What I have learnt from front covers

While researching front covers I have noticed a few techniques which make the magazine successful and appeal to potential buyers.

I think that the main image is incredibly important as it is essentially the main part of a magazine which needs to stand out the most as there will be a lot of competition in stores. While taking a photograph of Sophie Tait for my front cover I made sure that her eyes were focused on the camera so she engages with the reader, inviting them to read 'Reckless'; her heavy eye make-up added to the edgy rock look which makes her fit in with the genre of my magazine. I tried about four different fonts before choosing the simple, grunge like one I currently have for my mast head. After looking at an array of different front covers I realized that magazine's mast heads were never over the top but bold, so the name of the magazine is clear and easy to spot.

I sometimes felt as if the majority of magazine's front pages looked overly cluttered with sub images, so I decided not to use them on my front cover and make my main image the main attraction. When doing research, a lot of magazines front covers highlighted their sell lines, I think that I will do this on my own front cover and experiment with bold writing and italics. Another aspect I spotted when doing research is that sell lines were never too vague or too detailed and only supplied enough information to attract the buyers, I will consider this when creating my own sell lines. When I researched magazine's with the same genre as my magazine, like 'Kerrang', I noticed that the majority of their issues had a coloured box at the top of the page which advertised certain bands which were featured, I will include this on 'RECKLESS' as I think that it is a good way to advertise the contents of my magazine without making the front page look too cluttered.