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Some of you may already have experimented with cover photos and may not need this guide. Others will find, that hours of experimentation could have been spent better just reading it. Either way, the layout of one's cover is its most fundamental part. Therefore it makes sense to teach what we know about it to aspiring artists.
Requirements
Below as thumbnail we see the template provided by Bewear in [1]. This template highlights visible portions of different screens. Only the white (=blank) section is visible on PCs, whereas mobile browsers will typically display the full image.
For the purpose of this guide, we will distinguish layered and non-layered image manipulation programs (IMPs). Layered IMPs support layers to some extent, non-layered IMPs do not.
Techniques
First, we will discuss techniques that can be applied with non-layered IMPs, as these can be applied with any IMP. Then we will discuss layered IMPs. The applicability of techniques in that section is limited by the features surrounding layer support in such programs.
The border
By limiting our editing to the blank section, we can create a look not unlike that of TV screens when the image has the wrong format. Whether or not that suits the taste of the viewer is subjective, but it can be done. In layered IMPs, this technique can be made easier by making the blank section transparent and dropping it as layer onto those below. Non-layered IMPs with (limited) support for transparent images might support this variation as well. Of course, this technique can also be used to draw fancy frames, which are associated with art in galleries.
The drawing board
We scale the template horizontally to make it extend on one or both edges and plant or draw the actual image on top of it. Some IMPs may also support guides which may be used to visualise the border between visible and non-visible regions.
The solid guide
The solid guide is a variation of the border, which requires layered IMPs. By making the blank section transparent while keeping the other, the image below remains visible and its layers can still be moved around to fit within the border "more nicely".
The transparent guide
This technique relies on laying the template on top of the actual image and reducing its opacity strictly below 1 but keeping it strictly above 0. Alternatively one could use layer modes which affect the colours differently, such as lightening and darkening modes. While in the process of moving around the layers below, colour or shade differences can be used to infer visibility within the final image. The transparent guide layer can be made into a partly visible border or otherwise incorporated within the aesthetics of the final product, but it can just as well be discarded.
References
[1] Cover size?
