Thoughts on both my Front Cover and Contents

Within the class, I asked three people to look and evaluate both my front and contents pages, to find out my strengths and weaknesses, and things I could improve on.
Here were my results:

Person One:
-Lots of information on the front cover
-Suitable font styles
-The record image for "Volume" in the title
-Easy to read with a clear contents page
However...
-The edges of the front cover picture could be altered
-It is hard to read the two words "latest" and "all" due to the colour and the fact they are overlapping the main photograph.

Person Two:
-Love the title of the front page, with a great use of the CD
-Great house style; black, white and red
-Good use of artists, fit in with the genre
-Model's name stands out well
-Fonts throughout stand out from the rest

Person Three:
-Good house style
-Good font for title
-Good order of contents, laid out well
-Good use of colours in the contents page
-Great titles in the contents page, like the way they overlap slightly.

Overall Conclusion:
I have gained knowledge of my strengths and weaknesses within both my front page and contents of my music magazine. I now that my strengths are probably the titles, colours and fonts used, but on the other hand my disadvantages could be the fact my photograph could be cut out better to ensure the edges are cut out correctly and are smooth.

Finished Contents Page

To the left shows my final version of the contents page in which I have created.

The house style has been represented throughout the page, as well as the colour scheme use of red and black.

The page has been set out so that it is easy to read and is clear, as well as a large selection of pages for the reader's to look at, including "Kirsty Walters."

Although I have written the title of the magazine again on the contents, I feel that without it the reader would still be able to see that this page of the magazine relates and appeals to the front cover.

Contents Page So Far

Whilst in the making of designing my contents page, I became unsure of whether the background should stay white or whether I should change to black or another colour.

However, when looking at other magazines which are available for purchase in shops and supermarkets, I found that none or not many had a gradient background within the contents page, and mostly had white backgrounds. In addition, instead of creating the same effect for the background as on the front cover, I chose to stick with white.

In conclusion, I feel that the contents page so far is adequate, but a photograph of the model and editor is definitely needed.

The Main Contents

Although I have shown my paper based view on how my contents page is going to look like, I have shown the template of how its going to look like. I have used the same colour scheme as the front page; Red and Black, meaning that the house style will be similar throughout the magazine, and so that if a reader sees the contents and not the front cover, they will know which magazine it resembles and fits into.

The outline of the magazine consists of a title of the magazine in large, as well as the title of contents. Although this would be obviously the contents page, a main title giving the readers a insight to the page, so it is easy to navigate around, and so all the pages within the magazine are shown.

Although the photograph and the editors notes have not been inputted as yet, this is how the final contents page is going to look like. however, the background may change due to the photograph, as it could leave a large gap meaning the colour may need to be changed, which I could show later.

Final Cover of my Magazine

To the right shows the final version of the magazine.

I have added word art, gradient, photographs, bold text, and eye capturing titles. All these features appear to the reader, and are advantages within the document.

The best feature I feel within the document would be the "Kirsty Walters" text as although it is different from the rest of the document, it stands out so the readers will know that its the main story line within the document, and they will also know who the main photograph is if not already.

Choosing between two designs

To the left and right shows two designs in which I was going to use for my final magazine cover. I could not choose which one, but after a lot of thought and consideration, I decided on the one to the left, with the word art in the middle. This was because it gives the cover more effect and stands out of the page, capturing readers or customers attention.

Voting For The Best Colour Scheme

As I couldn't decide between the two colour schemes, I printed both pages out and showed them to 50 people, and these were the results:

RED & BLACK: 28 votes

GREY & BLACK: 12 votes