Magazine covers that have influenced me

I have researched several magazine covers for inspiration whilst trying to design my own magazine cover; here are some of the magazine covers that I think look very appealing:

 Fader and Clash are music magazines, i-D is an arts & culture magazine and Violet is business magazine. Music magazines are not the only influential designs I have looked at, I think that the 2 non music magazines look just as appealing as the 2 music magazines. I think these cover designs look appealing because they are simplistic, but still eye catching. I want to go for a similar design for my music magazine because I would want to attract a similar readership as these magazines. These magazines are not the most popular within the industry, unlike Kerrang and NME, for example. However, I still think that these magazines have a very dedicated customer base and they contain quality content. These magazines do not conform to the conventions, for example they do not contain puffs, pugs and lots of coverlines. It's minimal and effective. 

Front cover / 2nd mock-up

After I have showed different people my mock up magazine cover, I have gained a lot of feedback which outlined what I have done well and what I need to improve. One of the changes I have made to the front cover is that I have hanged the color of some of the cover lines; at first they were all black, however I have changed the names of the artists to red as it stands out more so the reader can identify it more easily. If the reader identifies their favorite artists more easily, there is a more likely chance that they will buy the magazine. I think that the use of red to to highlight the name of the artists is a very beneficial feature as it definitely stands out more, unlike my previous mock up front cover.

Another feature I have changed is that I have enhanced the cover line which says "FRANCIS BASCO, solo artist of the year" by making it larger and closer to his face. Since he is the cover model and central image for my magazine cover, it is very important to portray his name as the most bold coverline so that the readers identify who he is and his importance in the front cover. In the previous mock up, his name was smaller and it was located near his arms which shows that it is not the most vital article in the magazine, so to improve it I have made the text a lot larger, made the font red and placed in closer to his face. In addition to this, I have also made the coverlines more compacted so that the reader can clearly tell where the coverlines separate.

In terms of the price of the magazine, a few respondents have said that the price was too high but others have said that the price was good and said that it was "a bargain". I have changed the price of my magazine from £3.50 to £2.99 to meet the demands of some of my consumers, however if this price is not appropriate for my magazine then will will change it again. Usually, the price determines the quality of a magazine so I do not want a price that is too low or too high that my target audience cannot afford it. I am trying to find the most appropriate price for my consumers, as well as portraying that my magazine is not low quality.

I will make further improvements to this mock-up cover after gaining some more feedback.

Front Cover / 1st mock-up

Semiotic analysis of my mock up front cover.

I have designed and produced the first mock up for my indie music magazine; the style of the magazine is very simplistic and minimal which includes other conventions of a magazine. There are several reasons why I have chosen each design of the magazine:

 

Masthead —The masthead of my magazine is called “Indigo”, there are several reasons why I chose this name as well as the design of the logo. Indigo is a dark blue-violet colour which is often described as “deep midnight blue”. According to my questionnaire, a lot of people associate indie music with dark colours therefore indigo is an appropriate colour to use. In addition to this, indigo is a unique name because it is short and simple but also sounds similar to “indie” which will convey the type of genre my music magazine is. I have decided to go for a simple and minimalistic design which is why I have simply have a rectangular box around the name, I have chosen this design because indie is often considered as a different and unique genre of music, therefore the design of my masthead will also be unique. Unlike other music magazines which have wild colourful mastheads, I have a different design which looks simple and eye-catching. The name of the magazine is inside a box so that the readers can easily see what is inside it; the name is in the centre of the box so that it stands out more. The colour of the masthead is plain white because it contrasts well with the background which is black. In addition, I have chosen to use a black and white design for the front cover because a lot of respondents from the questionnaire have said that they prefer black and white as the two main colours which are associated with indie music. I am trying to provide and attract my target audience by applying the answers that they have provided me for the music magazine. The font size of the masthead is fairly large because the masthead is obviously one of the most important conventions of a magazine, therefore it must be the first thing that the readers see when they look for it in a shop. I have put the masthead on the top left corner of the front cover because this is the normal convention of a magazine cover; usually when a customer goes into a shop and searches for a magazine, they would be placed in way that you cannot see the bottom of the magazine. It is simply because the top of the magazine would be the first thing that the reader would see on the shelf, in addition most readers visually scan things from left to right so it would be more beneficial if the masthead is placed on the left side rather than the right.

 

Tagline - The tagline of my magazine is "indie music at its finest"; I have chosen this tagline because it is a quick and simple way of conveying what the genre of my magazine is. When a reader first comes across the magazine, they may not know what type of magazine it is so by looking at the tagline they will have a clear understanding of what they will find inside the magazine. It also conveys to the reader that the artists/songs inside the magazine is very high quality because I have chosen the word "finest" which is associated with prestige and upper class. This will attract a lot of customers who are looking for good quality indie music. The size of the tagline is very small compared to the mast head because I do not want the readers to be distracted from the name of the magazine; if the tagline was the same size as the masthead then it would be harder to identify which one is the masthead and which one is the tagline. However, I have chosen to put the tagline just underneath the mast head so the readers will still understand what genre is the magazine and what it is about.

Cover Model - The cover model I have chosen for my magazine is Taylor Rice, who is the lead singer of the indie band Local Natives. I have chosen him because he is obviously an indie artist, in addition anyone who listens to this band will feel attracted to buy the magazine, especially if they are a huge fan. The cover model is a way of attracting customers so I have chosen an appropriate person that would suit the genre. The cover model's facial expression is of him singing which portrays that he is a singer and how he is passionate to sing. His face takes up the majority of the page because it conveys how important he is and how he is relevant to the genre of the magazine. In a magazine, the central image must take up as much of the page as possible, I have done this by cropping the full image and enlarging the part of the image which I will use. I made sure to include his hairstyle as well because it is different from most other music artists. This ensures that the indie style is unique.

 

Planning my photoshoot

For the photo-shoot of my magazine cover, I have chosen Francis to be the cover model because I think he is appropriate for the genre of my magazine. The cover model is in the same age group as me and the target audience, therefore it will appeal to the right readers instead of younger audiences which are not my main target. The outfit that I think he should wear is either black, white or red clothing because these colours are the most popular options which are associated with indie music according to the results in my questionnaire. In addition to this, Francis will be wearing a beanie because it is a popular accessory within indie artists and it will convey what type of genre my magazine is. I have taken inspiration from indie artists such as Last Dinosaurs and Chet Faker:

The location of my photo-shoot will take place outdoors because the lighting is better when natural light is used; specifically it will take place in the garden area outside the chapel. My cover model will be holding an acoustic guitar to show the readers that he is a musician. In addition to this, his facial expressions will be of him singing to show that he is passionate about music.

During the photo-shoot, I will take several pictures to try and capture the way he is playing the guitar and singing. I will also capture the outfit he is wearing, this means that I will take mid-shots as well as close-ups to focus on his facial expressions. A full body shot will also be taking so that his full outfit will be seen; he will also model with the guitar to show that he is a musician. After the photo-shoot, I will choose the top 5 (or 3) pictures which I will use for the front cover of my magazine. During the editing process, I will experiment with the pictures by adding black and white filters to identify which will look better for an indie music magazine.

In terms of equipment, here is a list of all the items I will bring to the photo-shoot:

• DSLR camera
• Tripod
• Acoustic guitar
• Beanie
• Outfit of my cover model
• Umbrella (in case it rains)

Questionnaire analysis

I have asked 10 respondents to fill out my questionnaire and analysed the results; half of the people I asked were boys and the other half were girls, this is because there is not specific gender which falls into the music genre indie. In addition, the 10 people were all in the age group of 15-24 because I feel that this is the right age group who would listen to indie music and read my music magazine. I did not ask for the name of the respondent as this is not necessary.

One of the first main questions that would influence the front cover of my magazine is the artists which I should use, therefore I asked the question "who are your favorite artists / bands?". The feedback I received benefited me because I can use the respondents' favorite artists on my front cover as one of the cover lines, for example one of the artists were Arctic Monkeys so I could perhaps include "Arctic Monkeys comeback concert in London!" as one of the cover lines which would attract a lot of consumers who also listen to this band. One of the advantages of asking people who listen to indie music is that they can all relate to the same music tastes, which would help me choose and improve the front cover of my magazine as I can combine the information I received from the questionnaires. One of the reasons why I asked this question is to get an understanding of what artists will appeal to my target audience, and to persuade them to buy the magazine once it has been designed. The cover lines is an important convention because it attracts customers when they first see the magazine, this means the right bands must be chosen to appeal to them. Other artists written down include Ed Sheeran, Crossfaith, Delta Spirit and Twenty One Pilots, which could have also been used in the cover lines.

Another important question I asked is "What is the most important part of a magazine?" which was followed by 8 options including Events, Competitions, Advertisements, Gossip, Interviews, Freebies, Articles and Advice. The respondents were given the choice to choose two options out of the eight. The reason I included this question is to get an idea of what I can include as a puff, pug or cover lines to attract customers who enjoy indie music. The majority of my respondents ticked either "interviews", "freebies" and "events"; I can use this information to apply to my front cover. I can include cover lines such as "Exclusive interview with..." to attract readers who are a fan of a certain artist/band. I can relate this to the previous question and combine it to use something like "exclusive interview with Arctic Monkeys" which would appeal to readers even more.

The name and color of my magazine is one of the most important features, this is why I asked "What name would you give an indie magazine?" as well as "what colors would you like to see on an indie music magazine?" followed by 14 different options with a range of colors. I gave the respondents a range of colours such as black, white, indigo, gold, burgundy etc. so that I can have a more diverse result and identify which color is the most common. When I got the results, it turns out that the most common color chosen was black, white and blue; I will use these colors on my front cover. In terms of the name of my magazine, I got a lot of feedback with names such as "Vibe", "Indigo"and "Wave" which are all decent names for an indie magazine.

Mock magazine front cover