Before After

I wanted to brighten my main image to give the impression of sunlight and vibrancy which represents my youthful, festival-loving audience. I did this by selecting the main image and altering the brightness and contrast on the right hand side panel in Photoshop.

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After

I felt the ‘before’ banner was to plain and not eye-catching enough, which it needs to be to show off the urgent offers. To break up the vast white space , I drew a black rectangle shape behind the banner text layer which I feel gives a more finished look to the cover. I also added white dots between each offer to make it easier to read and it is also similar to ……

Before After

Although the left-third cover-lines have colourful yellow and blue shading in the background, I felt the heading in white font didn’t stand out enough to catch the readers attention and entice them to buy this issue. Therefore, I used the shape tool to create two black boxes positioned behind the text on Photoshop.

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The pull quote on my front cover is in a white font to create synergy with the other cover lines (also in white font.) However, the text isn’t as visible as it needs to be, particularly when it overlaps the white top worn by the model. Thus, I decided to create a shadow by duplicating the layer on the bottom left bar in Photoshop, then changing the font colour to black. By placing this new layer behind the original it creates a shadowed effect that results in the text being more readable.

I didn’t want the right-third to detract from the left third, yet I needed to fill the space in order to give the impression that my magazine is full of content and the reader is getting their moneys worth. Thus, I added a Buzz word in the same font with a black background that would attract the reader in purchasing the issue.

Before After

Barcode’s are a conventional feature of magazines and I decided to add the price and website onto mine with a black textbox and white font. By including a website it demonstrates how my magazine is up-to-date with my modern audience and since my niche target audience is young, they will be able to read more articles and receive exclusive images easily through the magazines website or by downloading the app. The price, £1.99, according to my target research is on average what people are willing to pay.

Before After

In order to make the smaller images stand out and create synergy with the yellow, blue, black and white house-style, I decided to add coloured shapes behind the images in a slanted position. This creates a rough and laid-back style that will appeal to my young adult audience. Afterwards, I also decided to add another cover line ‘Backstage with…’ to correspond with the other headings on my cover. By doing this I feel it makes the make flow more, allowing ease of reading and also the image s add interest to the page because my audience enjoy the visuality and experience of magazines.

• I changed the background of the contents page because I felt white made page look empty.

• I also added the date on the banner to show that it’s the latest issue

• I used a pull-quote on an image too, to give a sample of what’s in store.

• I also changed the background to grey to define that Music Review section

• The page number is the same format as on my double page spread, creating synergy

• I added page numbers in the corner of each page with a caption to give information about each article and help with navigation

• I included an image of the editor and a signature to give a personal touch to the magazine

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After

The pull-quote overlaps my double page spread image however, although the font is large, it isn’t easy to read. Therefore, I decided to add boxes in both blue and black behind the text to create a unique and quirky vibe to the page. The font style is also crooked and odd sized which makes the quotes look handwritten, as they would on music festival posters and boards. This gives familiarity to my target audience and also a personal touch to the magazine.

The side panel is on my double page spread and contains information about other musicians mentioned later in the magazine. Although the white font with bold images does contrast the grey background, I felt they would be easily missed whilst skimming through the magazine. This would be a problem, particularly because the heading reads ‘Don’t Miss’ therefore the information is crucial to the reader. I decided to tackle this by creating a black box behind all the panel layers so that it looked separate to my DPS article., then I adjusted the size and positioning using the transformation tool on Photoshop It also allowed me to move the font to curve around the images because the black background blended into the images.

The columns that contain the main interview has a format where they questions are in light blue and the response in black. Although it is colourful, I did think it looked very one-dimensional and too much solid text, which would defy my aim of trying to keep the magazine as visual as possible. Therefore I

added three translucent columns in the foreground so that there was more definition and contrast to the text, giving it more dimension. I also added a image of the musician and cropped it into a circle which I curved the text around to keep the fluidity of my article. This represents my youthful audience because it’s vibrant and fun.

In the top right corner of this page there was a blank area which I wanted to fill because conventionally, double-page spreads have very little empty space. Therefore, I decided to add a puff containing information about the magazines website. To do this I found an image of torn notebook paper on google images which I saved onto a Photoshop file. I then cropped it and adjusted the size to fit in the corner. Next I deleted the background using the magic background eraser tool so that I could overlap my main image without a white box surrounding the image. I then tiled the paper using the transformation tool before adjusting the brightness to make the paper look worn. Finally I added the text on top in Orator Std. font to create synergy throughout the magazine.

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Before After

The page numbers are crucial in aiding the navigation of a magazine, therefore they need to be clear and chronological. I improved my previous number by going on the shape tool in Photoshop and selecting the flags shape. I chose the colour black to be contrasting and easy to read. I then used the line tool to create a ‘flag pole’ running between the flags and curving at the end. I then added the numbers 12 using Orator Std. I felt this added more of an artistic, decorative and personal touch to the magazine that is completely unique to anything else, therefore represents my target audience because they enjoy the quirky and unusual.