Magazine Cover Draft 2

I stuck with the name 'Paradise' for my second magazine cover draft because of the word's connotations of freedom, relaxation, and peace and the fact it's the name of a cocktail. The magazine is aimed at 18-35 year olds.

The main image I have used for my second draft magazine cover is of Taylor Swift. This woman is 23 years old and falls into my magazine's target audience so she's an ideal figure to use on the magazine cover. Swift is often seen as a fashion icon and influences a lot of women's fashion, so the cover image may persuade the audience to buy the magazine on this alone. I've put her whole name on the cover because I see this as quite a sophisticated, straight forward thing to do. I am trying to give the magazine a sophisticated edge so this works well. "Songs, Styles and Secrets Spilled" is a reference to Swift's profession and personal life. Swift is a renowned singer-songwriter and is known to write a lot of personal songs about life and love - her famous other half's in particular. Hearing about "songs" would interest Swift's fans because they are always eager to hear her personal insight into her songs. Swift has fans of all ages, so this will draw in the 18-35 year olds also. "Styles" is a reference to not only her personal styles, but to her recent ex-boyfriend Harry Styles. Her relationship with Styles was scrutinised by the media, so readers will be highly interested in reading about what she has to say on the matter. The link to a relationship will also interest readers who fall into my target audience because they'll want to read any gossip spilled by Swift on the relationship. Finally, "secrets" will definitely intrigue readers because it gives them a personal insight into Swift's life. Women are stereotypically seen as gossips, so learning about Swift's "secrets spilled" is bound to interest my target audience. I believe the cover image and its cover line will draw readers of the target audience in. 

The colours I have used for the text on the cover are yellow, dark purple, white and black. I took the yellow and dark purple from the cover image, and decided that white and black would stand out against the image well. Yellow is the colour of Swift's dress so I saw this as a prominent colour to use from the image. Dark purple is the colour of her lips which is a less prominent colour but I felt its subtleness would be effective. I also felt that black and white were good, strong colours to use on the cover. They would contrast against the background to stand out, and would also make the cover more neutral. I didn't want to add too many colours to the cover because I realised from research that magazines aimed at 18-35 year olds don't use too many colours. They use bursts of colour in certain places to make them stand out. This is what I took into account when making this draft. I ensured I spaced out the colour on the cover as well, so the same colour wasn't found in the same place too often. I believe doing this makes the cover more pleasing to the eye. I used yellow for the main title because it's the colour of Swift's skirt which I think makes it the most prominent colour. The main image has a slight yellow tint to it, so it was the best colour to use. I also made Swift's head from the main image sit in front of the main title. This is seen on magazine's that are widely known around the world - usually the magazine is easily recognisable from conventions used on the cover like font, colours and layout. The main title doesn't always have to be fully shown because its recognisable and draws more attention towards the main image/famous person on the front. I have done this on my draft because although the magazine I'm creating isn't widely known, Swift's head doesn't cover too much of the title, so it puts the audience under the impression that it's well known.

I stuck to using rule of thirds for my magazine cover. I did this by inserting two guide lines on my image on Photoshop to get this: 

I did this to ensure that the layout of the cover would be the best it could be. I think this was effective in improving the overall layout of my magazine cover.

The cover lines I created for this cover all relate to my magazine's target audience of females aged between 18-35. "101 Back To Work Outfits" is effective because people in this age group go to work and they'll need inspiration for outfits. The bold "WIN" in yellow draws people into the magazine because it's obvious there's goodies to be won. Women buying fashion ma