Front Cover Music Magazine

 

This is my final design for the front cover of my music magazine using photoshop. I used this image because I wanted it to be seen straight away: the part of the magazine you would initially look at. I also felt that the brick wall background was effective because it gives the magazine more of an edgy look and the country/indie look I was aiming for. As my magazine is aimed at girls aged 12-17, I used the pink and purple colours for the different texts because itwould attract my target audience. I had originally used a maroon colour for all of the text on the front page but, although it looked effective, I felt it did not really come across to the target audience.
I made sure to put the barcode in the right third so that if it were to be on a shelf, that could be seen along with the price above it.

The font that I used for the 'LIBERTY' logo was called rosewood, and I felt that this was the font that really represented my country theme. Not only that but it stood out more than others I had tried as it was quite bold.

Contents Page music magazine analysis

This is a printscreen of the contents page of my music magazine before it was completed. I have included the image of the band Skinny Genes, who were on the front cover, and an image of the editor of the magazine. I kept the font and size of 'Liberty' exactly the same as the front cover, obviously, because it is a recognisable logo. I used custom shape tools for the shapes with text on on this page.

This is the completed contents page, with the added 'words from the editor' in a box with a drop shadow. This is placed next to the picture of the editor so that it's obvious who is saying it.

Front cover draft analysis

Here is a print screen of my final front cover design for my music magazine. This is just a draft at the moment because I have been advised to make a few changes, like making the barcode smaller and changing the positioning of certain pieces of text etc. These are a few points of what different tools I have used at the moment to get this draft where it is now.

This is the second print screen of the changes I made to the front cover. I changed the colours of the texts to pinks and purples so that it is likely to be attracted by the girl audience. I made the barcode smaller and thinner so that it did not take up too much space but was still seen. I moved a few things around and made the font size bigger on a couple of things.

Location of photos

To take my picures, I went to Harlow Common. The reason I chose this location was because, firstly it links with my country style of my magazine. I think the fact that the horses were there helped me to portray this country style and also, the checked shirts that Katie and Lizzie wore are associated with this style too. The only problem we had with this location was that it was really muddy, so any shots I wanted with their shoes in were difficult to take because of the mud we got on our shoes.
Also, as Harlow Common has a lot of greenery, I think it set the scene nicely because it showed a 'peaceful' atmosphere which I wanted my band to get across. In the middle of the common, there is a round huddle of trees and we went through there to take a few images because I think the twigs as a background looked really effective.

The second location we used was a brick wall and a staircase underneath a block of flats in the Rundells in Harlow. This was only a short walk from the first location at the common. The reason I chose the brick wall background was because it helped create more of a focus on the two girls, rather than having any distraction from anything in the background. I liked this location because the wind blew through, creating a flow in their hair which was an image I had already pictured that I wanted to take. However, sometimes it blew the opposite way, so in some photos their hair is over their face.

Photos

Here are my photos that I took for my music magazine. Some already have a slight effect on them because I took them on my iphone and used an app called cam wow. Others are plain but I will edit the ones I want in photoshop.

Draft design double page spread

Here is the double page spread design of the interview with the girlband 'Skinny Genes'. The boxes will be various images of the girlband so it is more information on them as well as their answering questions. The gaps inbetween will be where all the questions are, with the questions in pink and the answers in black so you can differentiate between the two. A large image will be placed in the right hand corner of Skinny Genes as it will be the first thing they will see when they turn the page so would instantly recognise them and know that the article is about them.

Draft design contents page

My draft design for my contents page, again using paint. I have included the magazine name again to get the name more noticed. The list of what to expect in the magazine is listed on one side, with the page numbers and other important information in pink to stand out against the black. The picture of the editor along with a message from them will be in one corner. The other corner will have another picture of the band 'Skinny Genes' and font within a bold shape to say what page you'll find the interview on. Other bold shapes are used to make the competition more noticed too.