Cover Draft

Draft One

Here, I used the image of the model pointing towards the left while looking at the camera, because it's a nice front page image that can be played with to make it seem like the model is pointing at text.

Draft Two

Staying with the dark blue and red colour scheme, I've added a strap with the model's name on it for him to point at, and left space for an actual headline. A slogan for the magazine was also placed beside the masthead.

Draft Three

For this draft I went for a darker hue that matched the contents page more. Features have been placed to beneath the masthead and at the bottom of the page. The issue number and date are at the top of the page where they'll be easily seen, but they shouldn't take attention away from the masthead.

The headline 'Against the Wall' has been added to match the photograph of the model. A button displaying information for the prize sits by the bottom of the page.

Conventionally, the bar code has been placed where it won't attract too much attention. It's accompanied by the price, which was decided by the audience research questionnaire.

Cover Plan

Sketch

The plan for the cover follows a conventional format with the model looking directly at the camera and the masthead above their head.

The masthead will be accompanied by a slogan, as well as the issue number and date. All of the important magazine info is at the top of the page.

Artist features and a prize button will be placed beside the model with small font sizes, and hopefully won't take much attention from the strap with the headline and related page number on it. The model will also point towards the headline to direct the reader's attention.

The bottom of the page has additional information such as the magazine's price and bar-code.

Contents Draft

Draft One

I inserted an image of the model into the base that I had made earlier. I tried a blue and red colour scheme and changed the colour of the background to match that, but it looked odd. There was also a general lack of information about the other contents of the magazine.

Draft Two

Here I decreased the size of the primary image to make it less intrusive, and I also attempted to make it seem as though the model was looking at the text. I reverted the colour changes I made to the background and replaced the place-holder text with actual information.

There are now four sections at this point; regulars, features, reviews and prizes.

Draft Three

I used a different image of higher quality to make it stand out from the images beside it. The image in the lower left was also changed as it looked too similar the one on the double-page spread.

The date and issue number were shifted to the left, while a website and various social media links were added to the right of the masthead.

Finally, the 'reviews' and 'prizes' sections were changed to look cleaner, and minor changes were made to the overall colour scheme of the page.

Contents + Cover Photoshoot

For the cover I wanted a simple image of the model looking at the camera, but it a different environment to that of the DPS. This time I the model wore mostly black, which is fitting of the genre. I also had him wear glasses just for style, but in this photograph, they're reflecting too much light.

I had experimented with different poses that I could exploit during the construction of the cover, and I found this one important, as the model is pointing with his index finger.
Things could be arranged around this image to make his gesture seem more significant.

An attempt at a slightly longer shot. This was useful as it showed me what I don't want in the magazine. I feel that closer shots are more fitting for this type of magazine.
However, this long shots can work, as there was a long shot of Dave Grohl in Q's contents page.

Experimenting with the model, taking a few photographs in which he isn't looking at the camera.
During construction I could possibly make it seem like he is looking at text, but I don't think this is a suitable cover photo.

Here I tried to change to another location that looked more natural, just for variation to avoid putting too many similar images in the magazine.

This image is similar to the previous one, but with slight changes. This close-up at a slightly low angle was taken for the main image of the contents page, as the reader can't see the model's eyes so it wouldn't be suitable for the cover.