Front Covers

After my research into the front covers of typical pop magazines, I started to create some front covers of my own with my own mastheads and cover lines:

Front Cover 1 - I chose an image of the pop star Katy Perry as she is typical of the pop genre. I picked this image of her as she looks particularly feminine because of her hair and make up. I put my masthead 'Burst' in the colour red as it stands out and matches the lipstick of the cover star highlighting her girly image. I featured one main cover line which is the cover star's name in black and the title of her album 'Teenage Dream' in red. I decided to maintain the house colours of red and black as it makes my magazine look more professional and the two colours work well together. I also focused on the layout of my magazine. I placed the bar code, which is one of the main conventions of a magazine, at the bottom left to ensure it does not distract away from the main image and main cover lines. I placed the main cover line in between the cover stars head and shoulder to illustrate it relates to her. The text slightly touches the cover star's which I do not like as it makes it look less professional. Another thing I wasn't sure about with this magazine is although the colours black and red go well together, my questionnaire came up with the result that bright colours such as pinks, blues and purples would be more relevant for a pop magazine.

Front Cover 2 - In this front cover, I incorporated the masthead I designed which I thought was best suited to the type of pop magazine I wanted to create. I found an image of the pop star Pink which was a close up and consisted of bright colours. I think the pink of the masthead, the main cover line and the cover star's lipstick go well with the orange background and cover star's accessories. These bright colours portray a positive image which is what I want my magazine to create for the audience. The cover star is not using direct mode of address, which is what I will most likely use when taking my own photography, but I like this image as it just Pink's face which allows the audience to identify with her more. I have only used one main cover line which is 'P!NK' to reveal to the audience what the main article inside the magazine will be. In my research into magazines, I have noticed that the most effective front covers are quite simple and are not made busy by the use of many cover lines which I tried to illustrate when creating this magazine.