These are my initial design plans for my soon to be created Music magazine front cover, I may not apply all of these ideas to my final production, as you can see in the two images above I used this Kerrang! Front cover as a foundation to base by design plan around as I believe that it was an especially effective rock music magazine front cover.
Firstly I intend to include a barcode in order to make the magazine appear professional as it makes it appear more realistic.
Secondly I intend to use a sans serif text type for my masthead in order to make the magazine appear powerful and eye catching, I also intend for the text appear shattered, this will give the magazine a rebellious appearance which therefore links to the chosen genre for my magazine rock.
In addition I also intend to feature secondary images on my front cover, I intend on using them as posters that readers can obtain within the magazine. I will be anchoring these images by putting a name of the band/artist that is featured within the image and a page number.
Furthermore I will also include a feature article cover line partnered with a promotional banner underneath it, i believe that this is a must have tool for any magazine front cover as it provides readers with an insight into what and who is covered within the feature article, this tool will entice my audience to purchase the magazine in order to find out more.
Additionally I also intend to include a strapline at the bottom of the page, containing a promotional offer within the magazine that is relevant to my target audience of rock fans in order to entice them to read the magazine, for example I may promote the chance to win a rock artist/bands merchandise. I will also feature a strapline at the top of the front cover, listing the names of the different artists and bands that feature within my magazine. I will list artists and bands who fall into different sub genres of rock in order to appeal to as many rock fans as possible, for example I will most probably list death core metal band Slipknot and classic rock band Guns N Roses in order to provide my audience with a more diverse rock music magazine.
Finally I intend on using an image of half of the fictional rock band 'The Slayers' looking directly at the camera with apathetic facial expressions as the main image. I have chosen to use this as my main image because the facial expressions make the magazine appear serious and the models in general will attract my target audience of rock music fans of all ages as the models on the front page will resemble a rock music band due to the use of their attire and placed props.