Title and Masthead

For my front cover, I will need a masthead. I will also need to decide on my final title, the font and the colour, as I've had a few ideas regarding them. Initially, I was going to use the name 'The Bandstand' for my magazine, as it is relevant to the genre and is musical terminology, but still common knowledge as to not alienate readers who don't play the instruments or in bands. However, I decided that this was unnecessary, and that 'Bandstand', without the 'The', was much more catchy and took up slightly less space on the magazine cover. My first idea of the Masthead was to have it black, so that it would stand out from the background which would likely be a light cream, gold or brown.

However, once I began my digital mock-up of the magazine cover, I quickly discovered that the black just didn't stand out as much as I'd hoped. This led me to change the main colour of the Masthead to cream. This didn't stand out too well either, so I used a copy of the original to be a shadow on the back of the cream. This made the Masthead stand out against the background, but still fit in with the magazine.

Hand Drawn Drafts

I have done some hand drawn drafts for my magazine cover. This depicts the layout of the magazine, as well as the position of the cover model.

From this design, the institution logo was removed, the free CD was moved, and the "Sweet Music" Main Headline was moved to the right side from the left. The name was also shortened, from "The Bandstand" to "Bandstand". The cover model's posture was also changed, this time holding a Trumpet as a prop on the image.

From the 2nd design, more changes have occurred. The institution logo has been put back, as it is conventional of the magazines I have looked at. the free CD has been moved to a more conventional place, as well as freeing up more room for the main headline, which is now on the left. The sell lines were shifted to fit with the new design while still standing out. The cover model's position, stance and action have also been changed, and this time she is holding a Trombone as opposed to a trumpet.

Throughout all the designs, the only elements that have been kept in the same location are the bar-code and the date/price/issue text. The name of the magazine will be Bandstand, as it is shorter, mor attention grabbing, and allows more space for other things on the cover.