Improving my front cover

The aim of this task was for me to complete the outlined improvements in the earlier post which are:

• Edit the main image and reverse it into colour rather than black & white
• Insert the artists name on the front cover in order to give a meaning to the main image
• Use red either to underline the name of the artist or the headlines on the front cover

EDITING THE MAIN IMAGE

As we can see above I have taken into account that the image needs to be in colour and completed such improvements. For this editing I have used the same base image of the model with the necessary healing brushes already applied. In the screenshots we can see that to adjust this image I have only completed two steps. The first step includes me adjusting the images colour saturation to 13 and lightness to -5. By this the image has gained stronger colours, making the overall image more attractive. Whereas the second step includes me overlaying the image with a "Sanna" effect. This effect has increased the shadows and caused the colours to have a darker shade  with colours still easily visible. I believe that this version of the main image is much more effective than the previous black & white image.  By this the front cover will suit the image of 'hip hop' genre more, making my magazine more successful. 

CHANGING THE LOGO

I have not planned this manipulation, however during the process of completing the improvements I have found that the original logo does not suit the rest of the composition. At first the original logo was very attractive and represented the "Urban" idea very well by the various editing techniques which I have implemented, but on the other hand it was too complicated and too bulky. Therefore looking back at my hip hop research (looking at front covers) I have noticed that many magazines use very simple, bold font such as the "VIBE" magazine or some use more of a connected, more aesthetically pleasing font such as the "Rolling Stone" magazine. In this case I have chosen to implement both styles and come up with a unique image of the "UrbanFlow" logo. Adding onto that, I have noticed that a very large number of logos were either in white or red. To make sure that my logo meets the seen codes and convetions, I have chosen to apply both of the colours making my logo red and white. This way it really stands out against my main image. 

Above we can see the side-by-side comparison of the original and the new logo. Comparing them, we can see that by the right logo not having such black background it seems more spacious, and by the use of such red and white, but specifically red colour it matches the codes and conventions which I have found in the hip hop magazines. This logo will be more visible to the audience therefore I will be allowed to partially cover it with the main image which is another code and convention which I have found in both pop and hip hop music magazines. I have already implemented it in my first draft of the front cover where it worked really well, therefore I will consider keeping it in my final draft.

ARTIST NAME & IMPLEMENTING RED COLOUR

Beforehand I have stated that as an improvement I would consider implementing a name of a artist in order to give the main image a meaning. To do so I would have to come up with a hip hop related artist name. In this case I have chosen to base the artists name on the name of the model which is Magdalena. After spending some time thinking about the current names of artists I have come up with the name "Missy M". I find this name suit the image of hip hop as it presents the female character as well as the hip hop temper artists have. Additionally, this was a good area where I could implement the use of red colour. At first I chose all of the text in the headline to be red however I have found that it did not particularly work well with the background. To solve this problem I have chosen to implement white into the headline. Looking back at the hip hop covers which I looked at, I have seen that white fonts have been used in order to present the main headline therefore I find this colour combination appropriate. This way the red emphasises the name of the artist and the white allows the text to be easily read against the coloured background. Therefore now instead of having a large "IMMACULATE FLOW & STYLE ON THE LOOSE!" headline across the lower section of the page I have come up with such a headline.

As we can see above the full red version of the headline is hard to read on against the background whereas the red/white version is clearly visible from a distance. This composition of the headline additionally reflects the masthead of my magazine, creating a house style throughout my magazine. Now it is time to compose everything together and make up the final draft of my front cover of UrbanFlow.