Process in making the magazine cover.

Sophie Moody

Setting up guidelines.

Before starting on the actual design of my magazine, I first picked a cover of an actual magazine so that I could use this as my baseline to creating my own one. I used borderlines to outline how the texts were set up and how they were sized so mine could be done similarly without making any mistakes. By adding borderlines also enabled me to keep all my text boxes in line with each other so they didn’t overlap or looked disorganized. The image also gave me inspiration into how I would place my image so that there is a large focus on the subject and the texts did not cover the image of the artist.

Setting up the cover.

For the magazine cover I had taken a picture of someone who would present an artist which would be the main subject for the music magazine. To make sure there was a focus on the person, I managed to get a portrait of the ‘artist’ while also leaving managable spaces ( at the top and the sides) so that I could place the title and the sub-titles on.

Adding the main texts/effects.

When writing up my magazine title and sub-title I wanted to exaggerate the texts by adding definition using a shadowing effect and capitals. Firstly I had used a shaded grey colour as the base (which will act as a shadow) ; then placed a white text slightly over it to present the actual message. This makes the text come out more and gives the title a more complex look rather than just a basic font. The capitals outline each letter so that the title is the first thing a viewer notices.

Adding the contents of the magazine.

In my next stages of creating my magazine I came up with a series of different sub-titles which will represent the main topics. One of my ideas to make these topics more relatable to the viewers was to add colour to the artists name which relates to their identity. For example Ed Sheeran and the colour orange. (Orange represents his album colour and his hair) therefore viewers will make the association between the two and know which artist I am referring to. I also wrote in white as it was part of my colourscheme and doesn’t overdo my cover with too many colours.

Furthermore the sub-titles were written in capitals so that they are bolder and clearer to see what they are saying. It also adds more definition to the texts without adding in large amounts of effects.

This is where the colour was added to the name of the artist.

More sub-titles

Adding detail.

To make my magazine look more realistic I had added a picture of a barcode; this would contain all the relevant information needed when someone buys the magazine. I chose the bottom right corner and a small size for this as it is not meant to have a large focus on it and doesn’t take up a large area of space.

The main subject.

To bring focus to the artist in the picture I have added a caption which adds more depth to who it is and why they are including in the magazine. As it is a main topic I used the shadowing affect on the caption to exaggerate what it says so it is one of the first things a person sees. It was also written in capitals as I want to make what is said clear to the readers as it is an important piece of information regarding what is included in the magazine. I made the text a rhetorical question as it questions who it is and captivated the readers into looking into the subject even more.

Final details.

In these pictures I had added the release date of the magazine which is a main component when selling magazines. I also added a sub-caption to the one directed at the artist as it gives more depth to what the contents hold. This in comparison to the caption in capitals does not have the shadowing affect; this is because it is not as important and only continues on from what was said previously.