Improved and Final Front Cover

Final Front Cover

Now that I have seen what I need to improve on I went back to my first draft of my front cover on Photoshop and added in the features that were mentioned in my audience feedback. Below is my final draft of my front cover with the improved features from my feedback. I have added in different fonts and sizes, made the date bigger, made headlines clearer and put more cover lines in. Also I have made the image size bigger after looking at the other magazines I have been researching which most have the models from the torso and above.

Audience Feedback on Front Cover

Audience Feedback on Front Cover

For my audience feedback on my front cover I left small sheets of paper by my first draft of my front cover so people could write on the paper what they liked and disliked about it. Below are the pieces of paper and the main targets I am going to focus on putting into improving my front cover. 

Here are the main points I need to focus on when improving my front cover: 

• "More variety of fonts need to be used"
• "Wider variety in sizes of fonts"
• "Could make the date bigger"
• "There is a bit more space on the bottom right, could add more cover lines"
• "Fonts look very simple"
• "The headlines need to be bigger"
• "Make it clearer who is the main person featuring in the magazine"

Finished Front Cover

1ST DRAFT FRONT COVER

This is my first draft of my front cover. I will be getting feedback on what to improve from my target audience and then I will be updating my front cover taking the advice from my feedback and adding improvements. 

Front Cover Construction 4

Front Cover Construction 4

RELOAD LOGO

RELOAD LOGO

I have come up with the original idea of creating a logo for my title like some other magazines such as RWD Magazine (left) that has the logo of a rewinding symbol which just separates it from the other magazines and makes it unique with its own style. I have come up with the idea of creating a Reloading symbol seeing as my title is called RELOAD. I came up with this idea when constructing my magazine and I noticed the reloading sign in the URL tab on my mac laptop. --------->I thought this would be a good idea to recreate this symbol as the 'O' in my title. I have started making this symbol as you can see in my front page construction above.

Font Research

 Font Research

In my font research I aim to decide on the types of fonts I wish to use on my front cover of my magazine. To do this I will need to look at various magazines that fit in with the genre of my magazine such as VIBE and RWD Magazine which can both be associated to the urban genre that I am following. I am going to look at some of the styles of typography and fonts used on the magazines I have analysed.

<-------- These are some of the examples of fonts that I would like to follow the style of when constructing my cover lines on the front of my magazine. The font is similar to the style I will use as it is simple and bold which will not draw attention away from my main headlines which I will have in a different, eye catching font. The Plus sign is a feature I would like to incorporate onto the cover of my magazine as it gives the magazine a unique look instead of saying 'plus'. I also like the idea of putting some text inside a box so it is different from the rest of the fonts and text, also so it stands out a little bit more from the rest. These images are from the TI edition of VIBE Magazine.

Magazine Analysis 3

Magazine Analysis 3

General

• The company that produces the magazine is VIBE.
• The target audience is around 16-25 for people that are interested in the urban/rap genre of music as most of their information and models on the covers are urban rappers.
• It costs £3.99 which is around the average cost of most music magazines.
• It has been published monthly since 1993, however it was shut down in 2009 but the founder Quincy Jones insisted she would keep the magazine alive as an online publication. 
• As of June 30, 2012, Vibe had a circulation of 300,943, of which 202,439 was paid, and 98,504 was non paid. 

The Cover

• The title/name of the magazine is called 'VIBE'. Originally, the publication had been called Volume before co-founding editor, Scott Poulson-Bryant gave it the name Vibe. Vibe is a very dominant and simple name but it gives people an insight to the genre of the magazine as the people who use the terminology like 'vibe' are associated with urban and hip hop. 

• The masthead/title logo is bold and stands out as probably the second most eye catching feature on the front cover because the model has to dominate the page. The use of bright red makes it stand out distinctively. Part of the masthead is covered up by the models head which could suggest the company are very confident that people already know the name of their magazine as it is such a well know magazine. 

• The magazine doesn't have a specific slogan or strap line, however it says at the top "All that was cool, crazy and crass". This headline at the top is basically summing up the year of 2010 and giving a brief insight/description to white happened in that year. 

• The main image on the front cover is of TI and he is a rapper which immediately ensures the customer what the genre of the magazine is. The posture and look that TI is giving is very intriguing, as he looking directly at the camera when the photo was taken. The way his hands are grasped together gives him a very stern, bold look. The lighting effects on TI's face and his shoulders are very effective as it look as if the camera shot has had some artificial light shining onto his face and shoulders. 

• There are no other images on the front cover which benefits the main image as there are no distractions when people are drawn to the magazine. The main image dominates the cover and there are no other images to look at, only the cover lines and title. 

• The content that is promoted by the cover lines is an exclusive interview with TI, News about Jay-Z's New York Takeover, Keri Hilson being a 'bad girl' and the miseducation of Waka Flocka Flame. Plus they are promoting free giveaways inside the magazine. 

• The typefaces (fonts) used are simple but effective as the colours of the fonts are white and red which stand out well on a blue background and they compliment each other as well. The sizes of the fonts vary which makes it more interesting to look at, also the fonts that are bigger than others are made bigger so they stand out more. Some fonts are bold and some are regular which they use to make the more important headline stand out. 

• The language features and devices I can identify on the cover of the magazine are quite informal which fits in with the genre and style of the magazine, which is urban/rap. The way the cover lines are used in various text sizes and colours are effective as they draw the customer's eye to the headlines. 

• VIBE does follow the same style/trend as other magazines such as RAP UP and RWD magazine, however VIBE have their own style but are only associated with the other magazines because of the genre that they all fall under.