1st Draft- what I've done so far...

Front Cover (top half)

I've based some of my front cover on Look magazine, meaning it's quite conventional. This is reflected in elements such as its busy appearance, with images and copy. The tag lines are also quite conventional, and stereotypical to female fashion magazines; for example 'Love your shape' and 'Winter's hottest heels'.

I think the way these images and copy are positioned could be improved, as well as more minor factors such as the fonts (as there is a mixture of different fonts- doesn't look organised or themed).

The colours used are conventional with this genre of magazine, they are bright and stand out to the audience. Even though the colour scheme uses red, yellow, black and white (a clear theme) I need to change what copy is which colour as I think this will make difference to how professional the magazine looks rather than it being unorganised.
To improve (based on class feedback): to reduce the size of most components of the front cover as they look too big in the print out, to improve fonts so I have a clear set of 3 or 4 fonts used throughout the magazine, to include more 'buzz' words, such as 'revealed inside' and to be creative with these (e.g. torn post-it note style), make the price to go with the bar codes and to make the boxes/ shapes I've used more interesting.
 




bottom half

Contents Page

I am pleased with the chosen images and copy of the contents page, on the other hand I need to work on the layout. The text down the middle and then to the side doesn't look right in regard to the other images. I also need to get 2 more images for this page. My 'photoshoot' image is going to look a little more up-market (vogue-style), which is un-conventional within the target audience and budget of the magazine but is conventional within magazines of this genre (like Grazia magazine, for example). It also gives me some opportunity to take a more interesting shot and be creative with the model and camera, as my other original images are quite simple and ordinary. For example I could do a winter fashion shoot in the woods, which fits in with my original idea. I'm also going to get an image of my 'editor'.
To improve: complete images needed, make content text more interesting by highlighting some bold and including more tag lines to fit beneath, to make some more 'gossipy' headlines, incorporate the colour scheme from the front cover and change the layout.   

Bottom of contents page

Double Page Spread

I had some trouble with the colour scheme of this page, the background is fine and works, but the text is unclear in some parts because the colours are too similar (for example the '4' on the model's hair). I also need to consider where the fold would be, as in this draft it would cut right through the middle, I will therefore do some more intertext research to see what is conventional. Again, I need to reduce the size of the text as in the print out it will appear too big; this will allow me to add more text and was thinking of including a celebrity's real story relating to this issue. Other factors I need to consider is the reader will view the page from left to right and so I may need to switch the main header to the left. 



Feature Article

 

I am reasonably happy with this page, it's conventional and the title looks professional. On the other hand I, again, need to reduce the size of certain aspects and to generally include more copy and images as it appears too plain which won't interest the audience as much. I am also going to re-shoot the image on the left, even though it looks effective with the sun behind, it's shining in the model's face. Not forgetting, I need to improve minor details such as colours, making the text boxes look more interesting and to include the page number. 

bottom of feature page