Eighth Front Cover Draft

This is the eighth draft for my front cover. I have considered the audience feedback I received for my last draft and experimented with it. I didn't like having the title in all capitals, or having the bar code horizontal, so I left them as they are. I tried to move my cover lines around a bit to make them more organised and I researched what the most conventional way to place the bar code was and discovered that there is a mixture of horizontal and vertical positions, so I decided to leave mine as it was as having it horizontally would mean that it could get in the way of my main image.

Seventh Front Cover Draft

This is the seventh front cover draft. I have now changed some of the fonts of text and the sizes of words to make them stand out more and emphasise the important information. I have also added a tease at the bottom to entice my audience even more.

I received audience feedback about this draft, here is what people said could be improved:

• The bar code is sideways - is it more conventional to have it horizontally?
• The cover lines are just dotted around.
• Make the title all capitals to make it stand out more.

I also received positive comments, which were:

• Good colour scheme and layout that represents the genre
• Photograph looks professional and high quality.
• Looks realistic how the main image overlaps the bottom graphics.

Looking at this feedback, I am going to experiment and try out the improvements that I have received and see if I like them.

Sixth Front Cover Draft

This is sixth draft for my front cover. I have now moved the cover lines around to fill the space around my main image, edited the title, masthead and "inside this issue" line slightly using the gradient overlay tool to make them stand out more. I also changed the font of the text on my bar code and edited the shapes around it slightly to make it smoother and look more professional.

Again, I am fairly satisfied with my front cover and have no major things to edit. I will just continue to experiment and try out new things and see if I like them. The main articles of text now stand out more from the rest, the space around the main image is filled and my bar code looks more realistic.

Fifth Front Cover Draft

This is the fifth draft for my front cover. I have taken out two of the cover lines and replaced them with teases about artists and where they are performing as well as saying that I have interviews with one of them.

I am now pretty satisfied with my front cover, though I may still look to improve the overall quality of my image and text to make it just that little bit more appealing. The issue of empty space is also still present.

From here onward I will just add more cover lines and play with the fonts and effects to change the layout and look of the front cover to make it look more conventional and appealing.

Fourth Front Cover Draft

This is the fourth draft for my front cover. I have now moved the bar code to the more conventional right-hand side and placed a date and price (in pounds, euros, US dollars and Canadian dollars, as seen on an issue of NME that I looked at for ideas) above it. I have also moved all of my cover lines to the left-hand side and arranged them, but I am still not completely happy with how they look. The whole front cover still looks rather empty.

Things still to work on:

• Arranging the cover lines so the are more evenly spaced, maybe even adding extra to "fill the space" more.
• Possibly edit the image to make it more appealing, e.g. soften the edges if needed or change skin tone etc. (though I am quite happy with how it is now)
• Generally edit the text so differ between the title and masthead etc. so that the more important features stand out more.

Third Front Cover Draft

This is the third draft for my front cover. I have added a main cover line as my other drafts didn't have one and put a stroke around the main articles of text - the title, main cover line and the plug text. I have also finally fixed the problem with the main image and text overlapping and made the text go behind the image by cutting out the model and putting him on top of the original image.

Things I still need to improve/add are:

• Finer details such as date of the magazine, price etc.
• Organise the cover lines to be more conventional - move the cover lines all to the left, keep the main one central and fill the space around the image with them.
• Move the bar code to the right side and place the price and date with it - this is more conventional.

Second Front Cover Draft

This is the second draft for my front cover. I have moved the text around to try and keep it off the image and created a better bar code. I still have an issue with the text and main image as I am still trying out methods of achieving what I want. I have found a better and more realistic bar code, but I have not yet moved it because I still have cover lines where it could go.

Things I could still improve include:

• Making the cover lines bolder, but not as bold as the title.
• Make the title more prominent and more in focus.
• Make the picture more appealing.
• Add more cover lines so there is more to draw the attention of my readers.
• Add a main cover line so the audience know what the main focus of the magazine is.

First Front Cover Draft

This is the first draft for my front cover. I made sure I had the basics, such as a title, masthead, main image, plug, bar code and cover lines. These are conventional to all magazines and are something I will need to keep throughout my drafts. I can make them more appealing using different editing tools, but they must stay there. I had a problem with the text and main image overlapping as my whole image is just a single layer. I tried to rub out the text so that it appeared to be behind it, but it hasn't been very successful so far.

Things to improve on:

• Try swapping the plug and cover lines around so they aren't covering the main image and the colours aren't clashing.
• Try and establish more of a colour scheme.
• Move the bar code according to the cover lines and splash - find a more realistic one.
• Edit image to make it more appealing.
• Looks very basic and there is too much space around the main image.