Magazine front cover

To the left you see my work on Photoshop, my first skill learnt. I added the image of the main character in all of my construction. After inserting it, the image still had a back ground therefore the pen tool was required to edit the image.

After finalising my Masthead designs on photo shop, when it came to construction, I was all set with my ideas and ready to create. My masthead(POP Addiction) was inserted with consideration of the colour scheme I had previously planned along with the correct playful like fonts. Straight across the top of the cover where the masthead most stands out.

To the left you see the screenshots of my photo shop work developing even further, a barcode, price and date of construction was inserted. Eveey singke magazine front cover includes the essentials, such as a barcode with the price of the magazine. It makes sense for the bar code and the price to be close together for the bar code is a symbol which means this material was scanned and purchased. The price crucially needs to be visible and this is the fist place where any viewer would look. Also you can see a second screenshot of my work which shows clearly the digits of the date of construction. This is located in the top right hand corner of the cover, arguably it is out of the way. However I intentionally did this for the date if construction is rather irrelevant in comparison with other inserts.

Much like the masthead, I designed the headers alone on Photoshop previously to 100% know what my header was going to be and understand why it is relevant to my project. During my research I found that the header is found commonly underneath the masthead for it will then be the second insert of the cover read. The point of a header is to aid the masthead in drawing in any potential buyers, therefore it makes sense for the masthead and then header to be located bear by each other so that the viewers can receive a double thrill when coming across the magazine.

Revealing my entire magazine front cover now, the new and final insert which was the following step on from my header is easy to notice. The small text around the edges of the magazine or across my image. Relating to the colour scheme was rather easy now therefore, that part of inserting the text was a speedy process. However, the font differed from the masthead and the header for the smaller text is not as important, therefore a less eye catching font was put in place. Further more, to allow the writing on the front cover to be readable and not intimidating to any youngster that simply cannot be bothered to make the effort to read them, I involved an outline, almost like a shadow to allow the text to standout but also by relating to the genre, have a fun appearance.

Magazine contents page

To kick start my contents page construction, the heading is a vitality, ever contents page needs a title, even if it simply labels ‘contents page’. Not much was to be considered at this stage, besides the simple font which I liked the look of, and the colour. With the two main colours being purple and turquoise not including the background, I decided it had to be one of the two.

The new insert at this stage in quite clear to see at the bottom of the contents page. During my research I analysed many pop genre magazine including front covers, contents and DPS. I took I liking and understanding to one magazine in particular. We love Pop. I was attracted to these particular magazine due to so many inserts, yet moreover it was the layout which really caught my eye. I was intrigued at first as to why the unique, colourful shape was involved in the magazine. My first impression was not great of this insert for I did not quite understand why the existence of the shape was relevant. On the other hand, I researched further and found that this shape was on every single page of the magazine. The consistency was strong, the colour was relevant, so I asked myself… If this colourful shape involved attracted me, why should it not attract others. Therefore I decided to travel to the exclusive by also following in ‘we love pop’s footsteps and include the consistent shape.

The following insert of the contents page was the main image, again my character appears in the centre of the page, this image required editing by the use of the pen tool however what you can see on the left is the final touched of my image applying.

The next step was proceeding with the other relevant images in which I previously decided to involve in my construction of the magazine. It is very rare to see just the one image on any magazine contents page, especially on a Pop magazine. Therefore this step was a vital one.

On the left you can see my final design at its full, this was the final step of the construction of my contents page when I inserted all of the text required to make this magazine a quality one. Including the page number in the bottom right hand corner, the contents page is the first page of any reading material where you need to consider the page number for the front cover does not require one.

Double page spread

On the left you can witness the beginning of my DPS. With the main image of my character taking u the right hand side of the page, (the most space on the DPS), this was my first insertion of the page. Requiring the pen tool for editing, however this is the final look of the image on my DPS.

While the origins of my DPS began with the images being included, I decided it was only right to go on further with the insertion of another image. I was never going to include the one single image on the DPS therefore this was the next step I proceeded with.

The title was the third step of constructing my DPS, every DPS upholds some sort of heading for the reader to grasp an understanding of what it is the are about to on and read. The work pout into this part of the construction was much, for I considered all areas in which may appeal to viewers. Hence the coloured background to the text, it allows the title to stand out therefore catches people’s eyes. Also, on the erin I included a back light behind her name, she is a pop star therefore I found it quite relevant to place the spotlight on her name. Finally, the last touch to the heading was to the text itself and not the background, a dark outline almost like it foreshadows the text. I did this because it also make the text stand out and more visible.

Like the previous page (the contents page), the same shape appears here too. Along the top just like the magazine, we love pop, the colourful shape takes form to support the consistency which allows it not to uphold a random effect.

Visible on the left, you can see my final piece on the Photoshop software. The last step that was missing until this stage was the text involvement, assuring that all of the text inserted is relevant to the character Erin McKee and the genre of Pop. Also, I took the colour scheme into extreme consideration when coming to the text, therefore half of the writing was in purple and the other half in turquois purely to compliment each other.