Mock Covers

Mock Ups

Before creating my final cover, I have made various different mock ups. I did this in order to help me determine the look and style of my music magazine - when creating my final one I will use pieces that I like from all my mocks to create something that I will like and that will look good to my target audience. 

This was the first cover I made. I have mixed feelings on this - there are features about it that I like and others that I'm not so keen on. Firstly, I like the simplicity of it - that the colour scheme is quite basic and minimal, however the problem with this is that there is nothing that particularly stands out. This in turn makes it less aesthetically pleasing because it is so bland and boring. I like the image and the positioning, but I don't think it works as well as front cover - this means I might use it as part of my contents because I still want the image to be included in some part of my magazine, but the cover is not necessarily the best place for it to be. Furthermore, I like the fonts used because it is clear - so I will take this and use it for my final cover because I think less fonts is better as it doesn't detract from the main image.

I like most of this cover, but I think there is too much colour. The cover is really bright, this isn't what I was going for - so I will probably not use this image for my cover, although I think it is a good photo of Yasmine. The only text that really stands out is the name in pink, the rest of the text is obscured as the black doesn't stand out and he masthead blends into the hair. Consequently, I will strive to make sure that they stand out, the masthead especially - this is because it is what the magazine will be identified by. I'm also not too keen on the shadow because it makes the cover darker - which is not something that I was going for. With this mock I put the barcode and information in the left hand corner - I think I will end up using this on my final piece because I like it smaller because it is essentially more insignificant that the rest of the features on the cover. 

This is perhaps my most favourite mock up that I have made. Firstly, this is probably due to the fact that this is my favourite image that I have taken, although I am not so sure that it works as well as a cover. I like the large, bold masthead that cover the length of the top of the magazine - this is because I think it looks better than something small considering the image is a close up. I really like the font that I have used for the main 'artist' because it stands out and highlights what the magazine will be about - so depending on what image I end up using I'm going to make sure that I replicate this feature. I think the coverlines on the left hand side look a little basic - so I probably wont be using this font for my final cover. I have used the same barcode and price/issue informations as the previous mock up because it is something that I will be using so I have applied it to this one to see what it looks like. Lastly, I situated the sell line in the pug of the magazine and believe that it works well because the eye is drawn to it once it reads the masthead. 

This mock is my least favourite for a number of reasons. To start with I don't like the main image - I think that it doesn't look like it belongs on a magazine and looks really 'student made'.Also, I am not a fan of the shadow that I have created because, again, I don't think that it looks very professional. Furthermore, I believe that the combination of the listed coverlines and the basic sans serif font makes it also look bad. This is because they don't fill the page properly and go too close to the image that it obviously lloks like I was trying not to make it touch the person. Also, the colours don not work well together - the yellow looks bad against the grey and navy/black are not colours that compliment each other. I do however, like the way the sell line is placed under the masthead - something that if I have a short magazine name I will used. I think the biggest problem is that it i all too plain - there is nothing going on in the background so it looks less like a magazine and more like a badly made poster.

This is my final mock that I made when I created all the previous ones. I went back to using an image of Yasmine because I think that the ones I have of her are the most magazine cover like. The first problem I ran into however was where to put the coverlines. This is due to the fact that only one halve of the magazine cover is filled up with the image - leaving the rest of it a little bare. Here, I had the same problem as the previous one - the background is much too plain. I like the colour scheme, as I tried hard to match the artist name to the colour of the lipstick - something that I will try to do if I end up using a photo that I have taken of Yasmine. Furthermore, I think that the side of her face is a little dark - so this then effects how professional it looks because if it were done properly then there would have been no end of lights to make sure her face was properly illuminated. Lastly, the placement of the cover underneath the masthead just looks like it has been pasted on there - which it has - but the idea is to make it look as good as possible. Therefore, when I create my music magazine cover  I don't want the coverlines to look like an inconvenience - I want it too look like they are meant to be there, that they enhance the cover, not make it look worse.