I started by importing my photo and cutting out the background.

This meant that I had to use the ‘feather tool’ to shape around my artist and make sure that there was no jagged edges.

I added my flasher onto my cover to begin with aswell.

I created my masthead, and tested out a lot of effects and fonts to make it look right.

I used a header to give an idea of the kind of music in the magazine.

I added my first few cover lines to the magazine, and had to make sure they were equally spaced and were in line with each other.

I put my flasher in place and changed it to white to make it stand out more.

I made sure there was enough room for my main cover line to go in to the space too.

I then added my main story on the front cover, relating to the artist as my background, this is the main cover line which is most likely to catch the readers eye first.

I also added in the date, issue number and price.

I then added the final conventions to my front cover, such as the issue number, date and barcode. I had to also check that all my coverlines were aligned and my rule of thirds was accurate.

I then made sure that everything was finally in place, and looked in line with each other.