Reworking the familiar: Front cover

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Reworking the familiar: Front cover
Originally uploaded by Phoebe Rees

To create the layout for my magazine front cover, I took inspiration from NME.

• Both Pulse and NME adopt a bold red colour scheme which immediately grabs the attention of the buyer. The eye-catching layout of both magazines, reflects the energy conveyed in the music they feature. The bright colours also appeal to the target audience of young people.
• The photo used is both covers is a mid shot in which facial detail can be established. The black clothing worn by the subjects allows text to be placed over the top. In Pulse, the photograph features a guitar to indicate that the artists is performing live, which is the genre of the magazine.
• NME's masthead is bold and recognizable and becomes a logo for the NME brand. I have adopted this technique by creating a Pulse masthead that features a more decorative font than the other text and can be established as the magazines logo.
• Both magazines use boxes and boarders to separate the text, making the page easier to read. Boxes also highlight information of particular interest to the reader, for example, a competition feature.
• The background of NME's front cover is plain white so it can be crammed with text, ensuring that there is little negative space which would make the content of the magazine seem dull. In my magazine, I have also tried to create a interesting form of negative space by using a neutral, graduated colour in my background.
• In both magazines, the main article is established on the front cover through presenting it in a larger font. In NME, the main article is also presented with a quote and the names or the artists which I think is interesting, however, the more detailed front cover image in Pulse didn't allow me to adopt this feature as the front cover would become to cluttered and confusing.