Front cover, contents page and double page spread sketches

These are my initial sketches for my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Front cover: I first sketched out the ‘masthead’ at the top of the page as it is conventional to position it there as it is the first place people usually will look at after the image perhaps. Afterwards I roughly sketched out the image of my front cover artist. I then gradually added in the sell lines around the image as this is also a conventional feature of magazines. I made a variety of different types of sell lines including the main sell line as well as a circle box for the plug. For some of the sell lines I added in a couple of words to suggest what kind of sell line I would have there e.g. ‘win tickets’ and ‘top 20’ as I had not decided what sell lines to have yet. Lastly, I added other information which included the issues number, price and barcode. These are small details but essential on a magazine.

Contents page: I firstly took a look at some contents pages to get some inspiration. I found one contents page from ‘Total film’ and borrowed the main layout and sketched mine. Although it is a film magazine but I think the layout would be suitable for my music magazine as it is organized but also interesting. I firstly wrote ‘contents’ at the top of the page and then drew out the boxes of where the contents will go as well as the images. I then added in a small box for the image of the front cover in the left hand corner as this is commonly seen on contents pages. I then drew out a social media box where I will have information for the magazine’s social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Finally I added in the details such as the page number and website. I labelled each of the boxes as I went along to ensure that it is clear what I was sketching out.

Double page spread: I firstly wrote the title at the top of the page as it is an important feature of a double page spread and one of the first places which people would look at is usually the top left. I then added in the boxes where I would have an image and also the ‘box out’ text. I then added in the columns for the article text and included details such as a drop cap and pull quotes. This would remind me of the important small features when I create my magazine. Finally I added in page number and website at the very bottom right corner of the page as it is not as important.