The front cover for my magazine 'Sussex Downs Weekly' has been enlarged to font size 48 to enhance the text for the reader. The title will be used as a brand logo and therefore remain fundamentally the same throughout all weekly issues of the magazine. Using a brand logo ensures that the magazine will enhance a brand identity by using the same typeface, but possibly changing colours to suit the front covers photography.
The cover also uses a main flash which is the photograph of the new Sussex Downs volleyball captain. I have changed the colour of the writing to white, to ensure the text is clearly visible. To indicate the content and personality of the magazine i have chosen the photograph of the captain, as it identifies that the target audience is AS and A2 level students. Content is also portrayed by the image as students can expect to find some aspects of sport within the magazine, which will become a weekly feature.
The key features and stories inside the magazine are displayed in a slightly smaller text which means they can be identified as the main sells. The reasons for including text like this is to inform the reader of the magazines content and ensure they will be interested by the stories and features inside. The exclusive topics inside my magazine are all outlined in the text shown in the bottom left hand side, and it gives good guidance for the selected target audience.
Strap line's are also a very effective feature within my magazine because it will be repeated in each weeks editions. The importance of a strap line is huge and the text must be useful for the reader. 'Exclusive news for your college' are the words i have chosen for my magazine. The use of the word 'exclusive' should be the main focus within my strap line because it identifies it is the only magazine that will have exclusive college interviews that cannot be read elsewhere.
The relevance of 'sells' is very important because it informs the reader that my magazine will be informative. The use of wording can change the perception of the reader so i have decided to use very straight forward text relating to the exclusive stories inside.
Certain colours used amongst my front cover inform the reader that the main focus of issue one is male related. The volleyball captain is male and i have therefore chosen to use predominantly blue and red colours throughout the magazine. I will always keep very similar templates throughout my various editions, but the colours will change depending on the content of the main flash. For example if the main photograph on the front cover consists of a female then i will use colours like yellow pink. The connotations of colour are very important within magazines so i have decided to use male dominated colours such as blue within my magazine.
The layout of front covers can have an enormous influence over readers for magazines. I have made sure my front cover is very spacious so that the reader can easily focus on the main extracts from my magazine. The quotes i have added in white from the sportsmen identify the sort of articles to expect inside the magazine such as questions and answers. Finally, i have included a star in the bottom right hand corner to attract the readers attention. I have decided to use an upper case style of lettering because it is the key word within the text box. 'FREE' informs the reader that their are some rewards from the magazine and will therefore ensure they open up the magazine. I have decided against giving a page refernce until the contents page because it means the reader has to search through various other pages instead of just the freebies page.
Displayed left, are the two photographs i have taken for my magazine front cover. They are fairly similar in the context that they are both medium-close ups of the individual, but small details make the bottom image slightly more usable. The facial expressions are both portrayed as i wanted, which ensures the character looks relaxed and troubled free with college life. The background was also important because i wanted to achieve a fairly basic background so that the main focus was on the person. The blank background will allow me to manipulate the text a lot easier when i start designing my magazine because a white font will clearly be visible over the characters body and amongst the slightly darker background above. However the reasons why i have chosen the bottom image are identified and explained below.