Rejected Masthead Designs

These are 3 rejected designs for my magazine's masthead. I felt they didn't accurately reflect the character of my magazine or attract to my target audience sufficiently. 

Rejected Final Designs

This design was rejected for a number of reasons. Firstly, the different text colours on the cover lines doesn't match the overall colour scheme of the house style. Also, The main coverline covers the guitar on the main image too much, which is counter-intuitive for a guitar magazine not not feature a guitar prominently on the cover. Finally, there was not enough content on the cover; guitars magazine often maximize the space to cram as much content in as possible. 

Image Editing Process

Institutions

Based upon the style and audience of my magazine, as well as existing magazines that they publish, I would be best suited with Future Publishers PLC. Future currently have a whole section dedicated to music based media: Music Radar. This sector includes many famous titles such as ‘Guitarist’ ‘Total Guitar’. My magazine would be suited very nicely to such a precise and bespoke service that target a very specific demographic. Future are also more likely to get “Power Chord” sold in very well-known distributors such as WH Smiths and ASDA Moreover, my magazine has the ability to cater for very high-profile advertising contracts, Future would have the key experience in dealing with advertisers to get the best revenue out of companies who want advertising space in the magazine.

Also, by magazine is developed to cater to a very broad and popular target audience; Future has the ability to expand and reach the audience that my magazine has the capability to appeal to. They already publish incredibly successful music-based magazine and have formed a huge band of trust between the readers for a good quality magazine. If I was to go with a small independent company, my magazine would not be able to fulfil its potential market as they may not be able to distribute the magazine as efficiently. The same applies to self-publishing, we would not have the experience and know-how of bigger publishers, like Future, to get the maximum exposure that the magazine needs; it is important to get good exposure quickly as many titles fail within their first three years.

On the other hand, with the rapid expansion of online media and technologies, my magazine would be able to reach many more young people worldwide. A website, YouTube and online issues of the magazine will help spread “Power Chord” all over the world. Future’s Music Radar website includes exclusive articles, news and interviews that are updated on a weekly basis. This online presence will help to boost the profile of the magazine and make it a must-have magazine for guitarists all over the globe.

Skills Development

Initial Drafts

Masthead Ideas

Front Cover

Contents

Double Page

Original Images