Creating My Music Magazine Cover

Quark Express (Mac and PC)

• Open Quark Express

• Click ‘new project’

• Ensure that the proper A4 dimensions are entered (w210 x l297), click ok.

Picture Boxes

• Quark works by using boxes and it is very clever.

• To insert a picture, use the picture box tool, or use (R), then draw a box the size you need.

• It will become a white box with a cross from corner to corner. This is how you know it’s a picture box.

• To then bring in a picture, click File>Import or click Ctrl+E

• After clicking import, choose your file and keep all settings the same as you see them, then click Open.

• You will notice that your picture will be constrained to its proportions inside the box, but you can alter the box’s size as well as the photo. Also, six blue dots appear for adjusting size.

• Click Item>Preview Resolution and change to Full Resolution. This displays your photo in full detail.

• If you’re happy with the size and shape of your box, Right click and click Scale Picture To Box. This will keep the proportions of your picture but make it fit to the box.

• If your photo is clipped at the edges, or extends over the edges of the page, it needs to be edited in Photoshop. Open the photo in PS, click crop and 7x5 inches, crop to your desire. This will fit the box now.

• You are now ready to enter text.

Text Boxes

• I decided to adopt a simple and traditional style with my music magazine, using a serif font and black and white arrangement.

• To start using text, click the text box symbol or press (T)

• Drag a box out where you need it to be. Begin typing.

• Click the outside edge of the box, go down to Colours and select ‘None’. This will give your box transparency.

• Highlight text by clicking and holding. Go down to colours and select ‘White’.

• To determine a font, click Style>Font.

• To determine size, click Style>Size.

• At size 72, Felix Titling does not fit to my picture, so I changed it by using Kerning and Tracking.

• Style>Track after highlighting text, click ‘horizontal’ and experiment with positive and negative numbers. I chose -15.

• For kerning, click Utilities>Kerning Edit

Text 5mm from edge of paper, a magazine convention

Masthead edited with tracking and kerning

Feature lines, main word is in the eyelineof the mag

Cover image, slightly biased to the left but leaving adequate space for cover lines

Updated cover:Erased text in masthead

Erased text in cover lines

Smaller text in cover lines, also closer together from tracking and kerning.