First of all I had to think of different names I could call my magazine, these are the names I came up with which I think would be suitable to my magazine genre: Flava, Bounce, Beatz, Vibez, Volume and Buzz. These names are just ideas; I am going to play around with the spellings of each name, as that ties in again with the Hip Hop culture and graffiti.
To help me design my different front covers I have put to together lots of pictures of different front covers that already exist from the Hip Hop magazines Vibe and The source, so that I can compare them. I have already completed front page analysis’ but its easy to have ideas if you have lots next to each other, it helped me to design my own front pages. I am going to design 4 different flat plans so I can compare them and choose which bits on each covers I like and dislike.
When designing my flat plans for my front covers i had to think about where to place all the important things that are needed on the front cover. For example i need to include the following:
Masthead(Logo) - The name of the magazine displayed in a specific typeface. This is the visual branding of the title and is often done in a specially designed typeface to be recognisable to enable it to stand out. The masthead is usually used on the contents page inside as well as the front cover, and as a logo for advertising and branding purposes.
Dateline - Month and year of publication, often with the price.
Main image - In most cases the only image on the cover. Often the models eyes are engaging with the camara, many different camara angles and shots can be used.
Selling line/Tag line - Short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point or perhaps setting out its editorial philosophy.
Main cover line - This is normal very large taking up almost a quarter of the magazine cover and most of the time comes in three layers, each with a different colour. The main cover line is there to catch your eye and should make you want to read the story within, so you have to buy the magazine to do so.
Cover lines/Main sells - Text with stories that will appear in the magazine, again sentences and words with are meant to interest you and want to read the magazine. Should be eye catching.
Left third - The left third of the magazine cover is vital for sales in shops where the magazine is not shown full-frontage. The title must be easily recognisable in a display of dozens of competitors. The start of the masthead is important here, as are short cover lines that are easy to read.
Bar code - Standard bar code used by retailers
Masthead(Logo) - The name of the magazine displayed in a specific typeface. This is the visual branding of the title and is often done in a specially designed typeface to be recognisable to enable it to stand out. The masthead is usually used on the contents page inside as well as the front cover, and as a logo for advertising and branding purposes.
Dateline - Month and year of publication, often with the price.
Main image - In most cases the only image on the cover. Often the models eyes are engaging with the camara, many different camara angles and shots can be used.
Selling line/Tag line - Short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point or perhaps setting out its editorial philosophy.
Main cover line - This is normal very large taking up almost a quarter of the magazine cover and most of the time comes in three layers, each with a different colour. The main cover line is there to catch your eye and should make you want to read the story within, so you have to buy the magazine to do so.
Cover lines/Main sells - Text with stories that will appear in the magazine, again sentences and words with are meant to interest you and want to read the magazine. Should be eye catching.
Left third - The left third of the magazine cover is vital for sales in shops where the magazine is not shown full-frontage. The title must be easily recognisable in a display of dozens of competitors. The start of the masthead is important here, as are short cover lines that are easy to read.
Bar code - Standard bar code used by retailers
Below are the 5 different possible magazine covers i have drawn up, each of them are different.
I really like this magazine cover as it is simple but different looks different to anything else out there, the main image is big and i could imagion a close up being used for the main image because the space is long and wide. Its simple that the main sells/cover lines are all on one side. The main cover line being underneath the masthead is good because you will look at the main cover line straight after looking at the masthead. The fact that the masthead isn't right at top of the page isn't a good idea because if the magazine is on a rack in a shop behind other magazines you wouldn't be able to see which magazine it actually was.
I like this cover aswell as again it looks different, the main image takes up most of the cover and in a triangle like shape. The main cover line is on top of the main image which is good because the main image is big so would be eye catching leading you to then look at the main cover line. The bar code is in the top right hand corner with doesnt look that attractive next to the masthead. The cover lines are either side of the image.
I like the masthead, its big and recognizable. The tag line/selling line, date line and issue number are all next to eachother which i think is good because then they are easy to find. The main image is long and thin and the main cover line overlaps across it and to the right of the main image. I don't like the second image on the page, its too messy. The bar code is at the bottom left of the cover which is good because it doesn't take the attention away from any other features on the cover.
Personally this is my favourite cover i drew up, its simple and stands out with the big masthead at the top and the one big main image, the main cover line is over the main image so it draws attention to the stories in the magazine to make people buy it. The other cover lines are placed at the left of the main image, they are all in one place which is simple. All the information is on the cover and easy to see. 
I really like how the masthead turned out, my aim was to devide it into syllables. The main image is supporting the name of the magazine as Vibez starts with the letter V and the main image is in a V shape. 
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