Music Magazine Cover Draft 1

Shown here is my first draft for the front cover of my music magazine, 'Press PLAY'. A somewhat dynamic and modern style piece, this front cover contains a bold green masthead which connotes a positive, 'go-ahead' sense behind the action of 'pressing play' to begin music. It is accompanied by a simple but in my opinion effective tagline 'The UK's leading chart magazine'. I did not want to overcomplicate the issue of the tagline, as it is not a main attraction of the page and should just meet the criteria of reliability. When readers come across the tagline, it will appear cliched and magazine-esque - exactly what I want. On the right, currently in an eye-catching yellow, is the notice that the particular magazine is an Easter issue - therefore the price has been reduced. The yellow on the page is very bright and connotes the traditional Easter theme (like Christmas would be red and green) and as one's sight would typically travel from left to right (top to bottom), this 'outstanding' effect boosts the attention span on the right-hand side of the cover. The main title will lay over the top of a cover photo, yet to be decided. The font of the cover line and the decision on a strap-line to accompany it will be given its final decision in due course, along with the font of the masthead - other ideas will be blogged soon. Down in the bottom right are subheadings, having the ideal effect of a boxout to be able to attract attention to further features in the magazine. Having noticed professionally published magazine covers on public shelves, these subheadings are often made to sound the most enticing they can possibly be, and this tends to hugely bolster the encouragement of customers to purchase them. Making these appealing is crucial to make readers decide whether the issue is worth their time; I feel I have done this by attracting a wide range of interests, including the 1960s mod-era, the notion of music in America despite the magazine being centred around and supposedly sold in the UK, and something has to be included to involve teenagers as they are arguably the most open-minded generation with regards to music interest. A bold red bar with a barcode wraps up the cover, briefly noting other less major articles included in the magazine. These are included in practically every professional magazine and so this is key to make the cover ultimately realistic.