Part 1

Starting the construction for my contents page was simple, i began by opening a white A4 page in adobe photoshop CS4, to continue the look of my magazine i used the eye dropper tool found in the tool bar on the left side of the page, this tool allowed me to take the colour from my front cover background and then use the paint bucket tool to place it as my contents backdrop. I added all the text and images first to see what my basic contents would look like. I pasted the main image of my page and then placed a banner covering the corner of the image. To cut the banner so it fit the images edges i simply used the rectangle shape tool and placed rectangles the same colour as my backdrop around the image. I then placed the text inside the banner which was Arial font at the size of 16pt, after this i merged the banner and image by making only them visible and selecting merge visible. I then added the story information in the top right of the image in Arial font 20pt. To get my logo on the page i simply copyed it from my front cover and then changed its size using the move tool, so it did not pixelate i used the maintain aspect ration tool. The contents title was Arial font 50pt, i did not want to make this a big noticable title as it is not the most significant element on the page. To make the contents list i simply drew out a text box and began typing in different stories that i new my audience would enjoy to read. I decided to place an editorial somewhere different to my sketches, therefore i placed it in the bottom left hand corner of the page. There was a gap in ther middle of my contents page that was big but to narrow to allow for any other elements of the page.

Part 2

I deleted the editorial and moved a few things around, i made my main headline image much bigger so that it was dominant on the page, attracting the audiences attention. I then moved the contents list and the story below it downwards. This then allowed me to place my new contents title that i had made smaller to a 40pt sized font in the top left corner of my page. I then seperated the title from the rest of the contents elements by drawing a white line just under the title, using the line tool found in the tool bar on the right of adobe photoshop. This made my magazine look much more professional. I moved the masthead of my magazine below the line and then typed next to it in Arial font sized 40pt "In this issue...", this introduces the magazine to the audience, making it seem more professional. Below the main headline image i decided to put an advertisment. To begin the advertisment i made a rectangle box with the rectangular shape tool. Making the advertisment more realistic i placed a smaller image of my front cover over it. To do this i opened the front cover in photoshop, selected all layers and flattened the image, i saved this and then re-opened it in photoshop. After that i selected the image using the selection tool, copyed it and then pasted it into my contents page, then using the move and the maintain aspect ratio tools i adjusted it to fit on my advertisment background. I wanted part of the advertisment to slightly overlap the main image and not just be fit into a box. This made my advertisment look more professional and suited the style of my audience e.g. messy, lazy. Below the advertisment I placed another secondary cover story image with information beside it, this filled the blank area and gave the contents page an overall filled look.

Part 3

The third stage of my construction involved me extending and placing a border around the contents list. I felt that the contents of my magazine was too small so i began to add a few more stories, this extended my list leaving less room for my secondary cover story below, therefore i made the cover story image smaller and pushed its information to the left of it. I added a website in the top right corner of my contents page to make it seem like a professional magazine. I then added my theme, the rock symbol, where there was room, the space left to put the symbol worked well and gave the contents page its overall look. Finally i added a brush effect to the background as i felt it was fairly boring plain. To achieve this background effect i used a website called http://www.brucheezy.com/ it allowed me to browse through different brush effects for photoshop. After browsing i found a brush called "dirt" and decided that this was a sutiable brush to add an interesting effect to my contents. I downloaded the brush and installed it into photoshop. The download gave me 12 different brush effects, i found three effects that when put on top eachother gave a good splatter effect. I felt this would make my contents page more interesting and less plain to the audience. I decided to place the brush effect in the right bottom corner of my page as this was where the most background was showing. Also because the effect spread across the page in an upwards motion and starting it from the corner would give it an overall better look. To place the brush i made only the background of my contents visible and then began the effects.

Part 4

In the end i decided the background colour did not allow for the elements of the page to stand out, this is why i changed the background to white, also i felt this followed my colour scheme better. Once i had changed my background some elements had to be change. I changed the colour of the cover story text below the advertisment to black so that it would stand out on the white backdrop. I also changed the colour of the title, underline, website, "in this issue" and the main image text at the top of the page. I then added my page number in the bottom left corner, it is not visible in the image above but below is a large image where it is visible. I changed the main image to black and white (see image below) to try and emphasise it on the white background, as i felt it being normal was ruining the look of the magazine and the dark masculine feel to it. Finally i felt the contents box being gray made it look as though it should not be there, threrfore i changed the colour of the box to black using the paint bucket tool.

Large Final Contents Page