Flat Plan Designs

This is the front cover i have designed for my music magazine. I spent some time contemplating what name to choose for my magazine. I wanted it to be attractive and catchy with a slogan that will be remembered like all other magazines from this particular part of the market. I settled with the name "Strobe". I made this decision because the term strobe is often associated with a strobe light which can be found in most clubs. Therefore the link between the two is instantly noticeable and the title is a memorable one. Alongside my magazine title I wanted to incorporate a slogan which will be associated with the title. The slogan i have chosen is "the music magazine that's lighting up the nation", despite the fact it may be slightly cheesy I feel that it will work well in helping people remember the magazine. The title is the main part of the front cover as it is important when selling a magazine to make sure the title is easy to see and read from a distance, because when on the shop floor it is important that the magazine title stands out so that it can be spotted and bought by the consumer. Therefore as well as the title being large i am also thinking of the colours on the front page being luminous yellow or orange to help it stand out more. Also these colours link in with clubbing and the rave scene so are therefore relevant. I positioned what is in the issue above the title. I thought this would be suitable because when picking up the magazine and looking at what its called you can instantly see what is in the issue. I made sure when positioning elements onto my page that the pictures are the main element of the page because visual elements are more attractive to a consumer then lots of writing. I did however decide on having a relatively big headline to allow to the reader to establish what is in the issue.


This is my contents page that I designed. It is basic because it is a flat plan and not much detail has been put into it. Originally i wanted a normal contents page typical of any other dance music magazine. With simple listings of whats in the pages. But i feel a more suited contents page would be a more modern and designer one but still keeping with the dance music theme. I decided to have my contents page with lots of different shapes containing headlines and pictures. Due to the fact i have filled the contents page it gives the consumer the idea instantly that the magazine is full. The main articles have been placed into larger triangles with them getting progressively smaller in the order of preference. I have placed the word contents at the top of the page so that it is instantly noticeable that it is the contents page, as I believe it is an important part of any magazine and should be easy to find for the reader allowing them to establish what is going to be in the magazine. My original idea was to have it littered with pictures but for my main design I want to give it a more formal feel making sure the idea of the headlines being easily seen is kept.

With my double page spread i have decided to incorporate the idea from my contents page by keeping with the jagged shapes. A magazine is usually modelled around the same type of design and font, so this is what I intend to do in my double page spread. I also noticed when looking at other magazines from the dance genre that they all follow similar design throughout. Another thing I have noticed that they all include are quotations and lots of pictures to visually entise the reader.