Final Front Cover Analysis

This is my final design for the front cover of my magazine. This was not my original choice for a front cover image, but the original photo I wanted to use was landscape and was difficult to place on the front cover with the kind of layout I wanted. I have written about this in more detail in a previous blog.

The first thing I want to talk about with this design is the name/title, ‘Down’. The name came around when I was listening to music, and a song called ‘Down’ came on, I was originally just using it as a temporary name – but it then came to me that this fit my magazine quite well. David, my front man for my magazine has had a rough past, feeling down and this is all about his comeback, so I thought it was quite a good name for this particular magazine.

Another thing I liked about the title was how well it fit with the image. At first I thought the photo would create problems as a front cover image because the title wouldn’t fit well at the top, but then I thought – to be different and to make it fit better – I would put the title going down the side. This way it goes against the conventions slightly, which is what I want, and I have the title ‘Down’ actually going down, which I thought worked well.

The font I used for the title and for the main theme of my magazine is called ‘All Over Again’ which we got downloaded from www.dafont.com and put onto the school system. I originally only had the normal font going down the side, but it didn’t stand out above the ‘Above Board’ strapline, so I edited the font in Photoshop to make it stand out more – giving it a blue/grey shadow. I was a bit worried initially about editing the font, because I didn’t want too many colours on my front cover – I wanted to stick to about 3, if that – but as I only used a grey/blue colour for the shadow, it made it stand out without making it look out of place, which I liked.

I decided to put the issue number and price beneath the title, rather than near the barcode to help the title stand out further.

I didn’t want too much on my front cover, as this is a ‘special issue’ so to speak that is mainly focused around David and his band ‘Above Board’ who are making a come back. I was inspired to do this by other Music Magazines such as ‘Q’ who recently did a special on John Lennon, and ‘Kerrang!’ who also recently have done a special on ‘My Chemical Romance’. The covers of the magazines were basically dominated by the special features, and this is what I wanted mine to be like.

So, because of this I decided that I would have one large photo being the main image as well as the background, so it completely dominates my cover. I didn’t want any other features to ruin the image, so I only had a strapline of the band’s name and a quote from their interview. There’s always the issue though that my magazine wouldn’t sell well if it only showcased one feature, so I decided to do packaging which I have previously blogged about.

I wanted the title of the band ‘Above Board’ to stand out to grab fans attention, but I couldn’t have it drown out the attention of the title of the magazine. I downloaded the font ‘PEIXE FRITO’ again from www.dafont.com to use as the band’s logo/signature font, which is featured again on the double page spread. I then just used the simple ‘Arial’ font for the quote as I didn’t want it to look ‘too much’.

Getting onto the image itself, I took ‘the rule of thirds’ into consideration – our audience is typically drawn straight to the middle third/section. My image fits this really well, as bang in the middle section you have David’s bright red lips. Red is a good colour for attracting attention – it connotes ‘stop and look at me’. Also, red can connote ‘danger’ which fits well with the theme of my magazine ‘Generation Y’ – David is a dangerous come back kid, who is backing up the stereotype ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll’. He is a rebel and slightly ‘off the rails’, which will appeal to my target audience. My magazine is backing up the stereotype of ‘Generation Y’. Another thing red can connote is 'sex and passion' which relates to Generation Y's main motto 'Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll'.

I wanted David to look rugged and rogue, to fit my ‘Generation Y’ criteria. David was a good model for this, as he has the messy hair and rough stubble – he isn’t a primp and preened pretty boy, which is good for my type of magazine. When it came to his make-up, I wanted a slight ‘Corpse Paint’ inspired look, but not too heavy as my magazine isn’t a metal magazine, so I didn’t want it to look too pretentious. Also, this whole rebellious look helps the connotations of ‘danger’ and ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll’.

Because of this, I only did one eye ‘Corpse Paint’ inspired, and didn’t overdo it too much. The other eye I just did mascara marks, and messy marks to attempt to make him look more ‘roughed up’ so to speak. It was all a bit experimental really, the red lips were just mainly to attract attention and to make him look more controversial and not like every other male artist out there.

The reason why I had David pose topless for this picture was because I wanted to add to the ‘Sex Appeal’ to fit the ‘Sex’ part of the ‘S, D & R’n’R’ criteria – even though my magazine is a male based magazine, and my target audience features more around males – I wanted there to be some sort of appeal for female readers. Also, David has a hairy chest, which adds to the ‘rugged’ look (manly) and I had kiss marks put all over his chest to add to the ‘womanising’ sex appeal.

The cigarette in this image is evidentially not accidental – I wanted David to be seen smoking and blowing smoke from his mouth on my front cover. It adds majorly to my ‘Generation Y’ criteria – he is rebellious and a ‘bad man’ – he’s not afraid to be seen smoking and doing other ‘bad man’ things, i.e. drugs, which is mentioned in the interview. It connotes that he is into drugs and doesn’t have a problem with breaking the rules, or being caught breaking the rules.

When Rock ‘n’ Roll is mentioned, the image springs to mind of care free rockers jamming, smoking, drinking and having a raunchy, fun time. I want this image to be portrayed throughout my magazine, and my front cover image helps support this to some extent.

Also, the cigarette is in the middle third/section so you are drawn to it, so immediately the reader can tell this is a magazine about rebellion, and ‘true rockers’. He hand is right in the fore-front as well, which draws you to it. This will attract my ideal audience well.

I want my magazine to say, "Generation Y all the way!"