After continuing with the Mock Design, I was advised to use it as an initial final design given that the quality was of a high standard. You can see the additions to the layout in comparison to my previous blog post. I have tried to utilise a lot of the space with the typical features of a hit magazine without blocking too much of the main background image. I have attempted to emphasise main features of the content without taking to much focus away from the cover as a whole.A lot of the images used were edited to fit better within the final layout. The main image, itself, started as a basic image that I had created myself. I wanted the light to be a significant factor within the photograph before I attempted to edit it as needed. I used an effect called 'cutout' which accents the individual changes in tone in the image. This got rid of a lot of the "graininess" of the cascading light, particularly at the top right of the image, and gave a more graphic/cartoony feel which I felt worked well with the grungy theme of the magazine.
I then started to build the additonal features in and around the image, taking advantage of the angled perspective towards the top of the image with the "Frank's Wild Years Special' script. I tried to arrange the elements so the eye tends to follow them round as a sequence, starting from the bold title as the most prominent feature, clockwise to the smaller type referring to more content within: "Plus...A chance to win a signed EP" etc.
The image towards the bottom of the page I gave a raised polaroid effect. Originally they were basic photographs that i had taken myself. I then edited them individually with a polaroid stock to create the effect. I wanted the images to seem old and perhaps a little faded so I decreased the saturation quite a lot and increased the brightness. I also increased the contrast a little to accent the dark areas of each image so that they would sit better in the darkest area of the main background image.