Print screens of the construction of my cover, contents and double page

spread and what I have learnt.

Front cover- Photoshop

Firstly I have learnt how to get different varieties of font using DaFont.com from the internet. Using DaFont taught me how font style can determine what genre the magazine represents. I chose a font with big, bold square edged writing because this looks very strong and therefore will grab attention easily. I then print screened the font for my masthead and pasted it onto a Photoshop document.

I then learnt how to delete the surrounding web page by using the box tool to create a box around the masthead and then on the top bar I clicked select, inverse and then delete on my keyboard. To resize, I learnt that by selecting shift whilst resizing would do it correctly and not distort it. This was beneficial to learn because my masthead is not bent or disorientated and the letters are all the same size. I have also started to add a tagline and cover line using the text button on the left hand side.I also learnt how to use colour overlay to change the colour of my masthead and also add a stroke that added a black outline around my text. I did this by selecting this button at the bottom of the right hand side panel. From this I learnt how to make text stand out and fit my colour scheme.

From my last screenshots, I have changed the colour of my masthead slightly from dark pink to dark purple. This is because the pink represents more of a pop magazine, whereas the purple is darker. Here I have learnt about representation of colours and how they will effect the genre the magazine will represent and therefore the target audience it will attract.I also learnt how to add an image by creating a new document and dragging the image over. To make the font layers in front of the image, I dragged the image layer from the layers box to the very bottom next to the background so it was underneath all the text.

I have learnt how to add shapes onto Photoshop to create a puff. From the left hand side tool bar, I clicked this button and selected a circle. From this tool , I have learnt how to recreate codes and conventions of a magazine cover and how following them will make my magazine look better and realistic.

During the construction, I decided to add another colour to brighten the cover up. From researching other rock magazine covers, I learnt they often use more than one colour and so I chose yellow to compliment the dark purple. Yellow also doesn't represent a specific gender which works well because I won't be attracting any audience that I'm not targeting towards.

The changes I have made from my drawn draft-Firstly, the top strip has been changed so that I have more on it. I have included bands names that are from the rock genre so when the audience sees the masthead, right next to it are rock bands and therefore it will represent the music genre. There is also an advertisement to win free tickets for a festival. Here I have used the stereotype that most rock fans go to gigs and enjoy live music more. From other rock magazines, ads like these are normally on covers and therefore I have followed codes and conventions. The bottom strip has also changed because instead of ‘music, fashion, news’ I have changed the order to ‘news, live, reviews’. I have cut out the fashion section because it doesn’t represent roc k music and is already included on the magazine with the puff. I have also added more cover lines with successful bands so the audience can easily recognise this is a rock magazine. I have also added another colour to the colour scheme being yellow because it makes the cover brighter and bolder.

Contents page- Photoshop

To edit my image for my contents page, I have learnt how to use levels to improve the natural lighting of the image. I have also learnt how to adjust the brightness and contrast by using this button to move the bar to increase or decrease depending what I think looks better. This image is quite overexposed so I decreased the lighting and increased the contrast.

I learnt how to copy the masthead from the front cover to my contents page by opening the front cover and copying the layer and pasting it in the contents page layer tool. I created coloured boxes by using the shape tool and colour overlay to create the subheadings. From this, I learnt how layout is very important in order to add all the information and codes and conventions and still make it look neat and presentable to the audience. I put the ‘main feature’ and ‘news’ subheadings onto the rule of thirds hotspots to make sure the audience drawn to these important sub headings first.

For the image, I changed the levels and the brightness and contrast of the image which I learnt how to do from the other images have added by clicking image and then adjustments .

I also learnt that you can add a stroke to add image by using this button and by doing this the image stands out more.

To remove the background, I used the magic wand tool and clicked to create a selection around the models. I then used this brush tool to carefully go around the models to remove the models. From doing this I learnt how removing the background can make the overall outcome look more realistic and more pleasing to the eye as it looks neater.

I then created an advertisement at the bottom of the contents to follow codes and conventions as I noticed this was done in numerous contents pages. This made me learnt how to fill empty space and how important it is to fill any area that’s empty and it can complete the product.

The changes I have made from my drawn draft-

I have changed the ‘Blare’ and ‘contents’ around so the masthead is the first thing you see. This is to increase branding of the magazine and makes sure the audience is well aware the magazine is Blare. I have also changed the sub headings. From my draft, I have included ‘news’ as the top sub heading. I have changed this because my drawn draft was ‘fashion’, however fashion isn’t the forefront of the magazine. I have moved the fashion section to the ‘plus’ section instead. I have moved ‘news’ to the top and included ‘reviews’ as a sub heading too. I included these changes to make the most important information at the top. I have cut out the social media section because its not a very big code and convention that magazines follow and I have replaced it with a delivery ad instead. I have also changed the images to a another girl rock band instead of the fashion aspect to focus heavily on the music. I have also included yellow from the front cover to follow the front cover and branding of Blare.

Double page spread- InDesign

Firstly for the main image I decided that I wanted to add a guitar into the image. From this I learnt how to successfully add an object into an image,. Firstly I adjusted the brightness and contrast of the guitar and the actual image so that they were edited the same and therefore blend together better.

To cut the guitar out from the background, I learnt how to use the pen tool to create a mask. To cut around it I clicked on the edge and then clicked again a but further around the guitar, held down and dragged the mouse so I could create the curve around the guitar. I continued doing this until I went all around the guitar.

I the leant how to add the guitar by opening the main image and dragging the guitar into the image. I then resize it to fit by holding down shift to resize without distorting it.

I then learnt how to create a shadow on the ground to make the edit look realistic by using this pen tool and using the tool at the top to change the opacity of the colour and size of the brush.

First I have learnt that when I want to place something from my front cover, I need to go through Photoshop first. For my headline, I went into Photoshop for my front cover and copied my main headline and placed it onto my InDesign page. I then used the text tool on the left hand side for the ‘article by’ and changed the font to italic which made me learnt how changing it to italic made it look more personal and stand out.

I then learnt how to changed the colour of the headline to fit my colour scheme by clicking here. I then added in my picture that I had edited on Photoshop too. From this I have learnt to hold down shift, alt and ctrl when I want to reposition something so it doesn’t distort.

Next I created a text box with the ‘T’ tool and copied my article and pasted it into the box. I learnt how to put the text into three columns by selecting the number here. I also learnt how to create a drop cap by clicking in the article, clicking the paragraph button at the top bar and increasing the size.

I learnt how to create pull quotes from my article. First, copied the quote I wanted from the article and pasted them in a new text box. From this I could show the audience the mode of address quickly and what the Band is like. I learnt that by changing the size, font and colour I can bring out certain parts of the magazine that you want to emphasise. When I placed the pull quote where I wanted in the article, I selected ‘wrap around object shape’ so the article runs around the quote. By learning this, the spread looks tidy as there writing isn’t squashed together.

Once the pull quotes, article and image were positioned, I repositioned my masthead and byline where there was empty space that needed filling. For my standfirst, I changed the font to ‘constantia’ and size 11 and made it bold. From this step I learnt to fill empty space to make the magazine look complete and professional.

The changes I have made from my

drawn draft-

Most of my double page spread has been changed so now it follows the codes and conventions and stereotypes of a normal rock double page spread. I have changed the heading so that it is the main headline from my front cover rather than a pull quote so that I link the pages all together. I have put all the pull quotes in my article rather than outside it. I have also placed the article to that it goes across both pages in three columns rather than placing random bits of text around the spread like in my drawn draft. I have also cut out the puff that I’d put in my drawn draft because I have included a puff on my front page so it was unnecessary. I have also only included one image of the band that covers most of the right page, whilst on my draft I have included three small images of the band, guitar and their style. I didn’t do this for my spread because it doesn’t follow codes and conventions of a normal rock double page spread. The extra images are unnecessary as I can represent the rock style and the instruments in one image of the band which I have done. I have added yellow to follow the colours scheme of my front page and contents to brand all the pages to Blare. I haven’t done a pink border on the images like I have done on the drawn drafts because I have already shown the colour scheme with the main headline and pull quotes and I thought it looked quite cheesy and pop- not rock.