Design Process - Original Plan For Magazine Cover (later adapted)

The original plan for our television magazine is based around the ones we have studied and looked at; we chose, like other soap opera magazines, to make the soap our main focus instead of making the cover look stylistic. Main character charlotte, is the covers main feature as she is character the first few episodes will be based around; taking influence from the previous television magazine’s we have chosen to use a staged photo.  Within the photo Charlotte is smiling, which will give no hint or information about the storyline to come; instead we will use the masthead to draw in the attention of the reader by using a pun on words or line that describes pain behind the smile. We would like to include either an exclamation or interrogative in either the masthead or tagline of the main feature, as a method of interacting with the reader, in keeping with the chatty tone soap opera magazines use. We want to frame the image in a circle, similar to one of the front covers we looked at; we thought this was an interesting layout and would use layers to make sure the feature remained interesting, for example we could layer the image over the circle so that the top the characters head was not in it. The circle could also hold deeper meaning as it can often be recognised as a symbol of life, an important theme within the episodes about charlotte.

 In the bottom, right corner the word “new” will be featured in a bold, red font – something similar to the font impact; this will draw the reader’s attention by highlighting the fact this soap has never been seen before. In the top left corner will be the television magazines logo, promoting the brand and drawing attention the fact this magazine is based around television. The size of certain words will be carefully considered when using the logo, to make sure that the audience know the magazine’s main focus is soap operas.

We want to use pastel background that will link to the main feature and other features; we would also like to incorporate a blue background as this seems stereotypical of soap opera magazines due its connotations and instant attraction to a reader. The colours mainly used on television magazine front covers appear to be yellow, red, bright pink and bright blue – contrasted with colours such as white and black to help emphasise piece of information. Bright, vibrant and pastel colours are used as they are noticeable and will immediately attract the attention of a reader.

To link together both print pieces, we would like to incorporate the soap operas poster, in a small feature on the magazine cover with a masthead such as “meet the cast inside”. This would be a clever advertising technique meaning that whenever the poster was seen it would immediately be an indexical reference of our soap opera. The chatty tagline also remains in the tone of the magazine cover and invites the reader ‘in’, to buy the magazine.