Sketches of cover, contents page and double page spread with descriptions

1. This is my proposed design for the front cover of my music
magazine. I really like the black, white and red colour
scheme because I think it fits well with the genre of the
magazine. The main headings of the page will be in red
and the smaller writing will be in black.
I wanted the title ‘Motion’ to be on a slant because it gives
the impression of movement and stands out from the rest
of the page.
I think that it’s important to have an ellipsis or two on the
cover because I think it’s a really good way to draw the
audience in and want to find out more. This is the reason
why I wanted to put a quote on the page somewhere to
encourage people to find out more.
The word ‘YOU’ under the article ‘50 Rock Songs...’ is vital
I think because it really makes the readers feel involved
and that their opinions and feelings are important to the
magazine.
I also think that having the word ‘Exclusive’ next to the
main feature is important because I think that gives the
magazine a USP and may make the readers think that this
is the only place they can read this article and therefore
give the magazine a competitive edge. I used the 3 words
beneath the main article heading because I did not want
to give too much away and encourage people to buy the
magazine and find out about this artist fro themselves.
I have found that it’s key to put a lot of the main features
cover because it is usually the cover that sells a magazine.
From the magazines I have looked at, I have seen
numerous ones that mention a competition on the front
so I though that it would be a good idea for me to do that
as well.
I want the photograph to be the background of the
magazine cover because the photo will have a plain
background anyway so it won’t be a problem.
The word ‘Plus!’ implies that their is a lot more to the
magazine than just what is on the cover which implies that
the readers will definitely get their money’s worth by
buying the magazine.

2. This is one of the two designs proposed for my contents
page. Currently, this is my preferred design because it
has a really good structure which I think is important
for a contents page and fits with the typical ‘rule-of-
thirds’ convention of magazines. The colour theme and
style needs to be the same as the cover. The word
‘Contents’ will be the same as the magazine masthead.
I want a white background and everything else will be
either black or red.
I want the main feature to be the same as the picture
on the cover. The two smaller pictures may be different
though. I want a small corner of each picture to show
the page number of this article so they are easy to find.
I like the idea of having an editor’s letter because I think
it gives the magazine a personal touch which the
audience will value. Obviously, the tone of the letter
will have to fit in with the style of the magazine so the
readers can relate to it.
I think it’s important to have a real sense of
organisation on this page and so I want to split the
magazine into sections (i.e. Features, news etc.) as this
will provide easy navigation for the readers. I have
decided to have the page numbers a different colour to
the actual article name so they stand out. Also, I think I
might have a brief summary under some article names
so the readers know exactly what the article will be
about.
On the contents page just below the title, I need to
have the web address for the magazine and the issue
number as this is a frequent convention for music
magazines, I have learned from my research.

3. This is, to some extent, quite similar to my first design
for my contents page with regard colour scheme and
sections for articles, however, the layout is different.
The main feature picture would be larger than it would
be on the other design. The two smaller pictures would
also be inside the bigger pictures and on a slight slant.
This would give the contents page a more casual feel.
The issue I would have with this design is that there
would be no room for an editor’s letter which I really
wanted on the contents page.
I considered maybe having a grey background to the
page instead of a white one but I think I would have to
actually see it created before deciding which one I
would prefer.
I think that having a red outline around the two smaller
pictures would make them stand out better. Also for
the background for the sub-headings, I thought that
white writing would stand out best from the black
background.
Looking at this design now, I feel that the first design is
better all around but it was important for me to
experiment with designs and see which ones would
work.

4. This is the first design idea for my double page spread. I had the idea to have all the photos on one half of the spread and have the text on the other side
to make it more organised and less squashed. I want one big picture in which the artist is looking directly towards the camera and the other 3 will be
more casual (I have described them in my photo shoot plans). I really like the idea of putting the 3 photos into a sort of movie reel. I think this is a really
unique idea because I, personally, haven’t seen anything like this is a music magazine before. I want all the images o this page to be black and white
because I think they’ll fit really well into the black, white and red colour scheme. I want the article title to be really large and in bright red so it stands out
from the rest of the page. I’m going to have a brief intro/summary to the article underneath this title maybe in a slightly darker red so it still stands out
but not as much as the main heading. I’m going to have a red drop-capital as well to make it clear where the article begins and also to fit in with the
classic music magazine conventions. I’m also going to have the rule of thirds as the text will be split into 3 columns to provide clear organisation. I think
there should be a larger quote on the page too, possibly with red speech marks to make it stand out. Quotes are important to have in an article to
encourage the reader to find out more and give a flavour of the article’s content. The whole article will be in white text and the background will be in
black, thereby making the text clear and perfectly visible. All the colours on the page will link directly to the original colour scheme. At the bottom of the
page I will obviously have the page number and also the magazine logo which I think will be ‘MTN’ (‘Motion’ with the vowels removed) because I have
seen this done in all the music magazines I have researched to continue to push the magazine brand.

5. This is the second design for my double page spread. The concepts are pretty similar to those of my first design. I want to keep the
smaller pictures inside the movie reel and have the same big picture except the big picture will completely take up one half of the
spread. The colour scheme will be identical to that of the first design and I will still have a quote of some sort on the page. The layout of
the text will be the same also. The one issue I have with this design is that I think that having the 3 smaller images on the other page,
space may be compromised and I don’t want it to look like the whole article is squashed.
For this reason, I think I prefer my first design for the double page spread as I think it offers more space. It was interesting to try a
different design though