Front Cover Development

To help me decide on an image to use for my cover I found a couple that were in the style that I wanted to use and tried out my masthead in various positions firstly to see if it was effective and secondly to see whereabouts it would work best.

First I tried it over her head but it covers a lot of the image so I would like to experiment further and maybe place it behind her head instead.

I also tried it at the bottom and I think this works but doesn't stand out as much as when it was against the grey and the image stops looking like a magazine cover as it would be difficult to add in additional headlines that would usually go under the masthead.

Next I placed it behind her head but I dont think this works either because although it is better than having it in front her head covers too much of it for any legibility to stay and this only works for very well known magazines as nobody without previous knowledge would know what it says. None of these really worked so this image won't be suitable.

Next I tried this image and as the model is more zoomed out I thought it might work better as it would cover less of the masthead. The masthead doesn't really work down here as there is too much white in the image so it gets lost against it and legibility is lost.

As with the last image the model covers too much of the masthead so legibility is lost. Again none of the layouts were effective so this image isn't suitable.

This image had a slight gap above it so there is a decent degree of legibility but the colours dont really suit the style of my magazine and although they are dark I think the black and white or sepia images were more effective at conveying the dark and edgy style of my magazine. The image also still covers quite a lot of the masthead so it wouldn't be very visible from a distance if it was placed on a shelf so wouldn't really stand out so this image also wouldn't be suitable.

This image has the right tones and colours in it but the position of the model is quite strange and covers many areas of the masthead making it lose its impact and boldness. So again this won't be suitable.

I edited this image using the clone and paintbrush and blending tools on photoshop to create a larger space at the top as the plain colours allowed me to do this subtly and I think it looks effective as the masthead has a bold contrast against the grey so really stands out and isn't covering anything so is clear and legible. I would like to try placing it behind her head to blend the two elements together better and make the image stand out off the page.

I placed the masthead behind the image and I think this looks really effective because it blends the two together nicely whilst making the image stand off the page and giving it a lot more dimension.

My original idea was to create a front cover that was text based and had text surrounding the model in the middle. I tried this out with a couple of different fonts and layouts and cut the model out so that it could be placed behind her and the two could be better integrated.

After trying various layouts I decided that this wasn't going to work because all the handmade fonts looked too similar to my masthead as well as it only working in white because other colours looked odd against the black and white colour scheme and didn't work against the masthead. Although this was my original idea I am going to try a different cover design because this isn't working out and I can't see a way of making it look effective.

I decided to add a border to frame the page and create a container for elements to sit within. To keep the model standing out off the page and add extra dimension I placed it behind her so that her legs sat over it and I think this looks really effective and adds a lot of depth to the image. I dont think the blue works against the completely black and white colour scheme so I think white or a darker shade of colour would work better.

In the end I went with white because it compliments the other colours on the page and it looks subtle as this border isn't meant to stand out or be a focal point and colouring it would have that effect which I dont want.

I next added in the barcode and I think it looks really effective to have this resting on the border as it keeps it contained so it doesn't look like its just floating on the page.

next I added in the price and issue number but I dont really like the landscape layout and I think it would look better portrait.

I made it portrait and I think it looks a lot more effective and slots in a lot nicer. I used the same font as on my folio at first but I dont think it has great legibility at this small of a size so I will be changing this.

I chose a much simpler sans serif font that has better legibility and blends in nicely with the cover and doesn't stick out too much as you want the barcode to be something that isn't really noticed.

I wanted to add a headline to the cover to give a hint to the contents of the magazine and the sort of thing people are likely to find to draw in readers and to add some extra detail the my cover as it was looking a little plain. First I tried a sans serif font but I think this looks too harsh against the soft script font used for my masthead.

I next tried a serif font and I think this looks a lot softer and more effective and blends in better with the rest of the cover. I put the top part in italics and gave it an underline to emphasise it more and separate from the subheading which I created in the same font for continuity.

There was an awful lot of white on the page so I decided to subtly add a little colour my colouring the title and making it a focal point on the page. I chose this dark gold colour as it is subtle and works nicely against the grayscale and all of the white without looking too colourful and out of place. I played around with the layer styles to give it some opacity so that the image could still be seen beneath.

Below I experimented with some sans serif fonts for the subheading to give a contrast against the serif heading.

Some of these looked ok but I decided to stick with my original because I thought there was more continuity on the page and there was too much of a contrast between the two styles of font and it was taking attention away from the headline which should be the main focus. The serif font is still perfectly legible and the fact it doesn't have an underline and isn't in italic in my opinion gives it enough contrast and a clear separation.

After receiving some feedback I decided that A/W was a little confusing for readers and writing out the words would be clearer and more effective. Because of the length of this, it needed to be placed on a separate line so I experimented with this below.

Here I played around with the size of it.

I decided that the underline was unnecessary because it separated the titles which wasn't needed as they are part of the same sentence so removing it made them look like they were connected.

After receiving some more feedback I tried filling in the area after my border with white.

I placed the models legs over as I had done before to give it more dimension. I didn't end up liking this cover because I think it lightens the page too much and takes away from the dark and edgy atmosphere I was trying to create so in the end I went back too my original cover as shown below.

This is my final design for the cover. I think it looks really effective and I am very happy with it because the colours of the image give an insight into the style and mood of my magazine, the masthead is very bold and high contrast and would really stand out from a distance on a shelf, and the headline and subheading blend in really nicely with the rest of the cover and the hint of colour really makes the headline stand out. I think all of the fonts work well together and the cover also has a lot of depth and dimension because I layered the elements by placing the model over the masthead and border and the heal dine and subheading text over the model.