CD FRONT COVER, HOW IT WAS MADE...

To start of with i had to produce an image to work with. In my planning designs i stated that i wanted to use a classic band pose image and created a simplistic shot of band members popping out behind a tree all with smiles, laughter ect. I decided to stick with this idea as it was a good basis for a front cover, it allowed for a consumer to see the band as fun and entertaining whilst being mainly aimed towards the teenage target audience of around 13-20. Having gathered the tree shot i then had to edit the image to create a pop art type effect. In doing so i used Photoshop effects to create this effect. By lowering the threshold of the image, i then duplicated that image and edited the blending options. This allowed for me to paint over in a dark grey and white the areas that i wanted the pop art effect to be in place as this was an underlying layer. Therefore when the original image was placed over the top it contained the editing i had included to create a pop art type effect that looks artistic.

Having then just simply used a dark red background using the paint bucket tool on Photoshop to create a strong colour for the image to project out of. Looking back on my design plan layouts i wanted the artists name to appear in the top right, a common trait for albums to have.

For the font i chose Apple Chancery in size 4 font in strong. I felt that this font offered something different and unique to other CD covers in which i've viewed. With this text if offers a sort of flow effect were by the writing is visually pleasuring to the consumers eye. I found this an effective yet simplistic way to display the bands title. To gather the effects that i created i had to change the formation of the text form using photoshop. Having many pre-set functions made this easily accessible to produce exactly what i wanted.

Above is a screen shot of the effects that i put in place within the text. A drop shadow was put in place to lift the text from within the page, it places a shadow around the letters contours to allow it to be produced in bold. The outer glow is what causes it to shine therefore making it more visually appealing. The inner glow is used to synch this shine to create this glow both inside and out to appeal to the consumer. The bevel and emboss effects simply places the text to make it bolder and more visual to a consumer. By placing these effects within the text form i belive it makes the bands title stand out and differs from the colours used within the front cover making it eye-catching.

The next step to include was the albums name, titled "Dreams Of A Star", my design layout stated that i wanted this to be produced underneath the bands name to give it some familiarisation as to that is the albums title. This was to follow a different text form to make it differ from the bands title therefore a consumer can associate between the two, i.e which ones the bands name and which is the album titles.

I placed the text form in black therefore it splits the colours up between the two. This being important so that a consumer can recognise that it isn't part of the same text, i.e the bands title and can associate with it being the albums title due to the smaller text form and with it placed below "The Bravery". With this text i used the same chancery text to establish the link between the two through using the same text style. With this i didnt include an inside or outside glow jsut simply a drop shadow which pretrudes it from within the 2d dimesions of the page using Photoshop.

FINAL PRODUCT_