Developing the Newspaper

Without a doubt, the most difficult, complex and frustrating part of my design was getting the right look for my newspaper. Below shows how the newspaper developed over time, and explanations on some techniques I used and the reasons behind my decisions.

Once I got to this point, I was stuck. I loved the layout of the newspaper and how the title and the blurb were incorporated, but hated the attempted "rip" effect around the edges. It just didn't look believable, and no amount of drop shadowing or "crumbled paper" textures were going to make it look realistic. So, I started again. I drew out my initial shape on a new document.

I thought about how a piece of paper tears - how it's not perfect, not in a straight line etc.

After this I thought about what sort of feel I wanted my newspaper to have - old, weathered, battered, ruined in the weather, in a run-down environment. A piece of paper blowing in the wind and rain does not stay perfectly flat( especially a piece of ripped paper) -  paper naturally curls when it's wet. So I designed some page curls. 

I decided to go further, and design in some tears within the actual paper. They can represent bullet holes, and this adds another layer of a sense of danger for the person viewing the cover.

The idea of being able to see through the paper and see the fence and background adds another sense of depth to the design, adding to the realism.

Next up was textures. 

Torn paper texture, destroyed paper texture.

I really feel that the added paper folds and tears has helped strengthen the destroyed/battered feeling that my design needs to give off. The textured also age the newspaper, which helps me portray the era the book is set in too (not specifically, just the it is not current-day).