Tools and Evaluation

Luka Delic 12WJ

Magazine Cover1st DRAFT The task of creating a magazine cover

was at first a creative uphill. Initially, I struggled to combine the various ideas that I had for my magazine, examples being the title (which had initially been ‘Motion’) and the colour scheme of the entire magazine cover. I played with a few title ideas, finally settling upon the title ‘Vibe’, which I thought epitomised the feeling of youth, energy and action that school consists of.

The magazine cover plan was slightly deviated upon in my actual cover. The device of using a Rubik’s Cube was actually my secondary prop in my initial plan, as the initial idea of using a tragedy/comedy drama mask as the prop was not executed very well in the photos where it was used. However, the Rubik’s Cube far than made up for it, suggesting that inside the magazine there would be a feature on how to ‘crack’ school, just like the student in the image had ‘cracked’ the Rubik’s Cube.

Magazine Cover1st DRAFT The image was set up to be taken on

one of the walls of one of the floors in the stairway, as the walls have one complete colour on them, and would look interesting in the background of the cover.

The masthead’s font is ‘NeoRetroDraw’ and was chosen because it gave a vibrant, energetic, new feel to the masthead and to the title ‘Vibe’. I personally believe it reflects well on the youth of today. I also wrote the month of the issue and rotated it by 90 degrees anti-clockwise.

I placed this kicker here to cover the open, purple space of the background, also being more obvious to the reader.

The font I used for the kickers and explanatory text is consistent, being ‘PlakataEFBoldCondensed’.

Magazine Cover2nd DRAFT Compared to my first draft, this second

draft has not changed significantly from it. There are no major changes in my colour scheme yet black and white still feature predominantly throughout the text in the magazine cover.

Nonetheless, I did produce some noticeable changes. The colour of the words ‘EASY’ and ‘HARD’ have been changed in order to create a more consistent set of colour uses in this cover. Previously they were green and red, in order to match the colours displayed in the Rubik’s Cube in the cover image, to provide connection between the image and the text(ual) side of the cover. By using black and white, the colours used for most of the text on this cover, there is more consistency and connection between the text on the cover page.

Magazine Cover2nd DRAFT Further effects that I made that

differed from the original draft, were the introduction of lines that divided the main sub-headings/kickers from their accompanying explanatory text, and the use of the shadow effect on the kickers and explanatory text on the left side of the page. The lines were created by selecting the line tool from the Photoshop toolbox, and dragging it along carefully to make a straight line. The colour was selected as black. This was then copied and pasted, and placed parallel to the other line.

For the drop shadow effect, I again clicked on the ‘Styles and Effects’ section, clicked on ‘Effects’ on the drop-down menu, and clicked on ‘Drop Shadows’ on the drop-down menu next to it, and chose the drop shadow effect I found to be most appropriate.

Magazine Cover2nd DRAFT Additionally, I included a barcode, in

order to create the view that this was a professional magazine. The barcode was created using Photoshop, and involved many different stages.

Furthermore, I also added the effect of emboss/bevel on this text in order for the text to be more clearer and easier to see. I think these effects have emphasised the text mentioned.

Another change I made was the addition of a kicker and explanatory text, to add more material to my cover, and make it apparent that there are several features in the actual magazine that will peak the interest of potential readers.

The final effect I made was the airbrushing of the loose hairs of my model, using the clone effect. Additionally I made her eyes even more blue, through the mixture of the circle tool and changing the opacity.

Magazine CoverOverview

At the end of this task, I was happy with way my magazine turned out. I strived to create a magazine that looked different and I believe that I successfully did so. Although there are obviously still many improvements that could be made, I am content with how the magazine cover looks considering it was my first attempt at creating a magazine cover.