The document describes the process taken to design the front cover of a magazine. Pictures were selected and edited using tools in Photoshop to correct errors and smooth edges. Text elements like the masthead and date were also designed, with fonts selected and backgrounds removed. Colors were chosen and elements were arranged and rearranged on the cover until the designer was satisfied with the overall layout and design.

1. FRONT COVER...

2. All of the pictures captured for the main image on my front cover range from mid shots to extreme close ups because as illustrated on my flat plans I have intentions of using one of these camera angles for my magazine front cover so kept to this plan while taking pictures. After cutting out the image of the male I placed it on a separate page to draw my attention to any faults, error or inaccuracy which I aimed to highlight by zooming in I noticed a dent cut out in his head, a piece of the green screen used remaining within his hair and green screen border on his face. I corrected these faults using the cloning tool which involves taking a piece off that same body part or some place on the body of the same colour and placing pieces in certain places to repair the images that I used on his hair. Then I carefully selected the places of green back drop on his face and deleted them creating a fresh looking unedited face helping my magazine appear more professional.

3. As well as individual pictures I took group ones to take advantage of angles and get a better idea of positioning. The picture I decided to use of the female on the left is one of a group, where I was left to unlock the layer enabling me to utilize the magnetic lasso tool which cuts the part of the image highlighted out of its picture.

4. After cutting out the image, I had to make the picture smoother around the edges to contribute to the professionalism of my magazine. I done this by using the cloning tool that would copy a piece of the picture from one place and place it in another which I applied to the outline of her hair. Following this I deleted the background and saved the image as a PNG, enabling the image to open and be placed on the magazine in Adobe In design.

5. After removing this image from the previous background there were big significant accuracies within my cutting out that needed to be corrected immediately identified below: The green back drop caught between strands of her hair The backdrop captured around the sides of her hair Several cut outs of her hair deleted alongside the overall backdrop Rough edger of her hair

6. As usual I zoomed in further to ensure accuracy and to the extent of work needed to be carried out on the work .

7. The tool that would correct these errors quick enough was the clone tool, which I had to be careful with as she has streaks of lighter colours in her hair therefore it would appear awkward if she has a light piece of hair cloned on to a dark strand. Here is the progress: As you can see I have cloned this particular piece exhibiting the difference the tool can make i comparison to the part that the clone tool had not yet been applied to

8. Zooming into the picture so much gave me a particular advantage as errors appear worse than they are so when corrected at this percentage of viewing the image will seem a lot smoother illustrated in the screenshot below.

9. I picked these three images to use on my front cover as they reinforced the exaggeration of facial expressions and emotions as one person is smiling while the other is shocked and the third has her finger over her mouth that represents ‘ssshhhhh’. These facial expressions also relate to the description of the articles which reads, ‘the unknown is revealed’ exemplified in their facial expressions that already stated portray shock, secrecy and laughter reactions to the secrets soon to be disclosed plus the body languages of all three are towards the readers and they are all looking towards the reader with direct eye contact.

10. Here are the three previous images that have just been cut out placed on the front cover of my ‘Starmix’.

11. The ideas I had for my magazine masthead were: Starburst Mixed Up Mag Pop Talks Starmix This is because they relate to the topics mentioned within my magazine as well as typical pop publications which is a blend of fashion, shopping, cooking, starsigns, gossip, beauty and many more. I continued to produce my magazine with the name Starmix as it reads star, a synonym for a celebrity and the mixture of different topics so seemed perfect. Again I downloaded the font for my masthead off urbanfonts.com of which I had to remove the white background in order for it to open and be transparent when placed on my magazine cover on adobe in design which I did by highlighting the actual letters I wanted to keep with the quick selection tool, inversed it which is in the select category that put marching ants around the background (present above) and simply deleted it. I used the font of ‘Porky’s Heavy’ for the masthead as it is rounded which is the main characteristic for all of the text placed in my magazine as it gives my magazine a relaxed, laid back feel as the letters go in which ever angle they please illustrating that the magazine is not restricted to a particular element.

12. ...eventually leaving me with the image to the right enabling me to colour the image which ever colour required pictured below in the colour of yellow by filling the colour. I saved the masthead as a PNG so it could open transparent in three different colours consisting of pink, blue and yellow

13. I kept a record of the colours I wished to use on a word document an kept it constantly open for easy access so there was no way of any confusion when colours needed to be applied or changed. I chose these colours in the first place as they are positive, happy shades in addition to them contributing to the genre as pop magazines occupy more approximately 3 or 4 colours in their magazines in comparison to other genres including hip hop, rock and grime who restrict their colours to the amount of two or three.

14. I used the word fruity to advertise the articles on the magazine instead of singling out the person that the puff piece is to be written about as this is common on many pop magazines .

15. Here is part of the strap line for my magazine retrieved from urban fonts.com. I print screened this shot then put a box around one of the many printed strap lines on the page and copied it to my pictures which I later opened in Photoshop deleted the background, coloured in the correct letters in certain colours and saved as a PNG ready for it to be placed on my magazine. This process was again used for the rest of the strap line reading ‘...when mixed up’. I used this font of ‘night court as it relates to the strap line and masthead, deceiving to the human eye as it resembles plenty of fonts mixed together but actually is one font. Alongside the masthead, the strap line also generally describes the magazine referring to the main element of the magazine as it covers many topics reiterating the fun aspect.

16. This screenshot displays the placement of my masthead and tagline after the positioning of the main images which I kept rearranging to get in the correct place.

17. After all I decided not to use the image to the left on my magazine as I took the other two on the same day in the same setting whereas this particular picture was captured on a previous day in a different setting but the same lighting, proving that the location of the photography made a difference as the contrast in lighting on the individuals was easily identifiable therefore I removed this image to make my magazine appear more professional.

18. The font for the typical convention of a date was also retrieved off the urban fonts website and so I cut out the background similar to the process for the strap line and eventually coloured it in the colour of purple ready for it to be placed on the front cover on indesign.

19. Here is one part of one of the lures which the same process was used... 1. This is the image of the word as it was opened in photoshop after it has been taken off urbanfonts.com print screened into paint then copied to my pictures 2. The screenshot to the left shows the outside of the lettering highlighted in preparation of it being deleted. 3. Following this I used the magic wand to select a letter then filled it with the colour required which is blue.

20. ...repeated with the extra information attached to the title for the feature article...

21. ...As well as for the rest of the lures.

22. Due to me needing to apply original images to my magazine I used a picture I had taken previously, then removed the background and transferred the picture on to another sheet of paper.

23. Subsequently I filled the image with the colour of black contributing to the mystery and applied this on my front cover. This was to be placed on my front cover to add mystery to my magazine, illustrating the range of themes it portrays.

24. I added a angled bottom strip developing the typical convention of a normal bottom strip contributing to the fun, unusual element of the magazine. Other conventions were applied to my magazine such as the issue number that shows continuity in my magazine as well as the date plus the price and bar code confirming that the magazine is not free and must be purchased, plus the pug in the top right corner that lures the reader further into the magazine. The majority of the rest of the lures are in the left third which is especially an advantage when stacked to the potential reader can see what the magazine has to offer increasing reasons as to why they should buy it . I positioned a pug at the top right corner of the page again using a convention of real magazines as well as the giveaway that I also added due to my audiencfe research which proved that was one of the items that attracted readers to the magazine.