The document summarizes the design choices for a film magazine cover called "Monstrosity". Key points include:
- The masthead is in white against a black background at the top to stand out.
- The main image was edited to look gloomy to fit the horror genre.
- A skyline at the top displays actor names to attract fans looking for free posters.
- Cover lines and a price of £2 were used based on the target audience's preferences.
- A flash button informs viewers of a special on the 100 goriest films of 2015 to appeal to the horror-focused audience.
2. For my magazine masthead I wanted the text to stand out so I made sure it was the biggest and boldest text on the front cover. I
used the colour white as it makes it stand out against the black background. The name ‘Monstrosity’ means a thing which is
outrageously evil or wrong so this fits into the genre of horror. I decided to put the masthead in a conventional place right at the
top of the magazine so that the audience can clearly see it as it is a new magazine to hit the stands. The font I used was really
simple and bold so that it is noticeable to the audience from afar.
3. My main image was very simple as I didn’t want my front cover to be too busy as I included a lot of text already. Film
magazines tend to be liberal in their choice of shot and eve use long shots on their covers to cover a range of mise-
en-scene features. I edited the image to make it look a lot more gloomy than what the picture looked like before.
Doing this makes it look really effective
4. I placed a skyline at the top of my magazine cover to allow more content to be displayed without taking up the space that
more cover lines would. I stuck with the consistent orange for the background and used the same font. Because it’s a skyline
you don't have the same amount of room for the detail a cover line would convey, therefore I placed the name of
four actors which feature inside the magazine. This will attract fans as they will want to get the free posters that are in the
magazine.
5. A barcode is a must-have convention on a magazine cover, unless it’s a free publication. I placed it in a corner of
the magazine, which is also conventional, as this keeps the barcode out of the way of important text and the
main image. The right hand corner was the best place to position it on my magazine.
6. There isn’t a particular number of cover lines to be placed on the cover conventionally, however it is important to get the right
amount as too many can make the magazine appear messy and full, but too little can make the magazine seen bare and empty.
Both of these are then unappealing to the reader, and they will be less likely to buy the magazine. I decided to keep the generic font
for this magazine to create consistency on the cover and make the text flow better because too many different fonts wouldn’t look
very nice. I also kept the size of this text relatively smaller than the anchorage text so that the text could be easily distinguished as
cover lines and not the main story. The cover lines were placed in this position as it didn’t obstruct the main image too much and the
best parts of the main image were still visible, but the cover lines are also still easy to see and read. They are also placed on a dark
background which contrasts with the orange text, making it a lot easier to see from a distance.
7. I chose to price my magazine at £2.00 to correspond with the overall look of the cover. From my questionnaire at the beginning of
the coursework my target audience had picked this price as they thought it would be affordable for them to buy it.
8. Flash buttons are becoming an increasingly common convention on magazine covers. I have decided to use a flash button to
inform my audience that the magazine includes information on the 100 goriest films of 2015. I have stuck to the orange colour on
this cover and used a black text and the same font as the cover lines, again to create consistency. This flash button will appeal
to my audience because it is informing them of the horror special.
