The Front Cover.

Using DTP I have brought together my ideas and sketches into this design. The masthead will be large but placed in the distance behind the female musicians head. This will show that the model is dominant within the shot. It will also be a long shot showing her stood in a strong position in the center of the page. This will focus the audiences attention and balance the page.
I am experimenting with two possible colour schemes. Firstly I am thinking of using yellow, brown and white. Yellow is a universal colour and appeals everyone. Its bright, eye catching and complementary with brown.
But its not very easy to see and although it looks good on the masthead, its very faint at the bottom outlining the text.
Secondly I am thinking of using is black dark pink and white. This is a magazine aimed at 16-19 year old females and these colours contrast well. The white is clean and professional which
balances with the black which is dark and bold. The pink then adds the edginess because its a sharp tone. Not like a light baby pink tone.

The pink text boxes at the bottom of the page are used to balance out the page, as the masthead is at the top, there needs to be something similar shaped at the bottom or it would be top heavy. As i have done to the right and left sides of the page. The text and image will be equaled out so it is symmetrical.

Planning My Photograph.

My magazine must include at least 4 photographs taken by me.Before taking my images i must consider: camera angles, distance, mise-en-scene, setting and props.The image will add to the whole representation of my magazine. The first image i am going to plan is the photo for the front cover. The front cover has two main jobs. "It has to sell the general concept of publications as well as to reflect, through its design, the intellectual level of the editors content" Swan 1991:133. The other idea about the front cover is: "It is the magazine's face... like a persons face, it is the primary indicator of a personality". So my front cover must reflect the entire genre/ house style i am aiming for. I need a strong image accompanied by supporting text.

Because my magazine is aimed at women i am going to have a female on the front page. Taken from my questionnaire i found out that women prefer a female model on the front instead of men. I am going to use a long shot, as this will capture the full body of the musician and i can place them in the center in a strong position. I will also use a slight tilt up on the camera so the female will look dominant as the camera is looking up at her and at the masthead. This will also attract the readers attention as they will want to find out who the person is.

Here is one idea of my front cover. It includes all the conventions a front cover a music magazine should include.

The masthead is large and visible to read from a distance, which is important because the audience needs to be able to read the the masthead to identify what the magazine is.

The main photograph is a long shot of a female model. This attracts females as they want to find out about her. They are also drawn to her because she looks strong and is in a dominant position.

The mise-en-scene is what is letting my front cover down as she doesn't look like she is in any real place, and there is no eye contact between the model and the audience.

The colour scheme is black, pink, white and green. The colour black reflects with the models outfit which is also black. Black is represented with rock music and rock singers.

I am going to adjust this front page and use a different photograph, but leave the layout as it is. Also i have used an un-original image of pink and i will have to remove it as all images must be original.

This is my further improved version of my front cover. By changing the long shot to a close up i have made the magazine more welcoming as the model is looking more at the audience. The clothing she is wearing is a black "rock" t-shirt. This relates to the rock style of music in the magazine and will reassure the audience of this. But to further improve this magazine even more I think i need to try out another photograph with the model looking directly at the camera.

This is another front cover idea i have created. The image is a medium shot and the model is facing the audience with full eye contact.

Although there is no physical background to the photo, the white space gives the image a clean look and makes the model stand out more.

The clothing the model is wearing reflects the genre of the magazine, not only because of the word Rock written on her t-shirt but because of the black and white and red colours. These are typical colours related to rock and roll.

The colours black and white also tie in with the colour scheme of the page and fit together to make her look like part of the magazine.