Final Front Cover

This is my front cover, I stuck to the colour scheme of pink, black and white with the text and other graphics as this worked well with the background image, I felt that the colour scheme was representative of the punk rock feel I was trying to create. I used two contrasting fonts, this allowed me to make certain words stand out to get the readers attention. I kept the layout simple this gave the cover a clean look but then in conrast to that the splat graphic, Flux and Fatality text is quite distorted and ellaborate. This works well with the urban graphiti background. Most magazines have more than one image so I decided to include an image of another band, this helped give the cover a good defined structure and shows I have intergrated text and illustrations. The page layout is similar to other rock magazines, they often have a title at the top of the page, the image usually is the background, there is more than one image and a banner at the top or bottom of the page with bands included in the magazine. I have used a variety of fonts and text sizes, the title, band name and the rest of the text are different, I have used four different fonts and lots of different text sizes to suit the layout. To prevent it from looking disjointed most of the text is in to contrasting fonts.

Photo decision for front cover and edits

This is the edited image for the front cover. I decided to use a pink and black colour scheme because I thought this was representative of the punk rock genre and because the band members were wearing black clothing. I changed the background to pink by slecting the background and changing the hue to a pink colour. I cropped the image quite a lot so that the focus was on the band members and not the surroundings. I blurred the bottom of the picture because the floor was messy and wouldn't have looked very good. I added contrast to the background to make the colours more defined. I have used ICT skills to manipulate my images to make them more represntative of the punk rock genre by makign the background pink and cropped the image to make it A4 size so it would fit on to the front cover and not look stretched or thin.

 I prefer this edit as the black clothing the band members are wearing is in contrast to the backgorund but the iamge is too bright and the range of colurs doesnt really work. It again looks a bit over edited and unatural.

 I liked the colours of this edit but I think it looks a bit over edited as some of it is a bit blurred and distorted. Making the band member black and white means they tie in with the background too much. This much editing makes the image look unatural.

This is the image I decided on because I liked the grungy look of the graffiti in the background and the contrast between the darkness of the band members and the brightness of the background. I liked the casual pose that both members had. The image has good bright lighting makes the image clear.

Photos For Frontcover

These are the best photos and edits from my first photo shoot that I had to choose from for my front cover

Magazine Cover Research

The colours used on this front cover are red black and white and they made Cheryl Cole tie in with the colour scheme by making her face really pale and red lipsticks. They use a limited colour palette which adds contrast to the cover page. They do this so that she becomes the background and this allows the text to stand out.

This magazine uses the red and white colour scheme to make it stand out from the rest of the Q magazines. This gives it a unique look.

The Q logo they always put this in front of the image so that it will stand out. It is always the same size and in the position this then allows the Q magazine to be instantly recognizable and iconic.

The image of Cheryl Cole in the rain with her finger in her mouth is going to make people look at the magazine. It especially makes it appeal to the target audience of the magazine which would mostly be men. 
The fact that Cheryl Cole is on the cover of this magazine is unusual as it is a Rock magazine and this would get the attention of its target audience. They put the word “rocks” in big spaced letters to make it stand out to draw your attention and make it related to the Q label which is recognized as being a rock based.

It uses a limited colour palette. This makes the cover unique.

 The lead member in the band (Simon Neil) is dressed in a white hoody this emphasizes his presence because the other two members of the band behind him are dressed in black this contrast in colours helps us to see him as the leading figure.

 The use of the colour red in this cover is important. They use the red to try and draw the reader’s attention to the advertisements and other content in the magazine that would encourage the reader to buy the magazine. The title is positioned behind the lead member and in front of the other two members this emphasises his presence.

·         The title in the centre of the cover is lower case and a different font to the rest of the magazine; this draws your attention to that part of the magazine.

·         “Unfold the puzzle of life...” is a reference to one of their album titles.

·         Kerrang always have their title in black and white and position it at the top of the cover this consistency over time makes the cover iconic and instantly recognisable.

·         All of the text is Sans-sarif which makes the magazine look more informal.

·         I think this cover’s main aim is to draw your attention to the lead member as his image will attract Biffy Clyro’s fans.

·         The cover uses images rather than just words to tell us that the bands photographed feature in the magazine. This is makes the cover more appealing to the buyer, as it has a bigger visual impact.

·         Giving away a free posters attracts the readers attention.

      This magazine has a very simple layout, they don’t over complicate it and this combined with the bright blue used for the background makes the cover eye catching.

Vibe always have their title in the same place this creates an iconic magazine.

They use a limited colour palette, this adds contrast between the colours.

Vibe tend to centre the text around the image of the artist, this makes the image powerful as tells that the main content of the magazine is about the artist.

They use Sans-serif fonts to make the cover less informal. Apart form the “&” sign in the bottom left corner, this is Serif, this difference is put there to draw your attention the text.

Vibe try and create a front cover that reflects the artists personality and their status as celebrities.

Because Rihanna is very popular with the magazines target audience they don’t decide to add much detail to the cover.

As this is an American magazine they will advertise artists who are popular in America and the text down the right hand side has people or things that we might not recognise but in America they will such as Nipsey hussle and Boogaloo Shrimp.

This magazine cover doesn’t have any poofs so this shows the audience that its contents are predominately about music (not too much advertisement).

Music magazine

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School Magazine Evaluation

The Photoshop techniques I used for my front cover include changing the brightness and contrast on the image, using the gradient tool to create the black and white background, I used the quick selection tool to select Joe from  the background of the photo I had taken and then move him on to the background of my front cover.

I looked at a range of rugby magazines and the conventions of those magazine are having an image of one or more rugby players as the feature of the page and I when taking my images of Joe I had this in mind.
On both my pages I used contrasting fonts to make the title stand out, and on my contents page I used the images to good affect and the layouts are clear. 

Contents Page