Cover layout decisions

The images above are of my flat plan front cover and my final front cover and as you can see there are quite a few differences between the two. So through this presentation I will be explaining what my layout ideas were and why they were changed and I will also go through the things that remained the same from the flat plan to the actual front cover.

Flat plan Front Cover Actual Front Cover

The Image:As you see the images that I used are both in the centre of the cover but the flat plan was a different shot from the real cover as the plan was a mid- shot. The shot also wasn’t that big to cover the masthead like it did in the real cover. Also in the image on the flat plan had one of the artists with a saxophone but this idea was not included in the actual cover as here wasn’t one available to use. In both, the artists are wearing similar clothes and there angle to gaze would be both directed straight.

The Masthead:On the flat plan and the actual magazine cover, the mastheads were both positioned on the top of the page and contain the same type of handwritten font. It also says “UK’s #1 Hip Hop Jazz Magazine” on both but on the flat plan it has it underneath whilst on the actual cover it is on top as I felt that there was more space above the masthead than under. It was also better to put on to so that the audience could read it more easily and clearly.

The Features:By looking at the magazine flat plan you can see the difference of where the features are compared to the actual version. For example there is all the information on the left hand side of the magazine and there is also an odd shaped graphic on the right. The reason that I changed this was because I wanted the features to be more spread out and so it didn’t look cluttered giving a professional feel to it. I also think the lines that I added gave a good touch to the magazine as it separated headlines clearly and made it look neat. I did keep a couple of things from my flat plan like the triangle graphic on the left but I did make it smaller so that it looked nicer. I also kept where the artist name is so that it could be clearly seen by the target market. I also thought to add a issue number to make the cover seem more authentic and I place it under the masthead as it didn’t make it look cluttered. I also added the price on top of the barcode so it could be seen by the reader easily and would make it seem professional.

Alignment: I also decided for my front cover that I will align all of the parts of it. The reason I did this was to make the cover look neat and sophisticated. It also made the magazine look more professional. The way that I aligned my cover was by using the gridlines on Photoshop and aligning everything with them. I also made all the writing go to the side that it was on so that everything was organised and in line with each other.