The document describes the process of designing a magazine cover. The designer initially took inspiration from horror movie magazines and included a film strip and antagonist image. Based on feedback, the designer realized the cover was not eye-catching enough. The designer then changed the layout and main image to better follow the conventions of Total Film magazine. This included manipulating the antagonist image and testing different designs with target audiences. The final cover removed unnecessary elements and improved the spacing based on additional feedback.

1. Front Cover
Features

2. This was the initial layout I chose for the magazine
cover, as I was inspired by magazines such as
‘Fangoria’ and ‘Horror Hound’. Even though I chose to
create a ‘Total Film’ magazine, I decided to follow
conventions of the 2 magazines shown on the right, as
they both only feature horror films. I especially like the
film strip effect on the top magazine, as it evidently
shows to the audience that the magazine specifically
looks at films. Hence, I decided to incorporate this idea
into my own magazine, which was supposed to be on
the left. Therefore, I thought of taking the main image
of the antagonist by asking her to hold up a black
cloth, as I only wanted half of her face in the image.
However, when all the features were put in place, I
didn’t think the magazine cover looked very eye-
catching, hence, I decided to ask some of my peers,
who were also my target audience, whether or not
they liked the cover. From the responses I received, I
realised that the main image I chose wasn’t very
powerful and didn’t; bring out the magazine cover as I
wanted it to. Furthermore, I was also given the
suggestion to look at Total Film house styles and refer
to it when choosing the main image, as well as where
to place the features. I took this feedback into
consideration and decided to completely change the
layout of my magazine cover.

3. From the feedback received, I firstly decided to retake pictures of the antagonist. In order to find out
which image looked the most effective, we asked some our target audience about which looked the
most appealing. Thereafter, when we had chosen our final main image for the magazine cover, I
decided to manipulate the image to make it stand out even more and look scary at the same time. In
order to manipulate it, I changed the levels of the image to make it look a bit darker, as I wanted the
antagonist’s face to look mysterious. Then, I enlarged the original image to fit the page size, as I
wanted the villain's face to be the centre of attention.

4. This was the layout I created for the magazine cover, after taking inspiration from
Total Film house style. I noticed that Total Film magazines typically had film names of
upcoming/released movies, hence, I chose to include this at the top of the cover,
above the magazine name. The font I used for this was TW Cen MT bold, as it looked
fairly simple. However, due to the background and the text both being white, I
decided to add some effects to it, such as ‘Bevel and Emboss’, ‘Inner Shadow’, ‘Inner
Glow’ and ‘Drop Shadow’. This resulted in making the font pop and look more clearer
than before. The Total Film font was taken from Google Images, which I resized to fit
the page. The date of the magazine and issue number consists of the font ‘Myriad Pro
Condensed’, which looked very appealing due to the thin letters. For the website of
the magazine, I decided to use the same font but added a bold effect to it, so that the
web address is more prominent. For the headings of the coverlines, I used the font
‘Myriad pro Bold Condensed’ again, as I wanted my front cover to look cohesive. The
colour of the text was yellow, as it really stood out and attracted the audience. The
subheadings however, were a different font as I used ‘TW Cen MT Bold’, as both the
fonts worked well together. I chose the same shade of red for this as I did for my
other products (poster and trailer). Also, because it was such a bold colour, it
complimented the darkness of the main image in the background. We also decided
to change font for the our film name from the font chosen from Dafont.com, to ‘Vani
Bold’. We chose to do this as this font was very similar to the film ‘The Conjuring’,
from which we took inspiration. Furthermore, I concluded that this font looked much
better than the one before, mainly due to its simplicity. I also decided to include a
rectangle incorporated with the text, ‘World Exclusive’. I used the font ‘TW Cen MT
Bold’ for this and included this as I wanted to create an incentive for my target
audience. I also added effects to this ‘Bevel and Emboss’ and ‘Drop Shadow’, as I
wanted the text to stand out. Below the film name, I added a pull quote in the font
‘Myriad Pro Bold Condensed’, however, I used a bigger size and a different colour for
the name of the girl playing the role of the antagonist. I did this as I wanted the
actress’s name to stand out, which would intrigue the viewer further.

5. This was the final magazine cover for
our film. For this I made a few slight
changes such as removing the puff
which read ‘World Exclusive’. I made
this decision as I felt it made the
magazine not look as similar to the
house style of Total Film. Also, I
received feedback from same of my
target audience regarding their views
on the new layout, as compared to the
initial one. The opinions of my target
audience suggested that the puff
looked a bit random and wasn’t too
necessary. Therefore, I chose to
remove it.
Another change I made was by
cropping the ‘cross’ graphic on the
bottom left of the cover, as by doing
this is resembled to a crucifix. In my
opinion, this was very effective as it
related to the genre of our film and
furthermore, this iconography was also
used throughout the 2 other products
created. I also decided to move the
barcode to the bottom of the magazine,
as before it was near the coverlines
and made the magazine look cluttered
overall. By changing the position of the
barcode, the magazine looked much
spaced out.

6. This was the final magazine cover for
our film. For this I made a few slight
changes such as removing the puff
which read ‘World Exclusive’. I made
this decision as I felt it made the
magazine not look as similar to the
house style of Total Film. Also, I
received feedback from same of my
target audience regarding their views
on the new layout, as compared to the
initial one. The opinions of my target
audience suggested that the puff
looked a bit random and wasn’t too
necessary. Therefore, I chose to
remove it.
Another change I made was by
cropping the ‘cross’ graphic on the
bottom left of the cover, as by doing
this is resembled to a crucifix. In my
opinion, this was very effective as it
related to the genre of our film and
furthermore, this iconography was also
used throughout the 2 other products
created. I also decided to move the
barcode to the bottom of the magazine,
as before it was near the coverlines
and made the magazine look cluttered
overall. By changing the position of the
barcode, the magazine looked much
spaced out.