Music magazine cover planning

Before i even start to think about producing my music magazine front cover i went through a stage called planning, this anabled me to throw random ideas that i had in mind on to paper and think about my design carefully. So what i did was i divided an A4 piece of paper into quaters, this allowed me to come up with 4 totally different magazine front cover layout, as shows above. All of the sketches above have similar conventions of a magazine but have been arranged quite differently.
 My first draft is on the top left hand side of the paper. I'm not really a fond of this layout as it looks disorganised, by having the masthead on one side of the cover and the date on the other. The image will appear on the right hand side so that there is no disruption caused. There will be 3 cover lines kept away from the image so that it doesn't interfere with the image.  This cover appears to look very spacious and there's no flow, maing the page look lifeless and boring. But by having the masthead across the top of the page in a fairly large font will help to attract the readers attention. 
 My second draft is on the top right hand corner, i quite like this one as it it layed out like every music magazine. The cover lines are spread around and on top of the image allowing a sense of conctinuity and rhythm to the page. The cover lines will also overlap with the image, so this gives the front cover a professional look. The masthead will be placed accross the top of the page making it grab the readers attention as it will be written in a large and bold font. There will also be an advertisement slanted on the bottom of the front cover, this will make people want to purchase the magazine and find out more about the advertisement inside the magazine.
My third draft is on the bottom left hand side. This cover has been planned out quite differently to the other two, as the masthead appears to be written along the left hand side of the page, which i think makes the cover look like its had no thought or care put ino its design. The cover lines will appear to be slanted downwards, which in my opinion i believe it will make the reader will be annoyed as they will have to tilt their heads in order to read what it says. However, i really like how different this magazine cover is drafted out, its quite unique.
 My final front cover draft is on the bottom right hand side. This is quite similar to my first draft, apart from the fact that there will be an advert placed on the bottom of the page in a circular shape. By having a circular shape this makes the advert more appealing to the target audience. The layout it alright but i still think my second draft is a lot better as it looks more professional and sophisticated.
in conclusion,  when i come to designing my front cover, i will try and make it look like my second draft, as the design will suit the purpose of the magazine.

This is a computerised draft of how the layout of my features on the front page of the magazine will appear.

 

whilst i was producing my my music magazine front cover i had to change the position of the date and the slogan, so it would fit on the page and still look as good as my origional plan. The slogan now appears above the masthead, this gives it more of a proffesional look, whereas before it would of had been squashed below the masthead. The date now lying just below the letter `Z` of the name of the magazine.  

Sell line ideas:

1) The best selling music magazine- this sell line is simple and to the point, but also a little boring. 

2) The UK's best selling monthly music magazine- i like this one as it gives more detail by saying its the best magazine in the `UK`, so that it will make people want to buy it. 

3) The one a only..... - this sell line is quite cheesy and suits a beauty product advertisement that a music magazine.sell line.