Initial Ideas - Cover Design

In order to begin getting a visual tone of voice for the magazine I was creating, I decided to experiment with some cover designs based on the wireframe research I had previously taken from the designs of fashion lifestyle magazine's I had identified. Once I have begun to create a starting point through the cover design, I can then continue to develop the design of the content layout.

figure 1

This experiment was more inspired by mainstream fashion magazines, consisting of a full bleed image. Although I have given the cover more of a lifestyle magazine visual influence in terms of not having a lot of text on top of the image, and any text (in this case just the logo) has been made white to not distract from the image and keep a clean and streamlined feel to the information given. Which in lifestyle magazines is mainly done through the visuals, rather than written text. 

figure 2 

My second exploration takes further inspiration from fashion lifestyle magazines, consisting of a much more minimal approach, the image is restricted within a grid reflects the internal content layout when it will be designed, as it works off the same grid. The title is kept the same size as in figure 1, but by making it black it comes to the forefront of the cover design. Although this distracts from the visuals leading the informative hierarchy of the cover, as would be done on a lifestyle fashion magazine as previously discussed. 

figure 3

This experiment allows for the return of the information first given to the audience being given back to the visuals, rather than the written text. The title is still prominent by being the only information on the white section, breaking the negative space border around the image, which is equal apart from the placement of the title, drawing the audiences attention to it. 

figure 4

This exploration allows for more of the image to be seen, negative space has been focused solely at the top of the page to resonate the visual importance of the image. This is particularly important in my design as the cover needs to entice an audience that is interested in high fashion before evaluating that the content inside is telling them to steer clear of it. This style allows for most clarity for the title and also reads in a more natural manner and make a new publication more familiar for a new audience, therefore this is the experimentation I will be developing further.