Magazine - Creating A Music Magazine Front Cover and Analysis

Over the past few media lessons, I have created a front cover for a music magazine and I am going to discuss, step-by-step, how I created this.

Before creating my front cover, I made a plan of what I wanted the basic layout to be for it. This will help make the production of my front cover quicker and easier, as I already have a basic idea of what I want it to look like.

Firstly, I took the image that I edited beforehand, which I will be using as the main image for my article.

After uploading this to Photoshop, I added in rulers on all of the edges, to act as bleed lines for printing. This is so that, when the image is printed, it gives space around the edges to keep the text/images safe in case part of it is cut off.

The first thing I did after this was select the font that I wanted to use for my title and tagline. For the title, I chose the font 'Eurostile LT Medium', and for the tagline I chose 'Myriad Pro Regular' as I felt these fonts were clear and easy for most people to read. I also chose to keep these in black as I felt that, along side the image which has a lot of black elements, it gave a slight theme.

After this, I decided to add my barcode and price to the bottom right corner - where this is commonly found in magazines - as this was quite an easy part to do and it gave me time to plan what else I was going to add to the front page.

After researching other magazine front covers, I decided that, down the right side of the page, I was going to include a list of things that were going to be included inside the magazine as it would let the readers know what they were getting from the issue. I decided to use the font 'ITC Franklin Gothic LT' as it was quite similar to the other fonts I used but still different enough to separate it. I decided to change the colour to the maroon from the models skirt as it kept a running theme on the page.

After doing this, I decided to add the main cover line to the page. I kept the font the same as the last as I felt that this would make it seem more professional and neater. I also kept the title the same colour as the list on the right, but changed the caption for the main cover line to black as it helped separate it from the title. I also made the font thinner to bring more emphasis on the title.

Next, I needed to add the cover lines. I decided to put this in the bottom left as it gave the most space for me to put it, so that the text could still be large enough to seem important, but not as big as the main cover line. Again, I kept the fonts and colours the same as the last so as to not break the theme of the issue.

Once I added this in, I thought that I was finished but I found that the page seemed too simple and may not be interesting enough. So, to add something more and to make the page pop, I added a few dots around the model to add a small but effective design to the page.

If I added anything more to this page, I feel that it would seem too busy and packed in, so I left the front cover at this point.

Analysis

I think that I have been successful in making a good magazine front cover. I have used simple, clear fonts so that the text can be easily read and the colours I have used for the fonts give the front cover a running theme as they match the outfit of the model. Other than the dots that I have placed around the image, I feel that I have made a simple but still eye-catching magazine cover. The magazine I have created would be for alternative or indie rock music, and so the target market would be teenagers/young adults of both genders. I feel that I have met the requirements of this demographic well as the desaturated colours and mentioning of NME/Kerrang on the main cover line will help draw in this audience.

I think that I could have improved on the cover lines in terms of text colour, as where the bottom cover line overlaps the skirt, the writing is not as clear as I would hope it to be and so some people may struggle to read it. Also, where the writing would have overlapped the black shirt, I had to condense the writing down quite small and so it seems slightly squashed/compact in the corner. To change this, I would perhaps change the font colour or have had the model wear a different colour shirt.

There is a connotation that could be made from the dots that are placed around the model. There are a few going over the top of her head in a semi-circle - this could be interpreted as a halo, suggesting that the artist is angelic/good. But, with the way the dots are in red, this could imply a sense of danger or badness, as if the halo was to suggest innocence or kindness, it would usually be made white. We can tell that the artist is alternative by the way she is dressed - dark lipstick, a black velvet top and a patchwork skirt. This is quite a unique look that would usually belong to someone who enjoys or is involved in this music genre.

Magazine - Main Image

In this post, I will be showing evidence of my main image editing for the front cover of my magazine and I will be explaining how and why I have edited it.

As I had taken the image in portrait on the camera, when I uploaded it to the computer it came out horizontal. I changed this to vertical using image --> image rotation --> 90° counter-clockwise.

Next, I decided to balance out the levels on the image as some places has glare/shine and the background seemed to be uneven colours. To do this, I used the levels tool in the image tab.

Now that the image looked sharper and more defined, I decided to edit the levels of brightness and contrast using the brightness/contrast tool under the image tab.

After closely inspecting the image, I noticed that there was a small dark mark on the background that I had used. So, using the clone stamp tool - as this gave a more realistic finish - I removed this from the photo.

Next, I decided to edit out any stray hairs that my model had as I felt that without them, it gave the image a neater finish. To do this, I again used the clone stamp tool and cloned the background, and also used the blur tool to give the edges a smoother finish as without it, it seemed quite sharp and fake.

After doing this, I decided to see if I could do anything with the overall colour of the image to improve it. I decided to test out the hue/saturation tool under the image tab, and brought down the saturation buy 23 and the hue down by 2 to change the colouring of the image slightly.

I decided to leave my image here as I felt that I had edited it to a good standard and was happy with my result. Below I have put a before and after of my image so that you can see how the editing has changed it. Although, I have still rotated the original image so that it is easier to compare them.

Before                                                                                                                                                After

Magazine - OK Magazine Analysis

This magazine would be targeted towards teenage females and older, as it discusses topical issues and also has gossip articles/interviews. The reason that this article is aimed towards teenage girls is because the main image features Harry Styles, who - at this time - was a teenager himself and was known to be a 'heartthrob' with this specific group. Using the large image of him will help target towards the younger viewers, but having people such as Peter Andre on the front and including a non-gossip story will bring in the older readers.

The title of this magazine – OK- is placed in a box in the top left corner of the page. It has been set here so that it is the first thing you read when you pick up the magazine as British people traditionally start reading from the top left of a page. The white, bold writing is above a bright red square which stands out largely against the grey background and is eye catching on the page as it is the only use of the colour red.

The slogan, “first for celebrity news”, is covered by a picture of Harry Styles to show the importance of his article. From this and the fact that he is in the centre of the page, we can assume that the main piece in this magazine is an interview with Harry Styles. Along the bottom are three images of people who are involved with, what we can assert from the fact that they are on the front cover, the other big stories in this magazine. Also, in the top right of the page, is another image of a celebrity whose interview is in this edition. As this person is separate from the other three at the bottom but whose image is not as large as Harry Styles’, this must mean that her interview is the second main article. In the middle of the page, against a blue square, are the words ‘exclusive interview'. It has been placed in the middle of the cover so that it looks as if it could apply to any of the articles.

As all of images use quite muted colours, this makes the text stand out as it has all been written in capitalised, bold, brightly coloured font. Quotes from some of the articles have been printed in a fluorescent yellow – the brightest colour on this page – so that when the reader looks at the front cover they can see what kinds of topics are discussed in the interviews or stories. If the text is not in yellow, it is in white and is up against a bright background – for example, fuchsia – so that it appears bolder. This is the same technique as used in the title.

I feel that the text for this front cover isn't ordered very well and the page seems quite busy, especially with all of the different bright colours from the text. In order to improve upon this, the magazine could use a more structured design and perhaps stick with certain colours so that there is a theme, instead of 6 different colours for text.