For my cover photo I have taken my inspiration from Q! and NME magazine overs, which featured close up photos of singers Adele, Florence and the machine and Cheryl Cole. The close up photos add intensity to the compostition. I had a fairly clear idea from the beginning of what I wanted for my cover photo, and I have used this idea and fit it in with the style and design of my front page. I chose my model, because of her red and blonde hair, which represents attitude, as it is different and makes a statement. My model has fairly pale skin and has very dark makeup on, this highlights the contrast of the dark and light tones and makes the darker tones stand out more. The model wears black clothing, and rock styled jewellery (chains, a cross, big rings), and I have her leaning against a plain wall, which also represents attitude and intensity. I have manipulated this image using Adobe Photoshop CS5, by changing the contrast of the photo, which makes the model stand out and compliments the black clothing on light skin. I have also slightly increased the brightness and got rid of any blemishes in the skin, to ensure clarity in the picture. (I have explained my photoshopping technique and how I did it, in an earlier post). I think I have accomplished the 'rock chick' style with the curly glossy hair, dark clothing and eye make up, rock style jewellery and intense expression. There is a slight shadow of the hair of the model which I left in when photoshopping the model as I like the lingering effect and think it adds volume.
Also when posing I asked the model to place her hand in front of her mouth, this is an action generally considered to be used when deep in thought, this increases the intensity, giving the impression the model has something on her mind. In the photo the model looks into the camera as this addresses the reader and buyer of the magazine directly.
When placing the photo onto the background of the page, I set the original photo background to transparent so that it is separate from the background of the front cover and can overlap the masthead slightly. This makes the magazine look more professional, as I have thought about readers still being able to recognise the magazine. I think by covering part of some of the letters in the masthead shows how popular the magazine is by proving that it is easily identifiable and recogniseable without being able to read the whole masthead. It also shows the confidence and reassurance that the producer of the magazine, feels towards the magazines buyers. So I have incorporated this into my design as I think it makes my magazine look more professional and thought out.
Shown in my earlier posts, I found creating a masthead very difficult. I wanted something fairly simple, but bold and recogniseable. I went through lots of different stages and ideas for my masthead, and eventually after surverying my target audience and getting their opinions, have created a suitible masthead for my magazine.
The title for my magazine is black, and in the font Elephant, it is in a fairly big font, so it stands out on the page. The main colour theme for my magazine is white, black and pink/red. This represents rock well, and are some of the main colours I think of when thinking about rock. I have not made a background for my masthead and it is simply black lettering with a white background. This contrasts well and makes the black writing stand out well.
I think that my masthead font is very sophisticated and mature and the edging of the letters is striking and quite sharp, which relates to the rock genre. I was very conscious when making my magazine, that the style, layout and text would look too comical and childish. I think that by making the title simple and structured, I have stopped this from happening and my magazine looks professional and successfully aimed at the 16-25 age range.
Slightly underneath the masthead on the left, is the tagline. 'Tune into the music' - simple and relates to a music magazine.
Keeping my magazine corporate, all the text on the front page is in the same font as my masthead. The tagline is fairly small, nothing fancy, in black wrtiting, but I think that you can see it easily against the white background and it does not interupt anything on the front page.
Just underneath that is the cover stories text. The writing is slightly bigger than the tagline, and is in capital letters. I think this makes it look more important on the page, and gives a 'you can't miss it' feel. To incorporate the pink/reds into the front cover I have written the top cover story in pink, the next in black and the next in pink again. This links all the colours and separates the different stories. The top story is 'March 2012 top hits', this is very relateable to music and top hits are very common in a music magazine, as the producer wants you to know that the magazine is up to date with all the latest music. The second story is 'Tour dates revealed' I chose this because I think that it is important for the magazine to keep the readers up to date with not only the latest hits, but the latest music events, and this also highlights the range of articles and stories in my magazine.
The third cover story is 'World exclusive interviews' this is a persuasive technique as 'world exclusive' means its purely exclusive to this magazine, which persuades the reader to buy the magazine as they won't get that interview anywhere else. I have also put the 'world exclusive' in italics to highlight that phrase and show its importance.
The main cover story for my magazine is on the lead singer of band Obscura, Katie C (model on cover photo). The heading for the cover story, simply 'Katie C' is in pink/red lettering, this links to the other text colours and compliments the colours in the scarf of the model. I have placed a black box behind the text as the text would otherwise be split between the white background and the clothing of the model, this makes the text look uneven and difficult to read. The black box behind my text, looked effective, so I then decided to make it corporate to my magazine, and place the other text related to the cover story, on top of black boxes. The other text for the cover story is in white, one of the boxes behind the text is a circle, this is the quote and statement for the cover story. This is an important part of a magazine, because a shocking, interesting quote draws the reader in. The bottom writing tells the readers there are -exclusive photos from the bands photoshoots. I have made sure that the text on the cover is interesting and makes people want to buy the magazine.
When your magazine is lined up with other magazines on a rack, you want your magazine to jump out and have something different. Your front cover has to show the buyer what your magazine has to offer, and why the buyer should pick your magazine. Using the term exclusive, helps with this, it shows that the magazine has something to offer that others don't and that is important as there are a wide range of other music magazines out there.
The date and price of my magazine are placed just under the masthead on the right. In fairly small plain black writing, the date is not a feature that you want to take up a lot of room, however you want to be able to see it. This helps the buyer keep up to date with each issue, and make sure they havent bought two of the same magazine. The price I have placed just under the date, as it is important for the buyer to be aware of, however not a main feature.
Finally in the bottom right of the page is the barcode. It is important that the barcode is out of the way of any photos or text, but is needed on the cover, as the shop keeper needs to access it easily when scanning it at the till.
Overall I am happy with my design, I think that it looks like a magazine front cover and I have had positive feedback from people in the target audience. I like the use of colours in the cover and the corporate image that is set by the same font of text and layout.
No comments:
Post a Comment