This document summarizes the development process of a magazine front cover design created by Rob Phillips. It describes several iterations where different design elements were added, moved, or modified, such as adding a selling line, pull quote, button, article title, band names, and poster previews with colored backgrounds or glowing effects. The final changes involved moving elements like the main image and teaser text to improve spacing and make the design look more professional overall.

1. Front Cover Development Rob Phillips

2. This is the first stage of my Front Cover. I chose this basic layout as it is similar to that of Kerrang! Magazine as well as it follows close to what I done on my flat plan. This is just the first draft of it, and compared to this the final version has changed. I have also kept to the colour scheme of my flat plan as well as linking it in with the colour scheme on my blog.

3. This step was trying to fit the picture onto the cover, without taking too much attention away from the magazine name but enough to attract the attention of people looking at magazines. At first I thought it would be a good idea to have the image cover some of the masthead text however this changes towards the end, to make the magazine name stand out more.

4. This stage, I added the Selling Line, A Pull Quote, A Button, The main Article and the little plus which will be where the plugs are put. The selling line at the top is used to pull the audience into the magazine more, by giving you an idea about what is inside. The Pull quote is to make the viewer want to read the rest of the main article to find out what the person is talking about, as well as linking in with the band name at the bottom, which tells you who the interview is with. The Button is to entice viewers into buying the magazine by offering some free merchandise. I also added ‘Heavy’ and ‘Metal’ either side of the magazine name to make it look less empty and make the magazine genre more obvious.

5. At this stage I have added the coloured squares which were going to be the background for a small preview of two posters. I have also added band names at the bottom which would be included in the magazine, enticing people to read it as their favourite band might be in there. I have also added a teaser onto the front of the magazine, so it doesn't look so plain and again pulls the audience into the magazine more, making them want to buy it. At the bottom where the band names are, i added a box that is slightly transparent, so that you can read it easier but you can still see the image. However this changes further on.

6. I decided to change the way I was going to present the poster previews as the background colours looks too messy. So instead I decided to make the pictures have a bit of a glowing background so it doesn't look flat and boring. I also added a little teaser about a special poster,. For the main picture I also added a bit of a light shine on one side so the image looks less flat and it also makes it look like a more professional studio-like picture.

7. At this point I decided to move about my design so that the cover looks more professional. I decided to move the image of Jackson down so that it’s not dominating the page over the magazine title. As well as this I blacked out the whole bottom bit and twisted the Bar Code round so that the bottom looks better spaced. I made the teaser shorter and more interesting so that the viewers don’t have to stand and read too long. I moved the posters and the button around so that the spacing isn't so cramped and it fits around the main image more.

8. Final Design of Front Cover Page! This is my final design of my Front Cover, the last thing I changed was the alignment of the teaser text. I aligned it to the left so that it makes the magazine look more professional as well as making it look less messy.