Creating an album cover

To make my music magazine seem more professional, I have decided to create an album cover which I will use in my magazine to promote the artists who I'm including.


Below is one of the pictures which I took on my photoshoot which I'm going to use for my album cover



 I imported the image to Adobe photoshop where I began editing, I changed the brightness and saturation of the image to make the background seem a lot darker than it originally was. I also really like the fact that both of the models pale skin contrasts with the background image of the trees.



I then added the album name Lifeline in the font 'Segoe Print' and the band name 'the corrections' in the font 'Copperplate gothic bold'. Both of these fonts give a very alternative feel.

 

I am then inserted my bands logo to have the finished product

 

 

I am pleased with how this album cover has turned out as I have used two colours which would really engage an audience. I can now start editing pictures for my magazine.

 

 

Updated Plan

This is an updated plan of action as the one I have done previous doesn't have realistic timings.

Creating the band logo

I have now decided that I would like to replicate the yin and yang symbol but changing the colours. I edited the image of the symbol on Adobe Photoshop, below is the symbol which I created. I like the idea of using the yin and yang symbol to represent my band as it normally symbolises peace and harmony but the two colours contrast with this where it creates a more alternative feel due to there being bright colours.

Producing my masthead

Here is how I made my masthead for my magazine:

I searched for my masthead font on the website www.dafont.com

I used the font 'Major label' I feel like this font matches the genre of my magazine whilst also being easy to read. Here is the orginal font before I edited it:

 

 

 

I then used Adobe Photoshop to edit the image. First I used the magic wand tool to eliminate all of the white background from the writing so that it was only the text you could see

 This is where the magic wand tool highlights all of the background which is not needed, so that you can delete it and you will just be left with the writing.

 

Once I had done this I zoomed in on the 'A' so that I could fill it in red. I wanted to do this to my masthead to make it stand out when it was on my masthead.

 

This is my finished masthead which I created, I really like the fact that I contrasted the red and black colours as it made the masthead a lot bolder

 

 

Colour scheme's for my magazine

Now I have decided on the music genre for my magazine I need to think about the colour scheme. This is very important as it will intrigue the audience into wanting to read the magazine. However I need to think carefully about the colour scheme so that its suitable for both a male and female audience.


 

I really like the colours grey,white and red for my magazine as it suits an alternative genre. The red and white fonts really compliment the grey background, with the red font highlighitng the important articles which are included in the magazine. The central image is also in black and white which really accentuates the text on the page.

 

Here is another front cover of a popular music magazine which has a similar colour scheme. The red font is used as the masthead aswell as the main headline, personally I dont like that the two most important conventions on a front cover are both the same colour as it seems bland. However the white font does break it up but because the central image includes a lot of white, the font can occasioanlly look lost.

 Here is another magazine which is more focused on the pop genre, I think the idea of the masthead is really intriguing which could suit my alternative music magazine I like the idea of two of the letters being filled in different colours, after doing some more research this is a trademark of the magazine as on every front cover two of the letters are filled in. This makes the magazine very specific and it would be easy for a reader to differentiate that magazine from another one. This could be a good device which I could use for my magazine as it is very specific

After some research I have decided that I would like my music magazine to have a colour scheme of red, white and grey. I think this really compliments the alternative genre which I will be channelling throughout the process. Below is a mood board of some images which I have found inspiring whilst deciding on the colour scheme.

 

 

Template ideas for my magazines

Here is a template of a front cover which I created. Here I am focusing on the layout of the page so that it attratcs the reader.

I would like the masthead to be in the centre of the page so that it automatically catches the readers attention. I think using a short quote from my interview could be a great device to use so that the reader can get an insight into what is being spoken about in the interview. The idea of having several images at the side of the page will show what else is going to be included in the magazine. I also would like to include a pug on my front cover to allow the reader to take part in something. I would like to include an image of the bands album cover, but I am uncertain where I should locate it on the page so that it doesn't look out of place.

Below is an image of a contents page template which I have drawn

 

 

You can see that I am sticking with the theme so that the text is on the left hand side making it flow easily. I will make sure the font is simple so that the readers can understand it all. I would like to include a picture of the main model next to the text and then add secondary images of the whole band together to show the promotion of the album.

 

Here is the double page spread template:

 

 

I am going to have the band name in the on the left of the page acting as the masthead, I will then have a quote from the interview underneath it. I will have the left hand page where the interview will take place and an image of the album. On the right hand page I am going to have some more text from the interview with some more secondary images. I would like the page to also be signed from Ava so that it seems more personal.

 

Pitch

I was asked to create a pitch as if I was presenting my magazine to a company, so that they got an understanding of what I was going to include in my magazine. It gives a quick overview of the kind of things to expect once I have completed my finished product.

Here is a preso of my pitch which I created on reelapp.com