Front Cover Development

1. Front Cover Development
By Johanna Becker

2. This is my first draft of my front cover.
There are items lacking for example:
Coverline
Puffs
Barcode
Issue number
Date
Secondary images
My colour scheme and house style were
designed on the spot, as the fonts
which I found on dafont.com.
I wanted to add a strip to the side of my
magazine. Here is an example of
Kerrang!'s magazine featuring 30STM.

3. Having feedback from my audience
research I found out that the best colour
to change the shirt to is blue. So having
taken that advice here is my new draft
for my front cover.
My new fonts had finally come through
so I was able to use them on my front
cover. Some fonts still need editing for
example the "6 EPIC POSTERS!" - it's
still quite plain and uninteresting.
I played around with making a better
background and making my sub lines
stand out more.

4. I was not happy with the colour
scheme I used in my second draft. The
colours were too natural and not
standing out enough.
I messed around with different colours,
until I came across the blue which to
me made the sub lines and my
coloured editing within the sub lines
stand out better. Also previous
audience research stated that blue
was a colour that stood out well in a
shelf full of magazines.
I also added a barcode.

5. There colour of the background was still to natural
even after having changed the column to a bright
blue so I Changed it to a bright yellow. This time I
also didn't add the vignette effect to the
background. Because flash was used in the
process of making the main image, there is some
quite hard light in the models faces so adding the
vignette gives the whole image a studio effect
whereas without it, it looked quite shallow. (I am
going to go out and ask my audience for an
opinion on this).
Apart from adding the yellow background, I also
changed the colour of the title to a brighter red
and matched it to the strip going along the
bottom. The top strip has famous rock bands
written across and "Exclusive" interviews
includes extras and a buzzword so anyone
flicking through a shelf full of magazines should
have that stand out to them as well as the bright
colours portrayed in the whole front cover.
I have also added a price and an issue number.
Tasks ahead of me:
•Make the cutting out of the background smoother
around the face of the model in the background.
•Change the font of "6 EPIC POSTERS!"
•Add a teaser for poster (first hand gig photos)
•Add secondary photos
•Add puffs
•Refine house style

6. We handed in our front cover before
the Christmas holidays. When we
came back we got given feedback on
how to improve this is my improved
front cover:

7. •In this update of the Front Cover I
changed these things:
I removed the coloured blue block
behind the sublines because audience
feedback stated that the block of colour
gave the whole front cover a unfinished
look.
•Because I removed the block of colour I
had to change the colour of the
'CANTERBURY' from white to black so
that it stands out more.
•I added a layer over the top of the main
image to change the saturation to give
the model a little more colour in his face,
as the flash made it very bright.
•I added first hand images from concerts
and gigs I went to, to the posters strip to
give an insight to the audience what
kind of images will be in the ' EPIC
POSTERS'.

8. •I moved the sublines so that they are
more equally spaced.
•I changed the colour of the coverline to
black and changed the background from
dark blue to a lighter colour which is the
same colour as the models in the fronts'
eyes.
•The upper strip I changed from
'EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS' instead of
'EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH' to a
give a less formal more snappy
approach to the interviews.
•I changed the font and added context
to the strip at the bottom.
•I also matched the colour of the font of
'TWO BANDS - ONE LEAD' to match
the colour of the other sublines.

9. •I added another layer over the main
image and darkened the image
because it was so bright. I regret doing
this. I will ask my audience for feedback
whether they prefer the bright or
dimmed down version.
•The only other adjustment is the
difference in the opacity because the
block colour had the same effect that it
looked like a temporary block which
made it all look unfinished.

10. Putting a layer over the main image and adjusting
the brightness so that the image has a bit more
contrast and more colour and therefore will stand
out more were it to be on a shelf in a shop.
I changed the font on the top strip to a more fitting
font, the other was too formal, whereas the new
one (death lord) is more playful.
I added captions to the secondary photos at the
bottom of the page to anchor down the image to
the suitable band.
I wasn't sure about the main cover line being
black, so I asked my audience which colour stood
out more, black or white, they said white so I
changed it to white.
The 'destiny' was initially white on red, but after
mixing colours around I have decided that yellow
on black stands out much easier. Same with the
'free posters' I changed it to yellow so it stood out
more.
I moved the barcode because it was in the wrong
place.
Changed the font of the 'crank it up' and added an
issue number.
My initial masthead was behind my main image,
which shouldn't be the case for a first issue so I
moved it to the front. The font is messy so it didn't
work with the magazine anymore so I changed it. I
then added another coloured layer underneath to
bring it out a bit more.