Magazine cover production - Initial stages

I decided that I would begin to put together my magazine cover, as I had carried out my photoshoot and I felt ready to begin the production stages of my project.

In order to start the production of my magazine cover mock-up, I opened a new document, set the pre-set to 'international paper' and selected the A4 size paper, just as I did with my 'mock-up' magazine cover.
I chose this size as it would be appropriate for a music magazine (or a magazine of any kind) due to existing magazines being printed and distributed at this size.

I began my production process by adding the title to my magazine, again, as I did in my mock-up magazine cover.

I stuck to the 'dark red' colour that I tried for my magazine as I believe it will be a successful, impactful title that people will find memorable and exciting.

I decided on the size of my magazine title and where it should be situated on the page.

As a typical convention of magazines, I put the title in a much larger font size than any other text that will end up on my cover. This is in order for my magazine title to stand out on my cover and be memorable, adding impact to the audience.

I added the bar code to my magazine cover.

From my research, I found that bar codes did change position on magazine covers a lot. This may mean that different magazines constantly have it in different places, or that different issues of the same magazine have it in different places on the cover.

I found that the barcode is often situated in a position in order to ensure that the cover model's image isn't covered or the attention of the audience isn't diverted away from it.

I also added the date and issue number next to the barcode, as I found that this was often the case with existing magazines, such as 'NME', 'Q' and 'Kerrang!'.

I decided that in order for my magazine cover to look professional and sleek, I had to follow the codes and conventions of already established magazines from the 'alternative/rock' genre.

After looking into front cover features, I found that most magazines such as 'NME', 'Q' and 'Kerrang!'all use some kind of 'banner' at the top of the cover.

Some of the magazines used the banner for the slogan of the magazine, however something that interested me was how 'Kerrang!' used the banner to advertise other bands that are going to be in the featured issue, like this.

I decided that I will experiment with this feature myself on my cover in order to make my own magazine more exciting and appealing to the reader.