The document summarizes the creative process behind developing a draft magazine cover. Key decisions included choosing an A4 size with white background to appeal to the target audience. The main image was cropped and edited to draw attention, and positioned within the margins with space left for the masthead and headings. Various fonts and styles were tested for the masthead, subheadings, and artist headings before final selections. Overall the creator was happy with the draft but identified areas for improvement, such as repositioning the barcode and recentering the main image, based on feedback.

1. THE PROCESS FOR
MY DRAFT
MAGAZINE COVER
In this PowerPoint, I am going to be demonstrating my decisions in
the development of my draft magazine cover to show the creative
process and thought gone into this magazine.

2. I set the document type as International Paper with a white background set as A4. I feel this size is a conventional approach to my
magazine cover as it will fit in with other music magazines establishing the fact that this is a magazine. By having it too big or too
small, it may make the audience believe there is less information in the magazine so it isn’t worth their money or that there is too
much to read so are put off by this factor. Therefore I feel that A4 is a suitable size for my cover which means the contents page will
also be A4 and the double page spread will be A3 so it can be folded and fitted into the magazine spine. I chose to have a white
background as this what the majority of my audience wanted which I could see from my questionnaire so the magazine will appeal to
my target audience. I have set my margins to 0.5cm on each side and I will position my masthead, main image and headings to these
margins which will overall create a simple, eye pleasing approach. This technique is conventionally used in the creation of magazines
as the overall result is very effective yet simplistic.
Setting up my magazine cover

3. Original image Edited image
Main Image
(Including the original
image and final edited
image)

4. THE EDITING PROCESS OF MY MAIN IMAGE
I chose this image because I felt it suited the style of my magazine but I felt the image needed to be a
close up/mid shot so I decided to crop the image which I felt drew more attention to the main image
as it made her face a more prominent and eye catching feature that would be more likely to catch the
audiences’ attention. I then decided to adjust the lighting to around 25 and contrasted the image to
around 5. I felt this simple adjustments changed the style of the image and made the model stand out.
I decided to take the photographers ‘Mert and Marcus’ approach (their work is shown in my
photographers research and planning) by focusing on appearance so I edited the image using the
healing brush tool and the spot healing brush tool. I took this approach as it makes the overall image
product more effective yet I decided I wanted to keep a realistic approach by not making the image
seem flawless. I again used these tools editing stray hairs and shadows around the image which I felt
made the image look more professional and sharp. I decided not to cut my model out of the image
and insert onto a plain white background as I felt the slightly discolored background worked well on
my magazine and I felt the white background behind the image looked unrealistic and fake.

5. More editing on the stray hairs was
done on the image with the white
background as it made the image
easier to cut out and makes the
image look more effective.
The magazine cover with the
white background and the
natural background
White background Natural background

6. Keeping in the margins, I fitted the image to 0.5cm on
either side and the bottom and I have put it to 5.4cm on
the top to leave enough room for the masthead and
headings. I feel that the image has been positioned
appropriately as she is very central which means the
model will be one of the main features of the magazine
yet it still allows a lot of room for other magazine
features.
Image positioning

7. Telegraffico font Lemon/Milk font Couture font
In my research and planning, I was thinking of the three fonts the Telegraffico font, The
Lemon/Milk font and the Couture fonts and by putting them on my magazine cover and
seeing which font I liked best. I have decided to use the Telegraffico font as I feel it
spreads out well across the page and the other fonts are slightly too bold I feel which
may take the attention away from the main image.
Mastheadfonts

8. In my research and planning, these subheadings I felt were very effective as it
gives information about the magazine in a simplistic manner. For example, the
website is there as the reader may really like the style of this magazine and decide
to subscribe to it and they can do this by going onto the website. This earns the
company money in a simple yet effective format. I decided to make the works
“Alternative rock” red as for my colour scheme of black, white and red I am having
certain words as red to bring more attention to them because I believe it is
important information. I believe the genre of music is important information as it
will straight away openly attract the audience who are interested in this music
genre. The issue number and date are information that will appeal to audience
members who regularly buy the magazine and it shows the magazine progress as
more issues are released. I used the punctuation symbol of the vertical bar as I felt
this was a simplistic yet effective approach to break up the text to make it more
readable. I used this technique as it is likely many audience members will not be
drawn to a magazine if it appears there is a lot of text on the cover as it looks very
crowded and unappealing.. The text was done in the Iowan Old Style Black font at
size 10.97pt as I felt this font and size stood out well for the magazine cover.
Subheadings

9. Headings
For my headings, I included the artists Panic! At The Disco, Blink 182 , Rag’n’Bone Man,
Catfish and the Bottlemen, The 1975 and the Kaiser Chiefs. These are all well known
alternative rock artists and some of the artists’ songs are featured on my music playlist
on my blog. Fireside is a made up band name (the name was created using a
technique recommended by my teacher using Wikipedia random page generator in
order to find artist names) and is the feature band for my double page spread and
they will also be shown on my contents page. I believe it is important to have these
close links for magazines as the audience will recognize for future reference when
purchasing the magazine, they will know exactly what is inside. I will be featuring
subheadings for my contents page including some of these artists to again show the
link. I chose to include Fireside on my cover and in red as although I recognize it
would be an unknown band that the audience won’t recognize, but it will bring
attention to the artists and intrigue the audience members who are interested in
finding new music. I feel it’s important to especially feature new artists as if
magazines focused on well known artists, new artists would not get any recognition.
From my questionnaire, I had a request to include “underappreciated artists” and
“information and opinions on upcoming artists and songs to widen awareness of
smaller artists.” By including what my target audience want, it means I know my
audience will be appealed to my magazine due to features they have requested.

10. For my heading, I made up an artist name of Kayla Page which was created
looking at various random girl names online and I chose one that I felt
suited the magazine as it was short yet catchy and would be memorable. I
chose to have this name as the main heading rather than Fireside because I
am planning on having a feature photograph on the contents page and I
feel focusing on Fireside too much will be overwhelming and giving the
impression that is the only key feature of the magazine. I will ensure that I
include the artist on the contents page to show continuality throughout the
magazine as I personally see a lot that the front cover artist is used to get
the audiences’ attention but is not mentioned again throughout the whole
magazine which I personally feel is fake advertisement. I have used the
Avenir Next Bold font in size 77.52 pt as I felt it was a clear and defined font
that stood out well with the red text which is an effect I wanted for the
magazine as she would be a new artist, it is necessary that the audience can
clearly read her name.
Main Heading

11. Barcode
For my barcode, I decided to position it in the bottom
right corner of my image as I felt this was the best place
to put it. But I do feel it’s quite small but I am unsure
where else is an ideal place to put it. In the development
of my final cover, I will look at different options on where
to put it so it will be bigger and doesn’t look out of place.
I feel where it is currently takes the attention off the main
heading so I have decided I need to change the location
of this so it is bigger yet doesn’t take the attention away
from the other key features.

12. Overall, I am happy with the outcome of my draft magazine but I can
see some improvements I am going to make for my final magazine. As
I have said previously, I am going to change the size and positioning
of my barcode but I am currently unsure where will be a suitable place
for it so I will look at ideas and see in my draft feedback what my
teacher says. I may consider re taking my images so I have no stray
hairs and I can make the image more central because it is currently
slightly to the right due to her hair and the text so I am unable to
layer the text on top as it is then unreadable. I will try a few ideas and
try a different set of images and see which ones I feel will work more. I
believe the image should be more central as the heading is in the
middle of the text and it also means the subheadings are taking the
attention off the main image as they are very close. My next step for
the development of my magazine cover is to evaluate my teachers’
feedback and see what I am going to change.
The Outcome