The document describes the steps taken to create the spines for a digi-pack in Photoshop. This involves opening a new document, saving the back cover as an image, importing the image and cropping it for use on the spine. Text including the artist name, album name and serial number are added along with effects like shadows and textures. The logo is also imported, resized and styled before saving the completed spines as images.

1. When creating the spines for
my digi-pack, I firstly had to
create a new document in
Photoshop and I was able to
do this by clicking on the ‘File’
tab and then selecting ‘New’.
Once I had done that, this
pop up box then appeared
and I was able to choose
the dimensions of the
document and in this image
you are able to see that I
decided to go with a width
of ‘100 Pixels’ and a height
of ‘1600 Pixels’. Once I had
done that, I then named the
document ‘Spine 1’ and
then clicked ‘OK’.

2. When creating the spine for my digi-
pack, I decided that I wanted the
background of the spines just to be
some of the trees that have been
presented on the back cover, so I
decided to save the back cover as an
image to enable me to use the image
on the spines.
To save this document
as an image all I had to
do was click on the ‘File’
tab and then ‘Save As’.

3. Once I had selected this, a pop up box then appeared and I
was able to choose the location in which I wanted to save this
document. Once I had found a location to save this document
in, I then clicked on the drop down box next to where it says
‘Format’ and changed this to ‘JPEG’ to ensure that the back
cover would be saved as an image rather than a Photoshop
document. Once I had changed all of this, I then clicked ‘Save’.
I then went back onto
my spine document
and clicked on the
‘File’ tab and then
selected ‘Open’.

4. This pop up box then appeared and I
was able to find the location in
which that image I had just saved
was in. Once I had found the
location the image was saved in, I
then selected it and clicked ‘Open’.
Once I had opened the
image, I then wanted to
crop it to ensure that I only
had the part of the image
that I wanted, so to do this
all I had to do was select
the ‘Crop Tool’ and then I
was able to crop the image
and only get the part of it
that I wanted.

5. Once I had cropped the image, I then
dragged it onto my spine document
which you are able to see in the image
I have presented on the left.
Once the image was on
my document, I then
needed to make it bigger
to ensure that it took up
the whole of the
document and to make it
bigger all I had to do was
click on the ‘Edit’ tab,
‘Transform’ and then
‘Scale’.

6. Once I had changed the size of the
image, you are then able to see how
the spine turned out in the image I
have presented on the left.
When I had the image I wanted
in place, I then wanted to add
the artists name to the spine and
to do this I selected the ‘Text
Tool’ and then chose the font
called ‘Palace Script MT’. Once I
had done that, I then wrote out
the artists name and put it into
the position I wanted it to be in.

7. Once I had written out the artists
name, I then wanted to add some
effects to it to make it stand out
and I was able to do this clicking on
the ‘Layer’ tab, ‘Layer Style’ and
then ‘Blending Options’.
Once I had clicked on
this, a pop up box then
appeared and I was able
to choose the effects I
wanted to use. The
effects I decided to use
were called ‘Inner
Shadow’ and ‘Drop
Shadow’. Once I had
chosen all of the effects
I wanted, I then clicked
‘OK’.

8. I then wanted to add the album name to
the spine and again I just had to click on
the ‘Text Tool’ and then I selected the font
called ‘Fairydust8’. Once I had done that, I
then wrote out the album name and
moved it into the position I wanted it to be
in on the spine.
Once I had done that, I
then needed to rotate
both of the pieces of texts
that I had written as they
needed to fit on the spine
and I was able to do this
by clicking on the ‘Edit’
tab, ‘Transform’ and then
‘Rotate’.

9. In the image I have presented
on the far left you are able to
see what the text looked like
once I had rotated it.
However, after I had done
that, I then wanted to add
some effects to the album
name I had just written and I
was able to do this by clicking
on ‘Layer’, ‘Layer Style’ and
then ‘Blending Options’.

10. After I had selected that, this pop up
box then appeared and I was able to
choose the effects I wanted to use on
the text. The effects I decided to use
were called ‘Bevel and Emboss’,
‘Contour’, ‘Stroke’ and ‘Drop Shadow’.
When I had added all of the effects I
wanted, I then clicked ‘OK’.
Once I was finished with the
text, I then wanted to add the
record label logo to the spine
as this is a conventional
feature that generally appears
on the spine. Due to the fact
that I already had an image of
the record label, I just needed
to open it up on my
document. To do this all I had
to do was select the ‘File’ tab
and then ‘Open’.

11. After I had selected this, a pop up box
then appeared and I was then able to
find the location in which the image I
had previously saved was in. Once I had
found the image I wanted, I then
selected it and clicked ‘Open’.
Once I had opened the
image, I then dragged it
onto my spine document
so I would be able to
begin editing the image
and positioning it in the
correct place.

12. When I put the image on my
document, I noticed that it was
too big, so I needed to make it
smaller. To do this all I had to do
was click on the ‘Edit’ tab,
‘Transform’ and then ‘Scale’.
Once I had put the logo
into the position I
wanted it to be in, I
then wanted to add
some effects to it to
make it stand out on
the spine. To do this I
just had to select
‘Layer’, ‘Layer Style’ and
then ‘Blending Options’.

13. Once I had done that, this pop up box then
appeared and I was able to add the effects I
wanted. The effects I decided to add were
called ‘Stroke’, ‘Inner Glow’ and ‘Drop
Shadow’. Once I had chosen all of the effects I
wanted, I then clicked ‘OK’.
Once I had edited the
record label logo in the way
I wanted it, I then decided
to add the serial number to
the spine and I was able to
do this by selecting the
‘Text Tool’ and then I chose
the font called ‘Arial’. Once I
had done this, I then wrote
out the number and put it
into the position I wanted it
to be in on the spine.

14. On the far left you are able to see
how the spine was turning out
during this process. Once I had
written the serial number, I then
wanted to add some effects to it
and I was able to do this by clicking
on ‘Layer’, ‘Layer Style’ and then
‘Blending Options’.

15. Once I had done that, this pop up box then
appeared and I was able to choose the
effects I wanted to use. The effects I
decided to use were called ‘Stroke’ and
Drop Shadow’. When I had chosen all of the
effects I wanted, I then just clicked ‘OK’.
Once I had added these
effects it meant that I had
completed the spine –
however, there are two spines
included on the digi-pack, so
for the second spine I decided
just to have it exactly the
same as the first, but just with
the text the other way
around. So instead of creating
another document, I just
decided to rotate the record
logo and I was able to do this
by clicking on ‘Edit’,
‘Transform’ and then ‘Rotate’.

16. Once I had rotated the logo, you are able
to see how the spine looked in the image
I have presented on the far left. When
putting this second spine onto my digi-
pack all I will need to do is rotate the
whole image so that the text would be
facing the other way, but this would
mean that the record logo would be
facing the right way and the audience
would be able to see it. Once I had
created these two spines, I then needed
to save the documents and I was able to
do this by clicking on the ‘File’ tab and
then selecting ‘Save As’.

17. This pop up box then appeared and
I was able to save the document in
the location I wanted it to be saved
in. Once I had found somewhere to
save the document, I then clicked
on the drop down box next to
where it says ‘Format’ and again I
changed it to ‘JPEG’ and this was to
ensure that the spine would be
saved as an image rather than a
Photoshop document. Once I had
made these changes, I then clicked
‘Save’. I went through this process
twice as I saved both the first spine
and the second spine as different
documents and images.