The program I used to complete this project is Adobe Photo Shop CC 2017.  Using Photo Shop without the rest of the Adobe Suite for a project like this is difficult to complete. Certainly, I would use the combination of the Adobe Creative Suite to do this task.  The point was to apply and display those skills learned in Adobe Photo Shop.

This project magazine cover is for academic reasons only. It is a fictitious account of myself on the cover of “Acoustic Guitar World Magazine”. I chose this magazine cover to tell a small story about myself and to apply the four-step design process while using Adobe Photo Shop. Here’s how I employed color theory and design elements and principles.

I initially made a sketched of how I wanted the layout. Later, I detailed it as I came up with more ideas.  I found when I started the project in photo shop the sketch helped with the placement of the main theme but afterwards I set it aside and the photoshop project took on its own life. As I got into the project I realized I needed an asset folder with inserts, pre-made text and pictures. It would’ve been a lot easier to assemble these items from the beginning instead of when I was almost done. Placing text on the page is faster than the typing

The main photograph was taken in the sun room at my house.  Here I could get the best natural lighting and make it easier for myself when it came time to enhance the picture. I color balanced, enhanced, cropped and touched up the picture to remove unwanted shadows from the original.  My idea was to place myself off center masking a darker background with perspective and interesting depth. The background is a stock image. Without this background my image is against the light soft textured, background of the wall which is also interesting. I was pleased with the contrast of the rich redness of the shiny guitar finish creating visual interest and a bit of drama in a familiar shape and form. The mixing board (a stock image) was inserted into the foreground. I wanted to create a pattern using the repetitive element of the adjustment knobs.

The main color is simply the light yellowish and glow of the background. The main header color is violet a complimentary color to the yellow/tan. The orange and green are contrasting tetrads giving those cover lines a little pow from the mellow yellow and violets of the rest of the page.

I used layer masking to bring myself forward of text and several text layer groups

  Last, there is no question that the text is a huge part of this cover design. The font size, color and content convey the story and mood, emotion and excitement that I wanted to share. I used tracking and leading to position and format cover lines. I used the Arial font in all sizes narrow bold to black.  I like the uniformity and simplicity that it adds.