generated one using
the text „Electronic Dance Mag‟, for which the
term „EDM‟ stood for in this case.
The kickers and cover lines were put
in at this point for reference – obviously I
wasn‟t going to keep them as they currently
were, however to get an idea of where I wanted
them to sit, I draf ted up a few quick pieces of
text.
In the top right of the page, there is
an piece of album artwork. This artwork is
from an old release from my own music
project, and was to be used as the basis for a
secondary lead.
The Headline text was generated
with a free font, again from dafont.com. The
next slide outlines how I compiled the graphic
t o g e t h e r.
F i n a l l y, I i m p l e m e n t e d a s e l l i n g l i n e
at the top of the page. At this point, it was un stylized and being used simply for reference.

7. THE HEADLINE TEXT
To b e g i n w i t h I h a d t o f i n d a t e x t t h a t I f e l t b o t h
suited the music genre, yet would also work well as text for a
headline. My first thought was to find a font that was big and
bold – this was because a headline has to leap from the page
towards the reader (which I think this font does), and because
the type of music I was writing about was both big (in terms of
loudness and dynamics) and bold (in terms of lyrical content –
i.e. some of the words spoken in these tracks are of ten
m a k i n g s t a t e m e n t s a b o u t s o m e t h i n g i n a v e r y p u b l i c w a y.
The process for how I created the text was simple. I
g e n e r a t e t h e w o r d s ‟ A D M I R A L‟ a n d „ A K B A R ‟ o n
dafont.com, saved them as PNG files, put them into
Photoshop; I simply layered and arranged them how I
liked, then saved the whole thing as one PNG file (IMG 10).
IMG 10
IMG 8
IMG 9

8. THE PROGRESSION OF MY FRONT COVER
CONT.
IMG 11
N o v e m b e r 2 2 nd m a r k e d t h e d a y I
decided what I wanted my Kickers and Cover
Lines to look like. Like I previously said, I
adopted the boxed look from the Mixmag
c o v e r, h o w e v e r, I d e c i d e d t o c o l o u r m y t e x t s o
that is was more legible.
I also changed the album ar t to a
more recent version – this contained more
colours, and help breathe a bit more life into
t h e c o v e r. J u s t a b o v e t h e a l b u m a r t , I h a d
began to create some text to use as a title for
the secondary lead, which currently was half
stylized – the box behind had literally just
b e e n d r a w n h o w e v e r.
I removed the banner where I was
going to write my anchorage as I thought that
it would look less cluttered if it were just plain
text. I wanted to have a fairly neat and
c o n t r o l l e d c o v e r, h e n c e t h e r e m o v a l o f t h e
b a n n e r, a n d t h e r e d u c t i o n i n t h e s i z e o f t h e
text.

9. THE PROGRESSION OF MY FRONT COVER
CONT.
IMG 12
Sticking with the idea of a neater
s t y l e o f c o v e r, b y t h e e n d o f t h e w e e k I h a d
just that. In the week beginning November
2 2 nd, I h a d c r e a t e d a n e a t , a n d w e l l b a l a n c e d
f r o n t c o v e r.
Where I had the album cover in the
t o p c o r n e r, I n o w h a d a s e c o n d a r y l e a d , w h i c h
s a t i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h t h e m a i n s t o r y. T h e
a l b u m w a s n o w i n t h e b o t t o m c o r n e r, a n d w a s
now serving as the graphic feature.
On the right I added a
flash, containing references to ar tists that
we‟re to be featured at some point in the
issue. This list of names would be aid as a
selling point for the issue.
I also added an anchorage strip –
“ I t ‟ s A Tr a p ! ” . A p l a y o n w o r d o f s o r t s , t h i s
phrase is used as it is a quote from the Star
Wa r s c h a r a c t e r, „ A d m i r a l A c k b a r ‟ , b u t a l s o
because this fictional musician used on my
cover was to be know as an af filiate of the
Tr a p m u s i c s c e n e .

10. THE PROGRESSION OF MY FRONT COVER
CONT.
I think the most important part of
the cover at this point was the photo of myself
in the top right corner – acting as Akbar‟s
p r o d u c e r.
In this photo, I‟m using a walking stick to
imitate looking down the sights of a gun. There
are two reasons as to why I am doing this –
both of which are ways to address the
audience.
The first is almost subliminal. As the urban
music is so used to being associated with
violence, it can become second nature to
assume that with Rap influenced
music , violenc e will follow. This imitation was
a stab at drawing in the audience without them
consciously being aware of it.
The second is the exact opposite – looking
down the sights, aiming at the reader of the
magazine – almost calling them out. Almost
daring them to read the magazine. This is
r e i n f o r c e d t h r o u g h t h e t i t l e o f t h e k i c k e r, „ M a n
Behind The Mask.‟ Implying that I have nothing
to hide, a „come and get it‟ attitude – all the
time drawing in the attention of the audience.
IMG 13

11. My next draf t was to become my
f i n a l c o v e r. T h e r e w a s n ‟ t a b i g c h a n g e s i n c e
the last draf t, however I did add one
convention I felt was missing.
That convention was the menu
s t r i p , n o w l o c a t e d a l o n g t h e b a s e o f t h e c o v e r.
I felt this particular convention was an
addition to the selling value as it listed many
more extremely popular producers and artists
that are popular in this specific scene.
The menu bar also helped remove some dead
space that may have been lurking on the
page, without cluttering it up.
At this point I was happy with my
f r o n t c o v e r, t h e c o n v e n t i o n s i t c o n t a i n e d , a n d
the layout of it.
IMG 14
THE PROGRESSION OF MY FRONT COVER
CONT.

13. THE PROGRESSION OF MY CONTENTS
PAGE
IMG 15
Below you can see the contents page for Januar y 2013‟s issue of Mixmag. I used this template as
a place to base the first layout ideas for my magazine from. I adopted the idea of using the white
lines as section splitters, as this helped distinctly show the dif ference between said sections. In
t e r m s o f a c t u a l l a y o u t h o w e v e r, I s i m p l y p l a y e d a r o u n d u n t i l I f o u n d a d e s i g n I w a s h a p p y w i t h .
IMG 15 was the ver y first draf t for my contents page – this layout was rather unlike that of the
M i x m a g c o v e r. A s w e c a n s e e i n t h e M M c o v e r, t h e r e i s a v e r y l a r g e p h o t o o f t h e f e a t u r e d a r t i s t –
Por ter Robinson, w ho is the foc al point of the page. From here, ever ything else is seemed to be
fitted around this picture. When compared with my draf t, we can see that the image used is no
Where near on as large, and is not
so much considered the focal point
of the page – somewhat
suggesting that there are other
equally impor tant stories in the
issue.
We can see that in the MM
c o v e r, t h e t e x t i s s e t t o t h e l e f t
o n l y. I h a t e d t h e i d e a o f t h i s , s o
whilst I wanted to use the idea of
the text being directly separate
from the images, I preferred the
idea of having the images in the
top half of the page, with the
editorial and text directly beneath
it in the bottom half of the page.

14. In this draf t I had changed a number of things from
i t ‟ s p r e v i o u s s t a t e . F i r s t l y, I i n c l u d e d t h e b l a c k
banner across the middle of the page. I felt this
helped create a clear divide between the sections –
the images and the text.
I also added a box for where the editorial was going
to be. At this point it was to be used for only for
s t r u c t u r a l r e f e r e n c e , t h e d e s i g n i n g w o u l d f o l l o w l a t e r.
I combined two of the pictures to help simulate the
fact that there part of the same article – the use of
one page number helped reinforce this.
I added a PNG of the front cover to the bottom right
bar – this was later to become the subscriptions
section.
F i n a l l y, I r e p o s i t i o n e d t h e „ c o n t e n t s ‟ a n d t h e d a t e l i n e
a l o n g t h e p a g e h e a d e r. T h i s w a s s i m p l y f o r m e t o f i n d
which style I preferred, this way or the previous.
IMG 16
THE PROGRESSION OF MY CONTENTS
PAGE

15. This draf t saw me begin to properly work on my
editorial section. I wanted to have the layout of this
par ticular section following suit – to have the same
layout as my whole page. This meant having the
title, picture, text, and signature in descending
o r d e r, r e s p e c t f u l l y.
I also began to work on the text layout, and sections
headers. I wanted to keep the house style frequent
throughout the magazine, so I used the same design
for the section headers as I did for the Kickers on
the front cover – yellow text with a black boxed
u n d e r l a y.
IMG 17
THE PROGRESSION OF MY CONTENTS
PAGE

16. This draf t was a step in the right direction in terms
of content, I began brainstorming ideas for ar ticle
title and writing them down, and they all fitted onto
the page well, so they stayed there. I also added
more white line to help breakdown the sections to a
better extent.
I also removed the small picture in the images
section, and added a bigger box for an image related
to a dif ferent ar ticle.
I b e g a n t o r e - d e s i g n t h e b l a c k c e n t r a l b a n n e r. I f e l t
it was necessar y to do so – not only because it
originally draf ted design was awful, but because it
would help lessen the dead space in the page.
IMG 18
THE PROGRESSION OF MY CONTENTS
PAGE

17. Nothing much dif ferent in this draf t. I added extra
white bars to split the sections. I felt this made the
w h o l e p a g e l o o k n e a t e r, w h i c h w a s i m p e r a t i v e .
Following this I added more text in the form of
article headers and sub-headings.
I did add a graphic feature to one of the ar ticle
titles. This was because I thought it would give the
reader a sense of involvement, due to the fact it was
stating that there was the oppor tunity to enter a
competition and wine something.
IMG 19
THE PROGRESSION OF MY CONTENTS
PAGE

18. THE PROGRESSION OF MY CONTENTS
PAGE
IMG 20
Nothing particularly dif ferent about this draf t
e i t h e r.
I added a picture to my editorial section and
slightly adjusted the size and positioning of some
of the photos.
Other than that it was simply refining what I
already had.

19. This the final draf t of my contents page.
I added the text to my editorial, as well as a
signature. This made this particular section look
professional, and this reflected well upon the whole
page.
I also added a series of page numbers, so that
navigation around the magazine was possible.
I finished of f the page with a panoramic shot from
my personal music studio, which was related to one
of the articles present in the contents page.
I am happy with the overall look and feel of the
page. I believe that the house style taken from the
cover has been stayed current, and work well on this
page. I also think that this particular style – neat
and distinct – suits the overall look of the magazine.
IMG 21
THE PROGRESSION OF MY CONTENTS
PAGE

20. THE PROGRESSION OF MY DOUBLE PAGE
SPREAD
IMG 22
When designing my ar ticle page, I didn‟t work of f a style model – instead I worked with a
photograph. I wanted to have this image as the focal point of the page, with ever ything else
wrapped around it.
Af ter having the image put in place, I added a quote from my ar ticle. I chose a quote that
identified the fact that there were two artists, not just one – despite the name. I felt that by
doing this it accented the point of the ar ticle – which was to introduce the duo; to give the
audience a sense of who they were, what their sound was, and where they were hoping to go.
I dropped in a re-render of the text
used for the headline on the cover
page to use as guide for how I
wanted my ar ticle‟s header to look .

21. THE PROGRESSION OF MY DOUBLE PAGE
SPREAD
IMG 22
As I had virtually completed all the other pages by this point, I spent the majority of the week
f o c u s i n g o n h o w t h e d o u b l e p a g e s p r e a d w o u l d l o o k . To b e g i n w i t h I m o v e d t h e p h o t o t o t h e t o p
of the page, and then added a white banner beneath it. This was a reflection upon the same
style used on the contents page. I the move the quote from the right of Akbar‟s head to between
his and mine. I added the full ar ticle into six columns, reading lef t to right, underneath the white
b a n n e r.
Following this I added a grey back ground to set behind ever ything so that the magazine‟s theme
Stayed current throughout.
The final thing I did to this was to
add a bevel ef fect to the text which
helped it stand out more.

22. THE PROGRESSION OF MY DOUBLE PAGE
SPREAD
This is the final draf t for my double page spread. I added a tab in the top right of the page to
w o r k a s a w a t e r m a r k / s e c t i o n m a r k e r. I a l s o a d d e d a d r o p c a p i t a l t o m a k e t h e a r t i c l e l o o k m o r e
professionally edited and refined. Af ter this, I justified the text which helped the text fit the
p a g e p r o p e r l y.
Af ter this I changed the existing „Akbar‟ text to „Introducing:‟, and dropped in a copy of the
original „Admiral Akbar‟ PNG. This meant that there was a par ticular style model attached to the
Artists.
IMG 23
This was the double page spread
now complete. I had created a
simple, yet ef fective design that
worked well.