AS Construction: Music Magazine Front Cover Final

AS Construction: Front Cover Analysis

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A2 Construction: Film Magazine Front Cover Attempt

This is my first attempt at a movie magazine cover. I have decided to not use this as the masthead is not clear enough, the content features is too busy and obstruct the image too much, there is minimal editing in the image and the fonts don’t look professional enough. In my next attempt I plan to rectify these problems.

AS Construction: Music Magazine Front Cover Draft

I have decided not to use this cover as part of my music magazine as the extra content features on the left looks too busy and overcrowded.

A2 Research and Planning: Magazine Cover Questionnaire Results

I handed my questionnaire out to a sample of sixteen to twenty year olds. In order to get some honest feedback on my movie magazine, I have completed this study before construction of my cover begins so that I can make necessary changes to suit my target audience.

I used a sample size of twenty people, all between the ages of sixteen and twenty. I separated my sample size into groups of four and put examples of our work on separate tables. The respondents were given five minutes to fill out an individual questionnaire on my magazine cover before they moved on to assess my movie poster.


What is your gender?



Ten males and ten females answered my questionnaire. This gives me an even distribution of boys and girls, whilst my target audience is predominantly male, my magazine caters for females too. It will give me an even and fair series of results.


Does my magazine look professional?


The majority of the respondents thought that my magazine conformed to typical codes and conventions of magazines. This is very important as I want my magazine to look authentic.

When analysing the qualitative answers to the ‘Why?’ half of the question, many of those answered listed colour scheme, the fonts, barcode, issue number and date made the cover look more professional. The minority who didn’t think my magazine looked professional thought that the colours were too bright and the editing wasn’t good.


Would you feel more or less inclined to see the movie that this magazine featured?



Eleven of the twenty respondents replied that they would feel inclined to see my movie after seeing it featured on the magazine. The reasons for this in my qualitative follow up questions said that they thought the cover looked mysterious- the two people on the cover looked sombre and they wanted to know why, and that they liked the look of it.

Nine respondents said that they felt less inclined to see the move after seeing the magazine as they didn’t find it interesting enough and thought that it looked boring. However, the majority of the respondents felt that the magazine promoted the movie well.


Which features of my magazine cover do you like?


This question was multi optional as respondents were asked to circle more than one answer, so I have thirty two answers to this question.

The majority liked the colour scheme, which consists of red, black and white. They said that the red is effective and stands out, but because it’s used in a small dose it doesn’t look too bright and busy. Eleven liked the image I used, reasoning for this as they thought it suited the genre it needed to convey. Ten responded that they thought the fonts were effective and eye catching without looking unprofessional.


Which features of my magazine cover do you dislike?



The layout is the most unpopular feature here, as they believe that there is not enough content features and it doesn’t look busy enough. Five didn’t like my image as they thought it was too dull and five didn’t like the fonts used because of their personal preference.


Taking these findings into account, I will make the necessary alterations to my movie magazine cover.

A2 Research and Planning: Vanity Fair Cover Semiotic Analysis

AS Construction: Front cover Final Analysis

AS Construction: Music Magazine Front Cover Attempt 1

This is my first attempt at the front cover of my music magazine (minus the masthead). I plan to edit the colour scheme, blending options and the layout slightly.

AS Research and Planning: Q Magazine Cover Semiotic Analysis

Q Magazine is a well known music magazine in the UK. It covers a wide range of genres; including pop, rock, indie, grime and dance. The magazine is versatile and appeals to a wide range of music fans, but their main audience are men from the ages of eighteen to thirty, as the music isn’t biased with the mantra of ‘good looking half naked men’ gracing their pages, as does some other female orientated music magazines like Top of the Pops. Also, studying through the magazine there are mainly photos of men, with a definite lack of femininity; men do not wish to read (and look at) women in Q, as this is a music magazine not a top shelf magazine. The men inside aren’t photo shopped, half naked and don’t have rippling and tanned torsos, which is an element why it is mainly a man’s magazine.

The main image used is of musical icon and legend John Lennon, as the magazine is celebrating his 70th birthday. The image is in black and white, which has many interesting connotations. It denotes John Lennon is dead and that black and white symbolises the passing of time and reflects upon death, the image is taken in 1965 (which is indicated by a piece of text in the corner) which effectively points out the time when he was at the peak of his career. The photograph is a close up to mid shot and he is staring contentedly at the camera, the effect being that the reader feels that he is looking at them and addressing the reader directly. The background is white, which simplifies yet cleverly maximises the effect of the cover as it is not too busy and leaves a good background for the content features, strap line and masthead. The background also amplifies Lennon, as he is black, so there is effective contrasting.

The masthead is situated in the left hand corner and is in a very large font, this is because the magazine name is only one letter, so the scale of the name is enlarged to make up for the lack of a long name. The font is in white, but contrasts with a red background. Psychologically, red is an extremely strong colour. It conjures up a variety of contracting and conflicting emotions and denotes love and passion to violence and warfare. Metaphorically, red both symbolises cupid and the devil. Red is also a stimulant, which studies have shown can have a physical effect of respiration and increased blood pressure. Red also denotes power and authority, like for business people and red carpet events. Q used red as a part of their colour scheme to grab attention via the ‘traffic light’ advertising theory that red stands for ‘stop! And read me.’ Red urges consumers to take action (to buy the magazine) and doesn’t allow the magazine to sink into the background. The white font used contrasts exceptionally well against the red background. The white appears brighter when contrasted against such a vibrant red which makes the masthead clearer and easier to read.

The strap line is also red and is situated just below the masthead. Q has used the same colour contrasting technique here, using a red font against the white of the main image (which also acts as the background of the cover). The text just below the strap line acts to add weight and depth to both the strap line and main image. It is written in a gold font and uses signifiers such as ‘unseen’, ‘last’ and ‘whole’. These words signify exclusiveness (which for such a musical icon, who is long dead, is unusual which urges the reader to read), up to date (as far as possible), and a promise to the reader to tell them everything about the man, which due to his status musically, will interest many music lovers.

There is more text below this, which is written in a smaller and white font, as it overlaps the darkness of the image. This is for effective contrasting and again works for the black and white scheme of the cover and allows the reader to read it more clearly. Below this, are three images of alternate covers readers can purchase. The signifier ‘4’ is exerted, with the effect being that the triangle that the number is written in is pointed toward the images and the text above it.. This adds emphasise and entices the reader to look at the images.

To the right of the cover the focus isn’t on John Lennon, but the content features of the magazine. The headings of these features are red, like the mast head and the strap line. Signifiers like exclusive! Signify that readers will be getting inside gossip and vicarious knowledge, which urges people to purchase the magazine. There is a stamp of red, a red circle with white text inside which tells us that there are thirty seven pages of reviews inside the magazine. The border is gold, with the text at the top enforcing the main focus of the magazine, John Lennon, The font of ‘70th’ has a classical edge to it, adding weight to the significance of the issue being a collector’s edition to musical fans.

Most notably, Q rarely uses black and white images on their covers, with this cover being an exception. This is for reason stated before, emphasising the fact he is dead. The colour scheme of red, black, white and gold is extremely interesting and is relevant to Lennon. As we know, red denotes violence and warfare, and the cover uses a significant amount of red. This has connotations with the way Lennon died; he was murdered by a fan with a gun. Also, the gold border and the text below the strap line which is written in gold is relevant to Lennon. Psychologically, gold is the colour of riches and extravagance. The darker tone of gold the magazine uses lends richness, warmth and compassion. We can make connotations toward Lennon here, as he is such a famous figure, who had a lot of wealth. The expression he is pulling suggests contentedness and peace. He looks neither happy nor sad, which can symbolise that in death he is at peace with the world. The image is a verisimilitude image, as the image, with the connotations toward death and time, is true to life.

AS Reseach and Planning: Heat Magazine Cover Analysis

Heat Magazine

HEAT is an extremely popular celebrity gossip magazine. The masthead on this cover is written in lower case letters and is a bright red colour. Psychologically, red brings out conflicting emotions from passion and love to violence and warfare. Metaphorically, red both symbolise cupid and the devil. However, I believe that Heat decided to use it to grab attention; via the 'traffic light' advertising theory (red stands for stop and read me). Interestingly, the strap line is near toward the bottom of the page and has a 'tearing across' effect; the main image has an effect of the image being ripped in half like paper, with the signifier MELTDOWN! in capital letters and a black font. The black font contrasts with the white of the tearing mark. The word signifies that we usually have connotations with 'falling apart' and great downfall- it is a powerful word that grabs attention and urges the reader to read about it.

The cover uses four main colour schemes; red, black, yellow and pink. This is fairly unusual as covers rarely exceed a rule of three colours maximum on a cover, as it looks messy and too busy. The yellow has connotations with sunshine, and like red, has conflicting symbolism. Yellow denotes happiness and joy while it also has associations with cowardice and deceit. The black font used contrasts nicely with the white background it is presented in as black against white makes the white seem brighter, therefore good contrasting and boldness. The vibrant pink has connotations with femininity and is closely related to the colour red, have the same high energy and are sensual and passionate. The yellow and pink are commonly used in women's magazines, while the red is for grabbing attention and the black merely to create good bold contrasting.

The main image is of three people, Cher Lloyd, Cheryl Cole and Katie Waissel. They are all related to The X Factor, a show which at the moment dominates the media. The effect of having them on the cover tells the reader that the magazine is relevant to celebrity culture at the moment and appeals to fans of the show. The images are notably photoshopped onto one another, i.e. the images used are actually three different images. None of the women are looking at the camera, and seem to not be aware of their photo being taken. I can infer from this that they are paparazzi shots and not from a photoshoot or from the show. The effect of this is that as the magazine is a celebrity gossip magazine, there are photos inside that have not likely to have been touched up and catches celebrities at private times- the reader feels like they're seeing a personal side to the celebrities.

Aside from the main image and strap line, there are two more segments of content features. In the right hand corner is a picture of popular showbiz couple Katy Perry and Russell Brand. The heading is in a vibrant pink font written in capital letters on a bright yellow background. 7-Day is in a black font instead of pink, which gives the impression it is highlighted. The part below this has the signifier FULL DETAILS! which signifies that the magazine has all the knowledge and exclusives of the couples wedding day, which will urge fans of the couple or even cynics to purchase and relates back to the celebrity gossip aspect. The text also has denotations of flowers beside it. The flowers have connotations with romanticism, love and new life, linking with the content features of a wedding day. It also adds weight to the femininity side of the magazine, appealing to th target audience of females. At the top of the cover to the left has the signifier EXCLUSIVE! which has the same connotations mentioned before. Notably, the exclusive is written in bigger words than the actual content feature text. It is written in a white font on a red background, which has effective contrasting and creates boldness and the whole 'stop! and read me' technique.

AS Reseach and Planning: Q Magazine Cover Analysis

Q Magazine

Q magazine is a music magazine and covers every genre of music. It is therefore versatile and appeals to any music fan. The masthead has a large font and is situated in the left hand corner of the front cover. Interestingly, the masthead is red. Psychologically, red is an extremely strong colour. It conjures up a range of conflicting emotions like passion to violence and warfare. It also has connotations with traffic lights- red for stop (and read me!).

The strap line to is also red, which nicely contrasts with the white background of the main image. The text adding weight to the strap line is a gold colour, and uses signifiers such as 'unseen', 'last' and 'whole'. These words signify exclusiveness, up to date (as far as possible) and everything involved on the cover. All of these things appeal to the audience, especially those who are fans of the musical icon. There is more text in a smaller font below this, which is in white as it overlaps the image of the person. Again, the contrast against the black of the image to the white allows the reader to read it clearly. Below this, it also has a small part of three other variations of this issue's cover.

The main image used is of musical legend John Lennon, as the magazine is celebrating his 70th birthday. The image is in black and white, the effect of this adding weight to the fact he is dead, and the image is from the 60s or 70s and the tragedy of his early death. It is a close up to mid-shot and he is looking straight into the camera, so that he is staring at the reader. The effect of this is that the reader feels that the image is personal to them as it is addressing them directly. The background is white, which is subtle, yet effective.

To the right of the cover on the sides are content features inside the magazine. The headings of these features are red, like the masthead and strap line. Signifiers like exclusive! signify that readers will be getting inside gossip about the issue, which will urge them to buy it. There is also a 'stamp' of red with the number of pages of reviews inside, appealing to people looking for music reviews. The border is gold, with text at the top enforcing the main focus on the magazine, John Lennon. The font of 70th has a classical edge to it, adding weight to the significance of the issue being a collector’s edition to musical fans.

AS Reseach and Planning: Look Magazine Cover Analysis

LOOK Magazine

'Britains best-selling fashion weekly magazine- audience is women of a range of ages. The masthead (title of the magazine) is in a shocking pink colour. Psychologically, pink is seen as the colour of happiness and is soothing. The effect of the vibrant pink is youthful, fun and exciting and is sensual and passionate with no aggression. The colour is therefoere feminime, relevant to the audience.

The white strapline contrasts with the darkness of the backround so that the words spring out to the reader. The signifier wild is notably in a shocking pink colour, like the masthead. It signifies scandal, as the word wild has connotations to animalistic behaviour. This, therefore, urges the reader to read about this scandal. The signifier OMG! enforces both the strapline and the relevance to the audience of the magazine.

The bit below the strapline is highlighted in pink with a white font. The effect of this is further contrasting for boldness and adding onto the strapline. The signifier secret details attracts attention as readers will believe it's an 'exclusive'.

Along with the shocking pink, there are two other colours the magazine uses. Orange is used as a backround part to a piece of black text. Again, the contrast is effective and stands out. The orange is, like the pink, bright and vibrant and almost neon. Psychologically orange is a controversial colour, which provokes either a 'love it or hate it' association. It also radiates warmth and energy. The other colour used is yellow and is another vibrant and bright colour. Yellow is often assoicated with optimism, enlightenment and happiness. However, both the yellow and orange are less used than the pink.

The main image used on the front cover is of popular music icon Lady Gaga. She is largely relevant to celebrity and fashion culture at the moment, which means people will want to read about her. There is a lack of backround to the actual image, just some blurred lights and darkness. The darkness helps create contrast with the white strapline and to help the person in the image stand out more, as she has platinum blonde hair and a white dress on. The blurry lights may have connotations with the importantance of the person in the image as the lights are above her.

There are three other segments apart from the main image, masthead and strapline which just adds weight to the content. About a quarter of the page at the bottom relates to fashion and has images of run-way models and coats. This maginfies the feminism in the magazine and is contrasted against a white backround for boldness. About a tenth of the page at the top is similair, but has images of shoes and their prices, with mroe information being inside the magazine. The other segmentation is on the right of the main image and contains the heading with the yellow image, with a white strapline. It then has a photo of Cheryl Cole for relevance to the story inside. Notably, the cover only features famous women or models who are all good looking and attractive. This is relevant to the magazine as it is a women's magazine.

AS Construction: School Magazine Preliminary Task Final

This is my completed work from our preliminary task- designing a front cover for a school magazine. I have used a portrait of a mid shot of the view of the school from the field. I have positioned the camera in the grass so that it points up toward the building. The effect of this is that the school is the biggest picture so it is relevent to the school magazine. The picture that overlaps this is a cut out picture I did of a friend. I cut out the picture in Photoshop and placed it over the main image of the school. I did this because I wanted to add more depth to the cover and wanted to show off techniques I am capable of doing on Photoshop.

In hindsight I wish I made the content features slightly bigger, so that it is easier to read. However, I like the contrast of the white to the backround image as it makes it clearer. I also wish I added more detail to the masthead as it's a little too simple and not very eye catching. I would have made it a bigger font and a bright colour.

AS Reseach and Planning: Music Magazine Front Cover Research

My favourite front cover I came across during my research was this recent cover of popular music magazine Q. The picture is extremely clever in the fact that it includes the three biggest, or prominent, figures of a music genre; pop (Lady Gaga), rap/hip hop (Jay-Z) and rock (Dave Grohl). The effect of this is that it is representative of music at the moment so it appeals to a broader musical range. Again, the white backround leaves a blank canvas for the content features which shows off the quantity inside the magazine. The large wording of the names of the artists on the front cover further emphasises their prominence in the music industry. The cover only features three main colours; red, pink and black. A broad combination which can appeal to men and women.

AS Reseach and Planning: Music Magazine Front Cover Research

I like this front cover of woman's monthly magazine Company as the picture is simple, yet effective. The simple white backround leaves a blank canvas for the content features at the sides. The effect of this is that they are easier to read and stand out more, instead of being overshadowed by a busy backround. It shows behind the photoshoot inside, there is a lot of content so they get value for their money. The picture itself appeals to women as it includes fashion- the magazine main purpose. It's a good example of a magazine appealing to their audience. The same principle goes for the Blender magazine cover. I aim for my magazine to be in the same style.

AS Reseach and Planning: Preliminary Mock Magazine Cover

This is a part of my research and planning (pre-production). This is my first attempt at designing and constructing the layout of my first AS preliminary task; this is to design and produce a front cover for a school magazine.

The programme used to contruct the layout is Microsoft Publisher. As you can see (from the rather badly done colour layout) the main picture is going to take the most space on the cover. However, the picture is merely a backround for 'main content info' and the three 'content features'. The effect of having a simple photo instead of a busy one will compliment the content features nicely. The photo must also have some kind of relevence to the 'main content info' for continuity purposes.

The masthead on my mock up is simple and standard of a typical magazine. The effect of this is that the magazine is simple, tasteful and lets the picture below do the talking. The masthead will be the title of the magazine.

Finishing touches such as the logo- which should incorporate the school's own logo and colour scheme to make it look offical and not a tatty and a cheap knock-off, while still being obvously linked to the school. The barcode is purely used here just to make the magazine look more authentic and official.

I should also mention that I do not intend to use this terrible colour scheme for my cover!

When I improve on this mock up I will use professional programs such as Photoshop and Microsoft Publisher to ensure the authenticity of the cover.