These are the drafts of how my media magazine evolved as I continued to improve on them.

1. TEMPLATE OF
FRONT COVER,
CONTENTS AND
DOUBLE PAGE
SPREAD
RUQAYYAH OPEOLU

2. I started my magazine by
creating a template in order to
figure out the positioning of the
features of my magazine and
also included the masthead
with the name I had chosen.
To further enhance my magazine,
I began to add some features, for
example, changing the
background to forest green, the
masthead to white and filled in the
skyline and also one coverline.
Here I have altered the
positioning of the magazine
features, for example the
coverline saying the name
of the artist from the bottom
to the top to make it seem
like a conventional feature
of a magazine.
1
2
3FRONT COVER

3. My next draft consisted of me changing the font
type of the coverline which reveals the name of
the artist featured. I felt this was a better option
as it is the same font as the other coverlines.
Additionally, I altered the features of the
masthead by outlining around the text using the
‘Stroke’ from the blending options in Photoshop,
which made my magazine appear more bold.
Despite changing the font type of the coverline
revealing the name of the artist featured in my
magazine, I changed it back to the ‘Inner Glow’ font as
after surfing the web to attain inspiration from other
existing RnB magazines, I found out the fonts used for
the coverlines are hardly fancy. I also removed the
outline and inner shadow of the masthead as I
thought it did not appear similar to a magazine
masthead.
3 4

4. After further analysing my magazine, I changed
the font of the masthead to ‘Crackvetica’ as
‘Sandre’ did not appear bold and eye-catching,
which is what I was after. I also changed the
coverline ‘Caliph Yibz sex, drugs and fame’ back
to ‘Blacklisted’ as I thought it matched with the
new font of the masthead.
To improve, I re-positioned the red bar at the top of
the page so that the skyline would be displayed in a
more effective way. Additionally, I brought the
coverlines from behind the direct mode of address
to the front in order for the consumers to visualise
them well. I also included the barcode behind the
coverline at the bottom as the front cover was
getting full and so I was confused as to where to
place it.
5 6

5. Here, I changed the
colour of the skyline
and also the colour of
the main coverline to
make it stand out
further.
I added a barcode but placed
it at the back of the main
coverline as I was lost for
space.
After further analysing my work, I
decided the position of the
barcode was not conventional
and rotated it to the bottom of
the page.
7 8 9

6. 10
Here, I decided to change my model as I
was satisfied with the quality of the
previous images. I also changed the colour
of my issue date as the yellow did not fit in
well with the house theme. Additionally, I
also included the price of the magazine at
the bottom, as that is a conventional
feature of one. The name of the model was
also altered as I wanted to give my
magazine a slight new look. After further
analysing the positioning of my magazine
features, I decided that this will be my final
draft of the front cover as I included a :
masthead, cover -lines, skyline, barcode,
house style, issue date, date, main image,
and price, all which are the essential
conventional features of a magazine.

7. In order to make
‘PROFANITY’
appear more
conventional, I
imitated the barcode
used in ‘VIBE’
magazine and
created my own,
using the rectangle
tool in Photoshop.

8. This is my first draft of
my contents page
where I placed the
magazine features in
the position I wanted
them in. I also included
my image which I used
the Polygonal Lasso
Tool to remove the
background so no stray
bits remained.
I added content to the sub-
headings and also included
an editor’s letter and a footer
which immediately made my
contents page appear
conventional. I deleted the
previous image as I also
removed the same model
from my front cover which
meant I could not include him
on my contents page.
1
4
3
2CONTENTS PAGE
To make my contents page
stand out, I used the
Blending options in
Photoshop, choosing the
‘Stroke’ tool to make the ‘P’
stand out further as there
was no colour included. In
addition, as I had took new
photos for a different model,
this meant I could now
include an image back on
my contents page.
For my last draft of my
contents page, I
changed my image as I
decided that the
previous one was un-
conventional for a
contents page as it was
a close-up, which
meant my target
audience would not be
able to see the model
properly.

9. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
I had found doing the double-page spread
proved a more difficult task as I had to come
up with appropriate images and text in which
were relevant to the genre of my magazine,
which is Hip-Hop. To assist me in gathering
ideas for this, I researched some double-
page spreads of ‘NME’ and ‘Rolling Stone’
magazines. Due to this, I found using sub-
headings, columns, a drop cap and adding a
footer was very conventional.
Similar to ‘NME’s’ double-page spread,
‘Rolling Stone’ has also included sub-
headings, a footer and drop cap, all which I
knew I had to feature in my double-page
spread. However, I noticed ‘Rolling Stones’
double did not have columns, but a
paragraph, which is also very conventional.

10. 1
2
Using Photoshop CS5, I created a double-page with a
4961 width and 3508 height. I then used guidelines to
position where I wanted my features to be placed in.
Due to my effective research, I included a title
“PROFANITY MEETS” and also a sub-heading with
columns of text. I was also mindful to be consistent with
my house theme of white, black and red. Additionally, I
aligned everything to the left as the cover-line on my
front cover and the features on my contents page were
also aligned to the left.
After analysing my work, I realised it would be very hard for my
target audience to be able to read the text due to the clashing
background. For this reason, I cut the image into two, in order to
have the right-side of the page white so that the text could be
legible. Additionally, I decided aligning my text to the left looked
silly and unconventional, and so I changed it to the right which
immediately improved the appearance of my double-page spread.
I removed the quote as I thought it was not necessary and moved
‘PROFANITY MEETS’ to the right side. Being left with a bare image
on the left, I designed a name and rotated it 90° anti-clockwise,
which I decided, went really well with the image used. Lastly, I
included a footer, so that my target audience would know the
double-page spread is from this particular issue of my magazine.

11. After deciding on my final-draft of my
front cover, contents and double-page
spread of my magazine, I put them all
together to further analyse what they
look like as separate pages of the
same magazine. I have decided that
they look well together as the house
style is consistent with the colours as
well as the font types.