1. Acoustic Magazine:
Making A Front Cover

2. Taylor Swift

3. Ed Sheeran

4. Mumford and Sons

5. The image
I decided upon using this image for my mock up because it fitted very well into a (roughly) A4 frame, and I think the representation on the front cover would be similar to that of what Acoustic magazine normally achieves. I also picked this image as it was very large and I didn’t want it to be pixelated; this image was 5616 pixels wide and 3744 pixels in height, which means the image will not be blurred or distorted when it is cropped and resized. I did also consider this photograph of Ed Sheeran, as he is more instantly recognisable than the above image of Mumford and Sons. However, when cropped into a (rough) A4 size, I found that this image did not have enough space for big enough column inches and it would be hard to fit in a masthead too, which is why I decided upon the above image instead. This image was also smaller, and therefore would have been distorted and pixelated if I tried to enlarge it.

6. Making the front cover
I opened up a blank Microsoft Publisher document, and set the page layout settings to portrait and A4, as this is the right size and orientation for the front cover of my magazine, as this is how it would be published. I then put my image into the document, and reduced the size to around A3 (landscape). I lined this up with the blank A4 sheet underneath, ready to crop to an appropriate size.

7. Making the front cover
I cropped my image to the portrait A4 size for my front cover, making sure to get the part of the image that would engage the audience the best and draw in the target market group of Acoustic magazine. I made sure the main section of the image (a band member) was in the centre of the page, to allow room for column inches down each side of him. I also double-checked that the image completely covered the whole page.

8. Making the front cover
I decided that the first step I would take would be the masthead, the title of the magazine, “ACOUSTIC”. To start with, I tried to find a similar font on Publisher, but even when changing the spacing, size, etc. I couldn’t seem to find a font that was a similar typeface to the one that Acoustic magazine uses, so instead I tried to use a different technique. I found the image on the left on Google Images, and decided to crop the masthead from this image and make it transparent which means that there is no longer a background, so that I can use it for my magazine cover.

9. Making the front cover
After editing the masthead so that it had a transparent background, I found that it didn’t stand out very well from the light background of my front cover image, so I decided to change the colour so that it was darker, and would catch the attention of the primary audience of Acoustic magazine better. I changed the brightness of my masthead to minus 40%, which made the text a darker grey colour, and helped to bring the magazine title out from the page, and catch the eye of potential readers.

10. Making the front cover
After completing the masthead, I decided to add a scroll at the top of the page, as all of Acoustic magazines issues seem to have scrolls at the bottom and/ or top of each front cover. To follow the colour scheme, and keep colour cohesion, I made the actual scroll black. After adding in the scroll, I needed to add text to it. I copied the text from a scroll, that is repeated on several issues, which read “TUITION + INTERVIEWS + REVIEWS + WORKSHOP + 12-STRONG CORNER + LEGENDS”. As the majority of Acoustic magazine issues do, I changed the colour of the plus signs to a colour that will attract attention; a bright, bold red. I used the font “Century Gothic”.

11. TUITION + INTERVIEWS + REVIEWS + WORKSHOP + 12-STRONG CORNER + LEGENDS
Making the front cover
Next, I added a scroll on the bottom of the front cover. I put the buzzwords “Mumford and Sons” in an eye-catching red, so that the primary audience is draw into the issue. I used a black scroll with white and red text to keep consistency and colour cohesion on my front cover. Again, I used the same font, “Century Gothic”.
MUMFORD AND SONS: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE BAND ABOUT THEIR NEWEST ALBUM
TUITION + INTERVIEWS + REVIEWS + WORKSHOP + 12-STRONG CORNER + LEGENDS

12. Making the front cover
Once the scrolls were completed, I moved onto the articles to put onto my front cover. I used puffs and buzzwords, highlighted by different colours to make them stand out. I also added an image to link in with the “top ten” article. I made sure to use red, white and black text only; I wanted to make sure there was colour cohesion throughout the whole of the front cover, and that the images and texts link in together. I tried to make them evenly spaced, so that they covered the different areas of the page, and I used column inches either side of the band member in the centre of the front cover, which also helps to draw in and attract the attention of the target market group/ primary audience of Acoustic magazine.

13. Making the front cover
Finally, I needed to add the finishing touches to my magazine. I added a barcode in the bottom left corner, as it is one of Acoustic magazine (and other magazines) conventions to put the barcode in the bottom corner of the page. I also included the date, issue number and price. I also stuck to the colour scheme for these too.