Layout Planning (COVER)

Layout Options

1.

2.

3.

As I have decided to complete my magazine in the pop music genre and have researched into conventions and reoccuring features of these music magazine types, I made a list of things to bear in mind when blocking layouts for my front cover. All three designs are loosely based around real media products such as Billboard magazine, Q and Top of the Pops.

• Pop music magazines typically only include one main image on the front cover - this is usually the featured artist or the person the cover story is about.
• There are usually 3 or so other cover story lines also included on the front cover.
• It is common to find a pull quote from the cover story also featured on the front, or a pull quote from an interview included on an inside page.
• There is typically 1-2 plug or puff adverts on the front page; this is to give the newspaper a good name and also to make a certain advert stand out from the rest.
• The main image of a pop music magazine will conventionally scale the whole page.

After designing all 3 layouts, I decided to go with option 1. This is because I feel that the look of the magazine cover will look more conventional for a pop magazine as the boxed layouts are in some of the same places real media products feature theirs. The more conventional the magazine is, the greater chance of a successful product.