Front Cover!

I have designed the front cover for my magazine using Microsoft Publisher. I used a red, black and white colour scheme as I think these colours reflect the rock music genre. I think having a white background is quite effective because it makes the image and text stand out and overall, makes the cover look smart and organised.

The image features a male model, Jason Cross. His body language and the fact that he is not making eye contact with the audience cause him to appear moody and mysterious. He is dressed casually in jeans, a jumper and hat which reflect the modern day style of the target audience. I cropped the image and altered the colour of the background before placing it onto the cover.

The masthead is the largest piece of text on the page, which is a convention shared by most magazines. It is written all in capital block lettering. I have done the same with the headline 'Jaceon' except smaller and in a different font. The plug for Struck By Lightning is also done like this but again in a different and smaller font than the headline. The other plug for the free posters is written in black to give this text some variation to the rest of the cover. The word 'free' is a buzz word and is written in capitals so that it is instantly noticed by the audience. I chose the fonts that I did because they are all easy to read.

I have also included the bar code and price in the top right corner of the page as this is another convention of magazines. In the bottom left corner I added a logo for the magazine. The colours of the diamond match the colour scheme of the cover and the font of the text 'E.E.S' is again different to the other fonts used across the cover and coloured black to fit the colour scheme.

Designing my magazine

I will now begin designing and planning my magazine using Microsoft Publisher.

I have decided to name my magazine 'Impact' as it reflects the rock music genre and the way it moves and influences people; in other words the impact it has upon its audience. It also suggests that many band interviews and music information are impacted into each issue of the magazine.

Impact will be a monthly magazine and I think a suitable price for it would be £2.99 as the other magazines I have looked at are around this price range. Impact would be well worth this price as it would be long and informative and printed on quality paper.

Double page spreads.

I will now look at double page spreads to determine the typical conventions of these. The one above is taken from NME magazine and features the band MGMT.

This double page uses a large image that takes up most of the space. The picture is a simple one of two men sat in a hotel room. The setting is plain, with dull coloured walls and a lamp lighting the room, and the figures featured look quite moody and troubled. This would interest the audience as they may wonder why the band are placed in such a setting. One of them makes eye contact with the audience which intrigues them into reading the article positioned down the right hand side. On top of the image is placed a quote from the text which is another feature used to intrigue the audience into reading the full article.

The title text is positioned on the left side of the page in a large, white font. The band name is cleverly included, each letter coloured red to be easily recognised by the audience.

This is a recent double page spread from Q magazine, focusing on the return of the rock band U2.

The image, which is taken from a low angle causing the band to look dominant, takes up the full double page and features all four band members stood in a line, each one looking directly at the audience to engage their attention. Behind them are an array of bright lights which are eye catching and enhance the fact that the bands return is something special.

The text 'Did you miss us?' is placed over the image in the red font which is a knowable feature of the band and so becomes easily recognisable to their fans. Smaller text is positioned underneath this which is introducing the band and members and informing the reader of what to expect over the next few double pages which also feature U2.

Music Magazine - analysing covers

Today I will start work on the main task of designing the front cover, contents page and a double page spread for a new music magazine.

I have decided that the genre my magazine will focus upon will be rock. I will begin by researching the genre and looking at current magazines that feature this type of music. The magazines I will look are NME, Kerrang and Q. Like in the preliminary task, I will analyse these covers to look for common conventions.

This is the cover of the Christmas edition of NME magazine. The word 'Christmas' in the headline is the largest piece of text on the cover, along with the masthead. The masthead is also the brightest feature of the cover and is positioned in the top left of the page so that it is eye catching and unmissable. It matches the Christmas theme too, as the letters are topped with snow.

The image is the main feature of the cover, like with the college magazine, as its purpose is to attract the audience. This picture is a long shot of the Arctic Monkeys all dressed in elf costumes to match the Christmas theme. They all make eye contact with the reader to intrigue and interest them and bring them into their world.

The cover features a list of all the bands and singers that will be found inside the magazine. This establishes the genre of the magazine as well as enticing fans of the listed bands into buying the magazine.

The buzz word 'free' is used to attract attention in the top right corner of the cover, showing the audience previews of the posters they will find inside. Another plug is positioned in the bottom right corner next to the bar code, advertising the 'NME Big Gig'. Another buzz word, 'win', is used just below the masthead to capture attention, as the audience are instantly drawn to these commonly used buzz word techniques.




This is a cover of Kerrang magazine. Like NME, the largest pieces of text are the masthead and the headline, both of which share the same font style. Across the top of the cover there is a bar featuring the names of bands that will be featured inside the magazine. There are small images and names of other bands positioned down the left hand side to attract the attention of their fans who may be inclined to purchase the magazine.

Underneath the headline there is a line of text which says "Your votes are in! And the winners are ..." By not revealing who the winners are, the reader becomes intrigued to buy the magazine.

The image is a medium shot taken from a low angle of a man playing guitar, which appeals to the readers of Kerrang, a teenage to adult audience, and fits the rock genre. The man does not make eye contact with the reader as he is concentrating on playing the guitar which gives him a moody yet determined look.

The tagline of the magazine is 'Life is loud' which is positioned on top of the masthead, but as you can see , is not fully visible as the image blocks out some of the letters. This causes the image to appear more dominant and reinforces the fact that it is the main focus of the cover.

This is a cover of Q magazine, featuring Madonna all dressed in red which connotes passion and makes her stand out. The red also matches that of the background of the masthead, becoming the dominant colour of the cover. The image engages the audience by the use of eye contact, appealing mostly to a male audience.

Q magazine is aimed at an older audience, as we can tell by the bands featured, Paul McCartney and David Bowie for example. It also has a wider selection of artists from different genres, from the legendary rock band U2 to the female singers Beyonce and Britney Spears.

The masthead is the largest piece of text on the cover, positioned in the top left corner of the cover to make the magazine instantly recognisable to the audience. The other pieces of text all share the same font and white colour.

"1 of 20 special covers to collect" gives the reader an additional reason to purchase the magazine and may persuade the die hard Q fan to buy the next 19 issues just to collect these special covers. This text matches the masthead, as it is written in a white font on a red background.

The text "20th anniversary special" is positioned in the gold bar at the top of the cover. The gold bar frames the cover, enhancing the 'special' theme.

Final design!

This is my final design which I will now analyse and discuss like with the previous covers. Firstly, I decided to use a bright yellow background as it obviously makes it very eye catching and would attract the audience's attention in a shop or around the college or wherever else it may be sold.

I used Word Art to create the masthead, which is written in a bold, slanted font and coloured red so that it stands out on the yellow background. I placed the strapline, 'Written by students for students', just beneath this which reflects the ideology behind the magazine and also the institution. This text is written in an orange font which harmonises with the yellow and matches the orange text of the price. The price is placed in the centre of a yellow star shape which attracts attention. The star has thick black edges so that it stands out against the yellow background and it overlaps onto the image.

The image is the main feature of the cover as it takes up most of the space. I enlarged it further on this design. Its purpose is to intrigue and involve the target audience to get them to buy the magazine, therefore it is the most important aspect of the cover.

The plugs are also used to intrigue the audience. Like on the Secondary Teachers magazine, I used a question, "Finding college hard?", to interest the reader. The font I used is called 'Palatino Linotype'. I chose this font because it is clear and easy to read. I had to alter the font colours of the two plugs to ensure they would be readable over the image. I also coloured the bar code white so that it would stand out.

Designing the cover.

This is the first design that I produced for the magazine cover. The masthead is the largest piece of text and underneath it I have included the strapline 'written by students for students'. The price is included to the right of this using an eye catching star shape to make it stand out to the audience. Moving down the page, you can see the headline which is also in quite a large text to make it stand out, but not so much as the masthead. The image takes up the bottom left quarter of the page so that it becomes the main focus of the page. Then, down the right hand side I have positioned three plugs that would be used to intrigue the audience and persuade them to buy the magazine. The bar code is included below these, as most existing magazines would have one on their front page.

After looking at the first design I made, I decided to make a few changes. I thought that everything looked too spaced out. Firstly, I enlarged the image since I thought that on the first design it was way too small. Now it takes up almost the full page, becoming completely the central focus of the cover. I re-organised the positioning of the plugs and bar code, mainly because I had to ensure that they would be readable when placed on top of the image. I also decided against including a headline as the other magazines I have looked at don't actually have this convention. I kept the masthead, strapline and price the same as I thought they looked eye catching and worked well on the cover. I used a font called 'Palatino Linotype' because it is clear and easy to read. However, I will probably make a few more changes before printing the finished design. Then I will scan it to my blog and discuss it in detail in the same way as I have with both of these designs. I will also explain the reasons for the colours I have used, as I couldn't do this with these two screenshots as they would only appear in grey-scale on the screenshots. Also, I am aware that the text in these images appear small, so I will discuss my choices in that area of the cover in more detail aswell, once I have scanned my final piece of work.

Contents page mock up.

This is an example of a layout that could be used for the contents page of the magazine. By looking at other magazines I have seen that this is quite a simple but common design used.

The images would be of other students taken from stories and articles inside the magazine, complete with captions and page numbers so the reader would know where to look to find the full story. The plug would be of the most interesting story in the magazine.

The title of 'contents' is the largest piece of text like the masthead on the front cover. This is so the audience can clearly see what the purpose of the page is - to inform them of what they will find in the magazine. The list of contents is positioned on the left hand side as it is in most other existing magazines that I have seen.