Final Front Cover Drafts

The lead up in editing to my final front cover!

Since doing my first front cover drafts I decided to keep the process logged by taking screen shots every so often as my cover changed. From looking at my first magazine drafts I decided to carry on working with the third style I had created (images shown above). The images below are the screenshots of the lead up from this style to my final front cover.

The screenshots above show how I changed my cover from the first drafts I did. I experimented by replacing the main image and the style of the page wide headline 'Lizzie Frost'.

The screenshots below show the changes from red to brown colouring in the text and skyline. I believed I had too much red on the cover and so experimented with brown/ beige to as well as red. 
I also changed the main logo of the magazine as I went along. Here I changed it to the logo that would be displayed in my final front cover! I changed it to a bold simple title that filled the whole width of the cover. From looking at existing magazines I could see that most music magazines had bold logos that filled the top of the page. This would allow my magazine to stand out and compete with these other magazines when displayed in shops. I also changed the 'Lizzie Frost' heading to a bold plain text aswell and believed this looked more professional.

The screenshots below show how I changed the main image style. I liked the main image but I had edited it a lot and this made it look a bit unnatural. I had also made the edges of the image too blurry when 'cutting' the image out and this made it look less professional. I started again with the same image and removed spots and blemishes with the tools in photoshop. This time I made sure not to edit it too much when cutting the image out. I made the edges more defined than  blurry and I believed this helped my image to stand out in a professionally looking way!

These next screenshots show my concentration on the coverlines of my front cover and how I changed the colour of parts of the magazine yet again. This time I changed the colour of the coverlines and page wide banner from brown to grey. This colour suited my magazine genre more and I think it looked better with the red parts of the magazine and in the main image. I also added a catch line underneath my magazines logo to explain what it stands for. 'NIMM'- 'New Indie Music Magazine'. I focused on the coverlines and experimented with them in different positions on the cover. I also added some new coverlines to the left handside of my magazine. I added red lines underneath them to allow them to stand out.

In these next screenshots I changed the 'WIN' splash. I didn't like the style of the splash as it looked 'tacky' amongst the other elements of my cover. I decided to move the splash to the top left and incorporate it into the skyline instead. Another thing I changed was the colour of the background of the magazine. It was a dramatic change from white to blue but once I had done it I believed it made my magazine look much more complete. I also  took out the cover lines in the bottom right and added a section that could include another image. I believe this would look more interesting as another image could attract the audience better than words.

<------ This was the last screenshot I took. I then added an image to the red outlined box and finished my final front cover!

Drafts of Front Cover

First Drafts of Front Cover

Second Drafts of Front Cover

Third Drafts of Front Cover

Magazine Front Cover Mock Ups

These are mock ups I have created of my front cover using images already available on the internet of famous musicians that are in style with the type of magazine I want to create. I created these to experiment with the main conventions of music magazine front covers.

Mock up Number One

Mock up Number Two



Music magazine photo shoot

I took two sets of photographs in my photo shoot: one consisting of an Indie Pop look and the other Indie Rock. The genre I have chosen is Indie but as I did research I realised there were two main types. Therefore when doing my photoshoot I allowed myself to get images that would represent both types: rock and pop. I used a female model as I believed this could attract both genders of my target audience to view my magazine.

This set contains some of the images I took during my 'indie rock' shoot.  

When looking at Indie Rock fashion and celebrities I could see that the clothing worn is mainly dark colours with bold accessories such as hats/ belts. Therefore I followed this convention and dressed my model in white and black. I also experimented with accessories like a trilby hat and headphones. The main item used in these photographs was the red guitar. I used this as it stood out from the clothing and looked like a typical ‘rock’ style instrument. The colour of the guitar also allows the images to stand out and so would hopefully gain people’s attention on the front cover of the magazine.

During my research I found these images on SPIN, a well known rock style music magazine's website. They show fashions of the indie rock genre.

This is an example of an Indie Rock band and their overall look.

This set contains some of the images I took during my 'indie pop' photoshoot.

When looking at Indie Pop fashion and celebrities I felt the style was more of a vintage, country look. I dressed my model in similar clothing but added a flowery head and replaced the black jeans with a skirt. I also used an acoustic guitar in the shots instead of the electric to give a more natural look.


This is an example image I found showing Florence Welsh, an indie pop singer and her clothing.

This set contains images that I took with the props (hat/ headphones/ clapperboard) which could be used for both genres. These images were taken with the intention of using them for the images inside of the magazine (e.g on the contents page or as extra images on the double page spread)

My favourite images from each set:

Slideshow video of some of the images I took:

Choosing my magazine Name/ Logo

Initial Magazine Name Ideas

As I am creating an Indie Style magazine I understand that I need to think of a name that either represents or catches the audiences attention. For example the well known magazine 'Kerrang' was named after the sound of a chord on an electric guitair- this represents their magazine/ audience as it focuses on rock style music.

First Ideas:

I made a mindmap to allow me to think of ideas for the name/ logo of my music magazine. I began by thinking of names that could relate to it's genre of Indie and came up with:

INP (Indie Music News)

MIMN (Monthly Indie Music News)

LIMN (Latest Indie Music News)

However, I did not like these as the words were not easy and catchy to say. I believe that magazines with catchy names are well remembered and so people will be more likely to read them.

Final Idea:

My final idea was to keep the name simple and abbrievate it to 'NIMM' which would stand for 'New Indie Music Magazine'. The word NIMM can be said easily unlike the other ideas I first had. The well known magazine 'NME' inspired me to do this and I think it is quite simple but effective.

Initial Magazine Logo Ideas

Final Magazine Logo

After experimenting with the different logos on drafts of my magazine cover, I decided to use this logo as my final logo. I believed that the simplicity of it allowed the other features of the front cover stand out and not 'look too much'.

I then chose a text for the title of the magazine that I would place underneath the main logo:

1)

2)

3)

I decided that number 3 suited the magazine cover best.