Doing: Front Cover

So for the past few weeks I've been working on my front cover and my contents page for my magazine 'Improv'. Below is the final design for my front cover and here I will be analysing it and going through the process of making it.

The above is the final design for the front cover. The main thing that I have recently changed is the background of the cover, turning it to a faded grey, giving the front cover more depth and the impression of a studio background (a convention that magazine front cover's keep to.)
The close up of the artist breaks the conventions of a magazine and of a music magazine however I feel have have placed the tag lines well around her and not crowded her in the front cover. There will be a small amount of text in the double page spread explaining how alike the front cover shot is a near copy of the first album from the artist (which will be shown in the double page spread.)

One thing that caused difficulty was the placement of the mast head. The white outline allowed the text to stand out however this also increased the space used. i finally decided, in order to add a more professional look to the cover, to have the image of the feature artist (Kathy Striker) overlapping the mast head. This brought the picture forward, allowing her to be more eye catching to the audience.

 The tag lines for the front cover also caused some problems as the white text wasn't as readable as the red text. I experimented with colours however only white looked right. I tied different coloured outlines, originally it was black, however I realised that taking the black outline off and bulking up the width of the text, would create a bolder, more eye catching effect that was desirable.

The placement and the coloured outline of the text was a challenge as the artist herself was wearing red and black and I didn't want this to make the text unreadable. I looked at other front covers to find inspiration when I found that head line was often staggered, the main point would be above it (in this case: Kathy Striker) and the line that would follow it would be underneath it (here, it is: The Past Year). This allowed more space on the page and made the front cover appear more professional, which is definitely what I'm going for. I then increased the size of "Kathy Striker" and added a black outline to the red text which allowed it to stand out and become more readable.

The house style for my magazine has changed dramatically since I last posted on here - the red, black and white is a very bold combination that an audience member would easily be drawn to. It also ties in with my desire for 'Improv' magazine to be a 'Q' magazine but for a younger, more specific audience.