Front Cover - Progression of second draft

After making the decision to re-design my front cover, I chose an entirely different style altogether and decided to go for a red and black house style throughout. I chose a mid-shot of my model, which had her holding up a flag and a guitar, with a chocolate box pose. I chose this image as I thought it looked incredibly powerful and gave a lasting effect that would entice my audience. Once I had selected my image, I placed it on a gradient background, and then used the polygonal lasso tool and magic wand tool to cut out my model. I duplicated this layer, and filled it entirely with black before using the Gaussian blur effect and turning down the opacity to create a shadow outline.

To create my heading, I decided on something more simple than last time, with plain red, fixed width text with a single divide. I placed this all the way along the top of my magazine by adjusting the tracking, size and height of the letters. Under this, and under the layer of my model, I placed my slogan/tag-line, allowing the tiniest bit of the 'T' to go behind my model's flag and create a layered effect.

I experimented with other titles, particularly the one shown below, using different fonts but a similar theme. I found the black one did not work as well as the red one, and the drop shadow behind it looked unusual, so I decided not to use it for my final design.

For my banner, I decided to create something diagonal and striped, with an image and a few lines of text. I used an image of a concert I attended, as it bore reference to the story of the Brit Awards, which I focused on here. I used the rectangle tool to create black and white boxes, on which I put contrasting colours of text, in fixed width fonts. I made these, along with the image, diagonal. With the "exclusive" text, I added a line under the E which came down and acted as a base for the rectangles, helping make sure it looked as tidy as possible. My banner also had a drop shadow on it, so it stood out from the model.

Next, I created the main sell-line. I wanted to go with something similar to last time, however keep with the theme of rectangles I had used in the banner, so I used a white rectangle with a solid drop shadow, to hold the first three words of the article title, and had the name of the artist and the most eye-catching part in a different, more exciting font and in red. I used two different shades of red by using the gradient tool and had the text on a slight diagonal, adding a drop shadow.

The last thing I had to do was add sell-lines and cover-lines. I decided to position these to the right of my article, and placed them stylistically around my model. I again, stuck with red and black rectangles and text, creating an easy to follow effect. I made sure the text fit perfectly inside the rectangles, so it looked as neat as possible. I also added a bar-code, but decided to use a QR code instead of a traditional bar-code, as the younger generation and my target audience are more accustomed to seeing this. It gives a suggestion of a new generation of magazine, one that is more modern and somewhat digital, so would attract my target audience.

I like this design more than the first, however there are still things I might change so I am planning on receiving feedback from my target audience before I continue.