CONTENTS PAGE DEVELOPMENT AND CREATION

I first of all decided to use a light grey background as I didn't want it to be too plain using white. And also on my front cover I have used some light greys so it's also fitting for the house style of my magazine. I kept the 'Rocka' magazine title in the same colours and a similar large size to emphasize that that's the magazine the reader's looking at. I then had to think about a top header for my contents page, here are three of the ways I tried doing it;

After seeing each attempt I decided to use the second of the above for my actual contents page as it was more subtle with the date and issue on there and the main focus was on the magazine name and 'THIS MONTH' which is what I wanted. When choosing my main image for this I wanted one which would relate to what I'm going to use on my double page spread, so I chose this one from the series of the ones I took of my friends as I'm going to use a different one of these for my double page spread. Below is the image I chose, which I edited slightly using photoshop to enhance it ready to go in my magazine;

After this I decided to add this chosen main image onto my contents page and add some detailing around it, as shown below. I think that the colours/shades of the photo contrast well with the contents page and the image attracts attention as being the main image due to it being bigger and in a different colour to the background and writing.

Before proceeding to concentrate on more precise detail I chose to look at the main things which will stay the same on each page; so I tried out different looks for the 'bottom page bar'. Magazines such as Q magazine use these so that you can easily see what page you're on. Below are two different examples I looked at;

After considering the overall final outcome each would give I decided to go with the second example shown as it's easier to notice the number as oppose to it getting confused in with the website address. I then went on to add my other photos, I chose to add these two photos; 

After adding these two photos my contents page looks as below, also with the 'band index' and numbers added;

After this stage all I need to do is add all my main features in and a 'subscribe now' box towards the bottom. I am going to make a 'features' section and an 'every month' section so that readers can see what's new and unique to this issue whilst still finding the same article types they love month after month. Below is my finalised contents page;

CONTENT PAGE INITIAL PLANNING

Drawn-out Plans;

I drew out my first draft of my contents page taking inspiration from the previous front covers I have looked at. Below is the first drawn out draft of what I wanted my contents page to look like. It mainly consists of a large image and a few main stories down the side ontop of the image. Towards the left hand side there is a band index, this is much like in NME magazine's contents page. There is also a featured competition badge at the bottom alongside a further image.

I then came across this contents page in a copy of NME magazine, and decided I liked the layout of it more than my previous plan. Below I have included this contents page to show the look I'm going for.

After looking at this contents page I re-drafted out a plan of what I want my contents page to look like, as shown below. This consists of a large title and large image, alongside taglines and short descriptions to go alongside the images. I like the simple bold look of this contents page, as it makes it easy to find what you want to look at in the magazine, and the large page numbers make it easy to navigate straight to the page you want for the article you want.

After taking my above drafts into consideration I have decided to take aspects from them both to make my actual contents page. For my contents page I will be working with my original front cover colours, without the teal/green colour. This is my magazine house theme. I have finalised my draft of my contents page now, as seen below;

FRONT COVER DEVELOPMENT AND CREATION

I have chosen to use the image to the left of this writing out of all of the photos I took as it was in a more fitting composition which would work better with my front cover. It's also a simplistic image which I can easily manipulate on image editors to add writing and to use layers on photoshop. I like the way in which it looks like it hasn't really being 'staged' this is the sort of look my magazine wants to portray. With the main ideology of my magazine being that the music is more important than the 'product' value of artists.
Below are some of the fonts I shortlisted when choosing the font for my main masthead. I decided to sample them on the photo to see which would go well with it and too see which went with the 'feel' of the magazine.

I decided to go with the bottom font which is 'Rockwell' but added a thicker border to go onto my final front cover design, as seen below I added it behind the main image but infront of the background to give a more professional look to my magazine using this technique which is used by the likes of Rolling Stone.

After doing my header I decided to add some main headlines and the main feature. I chose to use a 'teal' colour on my front cover as well as the red to add some interest as it would've all gotten a bit boring otherwise. Once I'd got both my main feature and main headlines sorted out I decided to add a section at the bottom so I did a few variations of this, and these were my two favourites; 

From the above choices of font I decided to add in some 'Rockwell extra bold' as t's from the same font family so wasn't too far different to include on my front cover. I also used a variation of different fonts for my 'features' section as this is used on the front of Q magazine which I have previously looked at in some early posts.
 From these two ideas I decided to run with the first one as oppose to the second one, as it was too bold and overpowered the rest of the magazine front cover. The first design is much more subtle which is more fitting for an 'extras' section at the bottom. After this I needed to find something to fill the gap between the main headlines and main feature; I wanted to do some sort of badge like thing which was more picture like. But before I did this I decided I needed something to tie the whole thing together and add a bit more variety to my front cover; so I added some text to the main feature. I also added the barcode area, as shown below;

I wanted to fill the gap above the main feature and below the main headlines so I decided to create a competition badge. I used the below three photos to add to my badge to show different artists. All of these photos are originals by me.

As you can see below I edited these photos on photoshop to get rid of the backgrounds to add to my competition badge to 'Win Free Tickets'. Below is my finalised Front Cover.

PHOTOSHOOTS