A student "how to" regarding the creation of a front cover for a magazine.

2. MASTHEAD
I got the font for my masthead
from a website called
www.dafont.com. Once I had
inserted the font onto
Photoshop, I had to change the
colour, as I didn’t want it to be
black.
In order to do this, I had to use
the ‘magnetic Lasso Tool’
which would allow me to draw
an outline of the letters, which I
could then change the colour
by filling it in.
It shows opposite the steps
mentioned above, and that I've
chosen the correct tool, about
go around the outside of each
letter.

3. MASTHEAD
Once I had selected the different
sections of the font using the
‘Magnetic Lasso Tool,’ I then
had to choose the colour that I
want my masthead to be. I knew
that I wanted it to be red, but I
didn’t exactly know which kind,
e.g. how dark etc.
To do this, I clicked on the
colour tool on the left hand side,
and experimented with the
different types of red they had.
Once I had chosen the one I
wanted, I pressed ‘OK’ which
got rid of the box. I then
pressed ‘ALT’ and ‘Backspace,’
for the colour to fill the selected
space.

4. SELLING LINE
It now shows the final masthead
after I used the same method for
each letter in order to change the
colour.
Furthermore, it shows that I
created a shape above the
masthead, which will be for the
selling line of the magazine. I
filled the colour with yellow, as I
think this is an appropriate colour
to use for the selling line, because
its eye catching and bold, and will
also go with the colour scheme of
the magazine.

5. SELLING LINE
I decided to have the date of
the issue for the magazine,
as well as the website, as I
thought this convention is
necessary, and also, it gives
the reader more information
about the magazine. I used
the ‘Horizontal Type Tool’ to
create a textbox, which I
then inserted this
information in to. I made it
all in capital letters so that it
stands out. The final font
that I used for this was
‘Estrangelo Edessa.’

6. SELLING LINE
I then used the same technique to
insert text for the selling line, which
is at the top of the magazine.
It shows opposite the final positions
for both texts. For the date of the
issue, I placed it alongside the
masthead, so that it stands out, and
easy to find by the reader. I chose
the selling line to be ‘THE UK’S
LEADING R’N’B MAGAZINE’ as
it makes the magazine seem unique
and different from others.
The font for both texts are different
so that they distinctive in their own
way. Furthermore, the colour black
seemed to be the most appropriate
colour to use for both texts.

8. SELLING LINE
Once I had finished the format
of the selling line, I wasn’t
exactly pleased with it, as I
thought that bringing yellow
into the colour scheme would
make the front cover look a bit
busy. Therefore, I decided to
change it to black, which I
thought would be the best
colour as the front cover
would have other elements to
it which consist of black,
which would make the front
cover consistent in its colours.
It shows opposite that I
changed the colour to black
from yellow.

9. SELLING LINE
It now shows the final
format of the selling
line, after I changed the
fill colour from yellow
to black, and the font
colour from black to
white. I thought that
white would be the
most suitable colour to
use, as it stands out, and
differentiates itself from
the rest of the
magazine.

10. SELLING LINE
I then highlighted the
text that was inside the
text box, as it was
hidden due to the fact
that the previous
colour was black,
therefore, it was
hidden with the
background. Once
highlighted, I changed
the font colour to
white.