Front Cover, Contents page and Double page spread

Development of Front Cover

I have started to develop my front cover by changing the background colour to black and inserting the main image that I will be using. The image that I have chosen to use is of 'Big Ibz' looking down with his hands together placed just beneath his chin holding a chain. I did not need to change this image because of the quality I was able to take this picture at. After placing the image into page I then started write the masthead of the front cover onto the page. I decreased the size of the first word 'THE'to make 'SWITCH' stand out more on the page.  This makes the masthead eye catching and will stick with in the readers head because it is original and unique. I have placed the barcode in the bottom right side of the front cover.

The next step was to add the main headline and the other cover lines that was going to be in my front cover. In big bold capitol letters on the right side of page just above the contents page is the main headline. From research into the main code and conventions of a hip-hop magazine there are more pull quotes than any other feature on the front cover of the magazine. I have attempted to follow that by using mostly pull quotes. The main pull quote that I used was' I'M BACK'. This pull quote has been given the same font that was used for the masthead , it is also the same colour. I used a feature called a stroke that allowed me to place a black outline going around all of the cover lines. By using a stroke it allows my front cover to look more appealing as the words on the page start to pop out at the reader.

This is the final design of my front cover. The image that has been used is of the rapper 'Big Ibz' . He is what this magazine will be focused on. As you can see I have followed the criteria and the main code and conventions of a Hip-Hop magazine. I am happy with the outcome of my magazine because it looks as if it was professionally made and it also meets the code and conventions of this genre. I am not happy with the puff that I decided to include in this magazine as I am not sure if it blends in with the rest of the magazine. Apart from that I feel that I have kept a consistent house style on this front cover by keeping the fonts, the colours and the font size the same. I have made a huge improvement on this magazine compared to my preliminary task.

Development Of Contents Page

This is the development of my contents page. As you can see from the image that I have provided I have started to develop my contents page by changing the background colour to black placing the main image into the required position. I edited this picture because I noticed a white outline going around the image. I used the rubber tool to get rid of the image. I then added the title of my contents page followed by the date it was released.The font style and colour that has been used is the same as the font style and colour that has been used in the masthead. I finished my contents page adding the contents.

This is the completed version of my contents page. I have used 'Big Ibz' as the main image on my contents page as he is the main focus of my magazine. I have tried to keep a consistent house style through out my front cover and contents page by using the same fonts, colours and sizes. I am pleased with development and outcome of my contents page. I am not happy with the manipulation of the main image because it does still look a bit blurry. Apart from that I am pleased with everything else. I think I have blended all of the features together nicely allowing everything to equally stand out.

Double Page Spread 

This is the development of my double page spread. I started to develop my double page spread by adding the main image that takes up the left page. I cropped the background out of the image and placed it in the double page spread. I decided to make the image take a page because I found this most common in hip-hop magazines. After placing the image in the correct position I then added the title of the page into the double page spread. The title of the page was placed on the right side of the page. The font style, colour and size of the header is the same as font used in the contents page and front cover of my magazine. I decided to keep everything the same because I wanted to keep a consistent house style. The only feature that is different is the background colour. I changed the backgound colour to white as it makes the image stand out more. White is apart of the house style that created. I changed the font colour of the article to black because if the text remained white it would impossible to read. 

This is the completed version of my double page spread.  I am pleased with my double page spread as well because it does look professionally made  and I have followed the code and conventions of a Hip-Hop magazine double page spread. The main image that I have used for my double page spread is of Big Ibz as this article is going to be focused on him. I have used the same font and size for the header of the double page spread.  I am pleased with the feedback I have received from other members of the class because it was mostly positive.