Front cover designs

From my research I started to come up with my own ideas for my own magazine. I designed three front cover options using a female cover star who would have a main feature in the magazine. A key feature that I liked from my research was having one colour that stands out on the front cover. I decided I would use this myself and so I started with only two colours on my designs which I would later build around. I asked a group of my peers who fit the target audience to give me feedback on which was their favourite cover.

This was the most popular cover as it is fun and carefree which fits the genre and the target audience. The cover also features a guitar which shows clearly that it is a music magazine. The problem with this cover was that it is difficult to create strong eye contact from the cover star. I decided I would make the cover focus more on the star so that they take up most of the page. 

This cover was the second most popular of the three. This is the most conventional cover of  magazine and it is easy to create eye contact with the cover star. However, this cover doesn't show that it is a music magazine. The audience may not be so drawn towards this magazine on the shelf as it would blend in with the other magazines on sale.

This magazine cover was least popular. It shows that it is a music magazine because of the top of the guitar showing in the picture but I think that the other magazine with the guitar is more suitable. I think that the target audience didn't like this one so much as it isn't conventional and it isn't such a strong, eye-catching image as the others are.