Firstly, the construction of the title which anchors the text to the genre of the music magazines. Naming my magazine 'Original', as it was a really good length and worked very well in the Vanity Fair style Masthead, which i wanted to follow closely. The golden colours of the masthead contrasts the 
background allowing it to stand out and appeal to the consumers. Having the main image covering the masthead emphasises the popularity of the magazine as it shows it is still easily recognisable by the consumers. The title 'Original' acquires this quality of idealism, but as the word stretches across the width of the page it could be suggested that the reader is more sassy and larger than life. I attempted to attract their readers by placing a female character in the centre of the cover of 'Original'. An interesting characteristic considering that corresponding male magazines similarly adopt central female models, either posing seductively or like the typical 'girl next door', on their covers. She could successfully be placed on a magazine such as FHM that adheres to its own set of generic codes and conventions and encourages very different interpretations from its reader.
She is in an inviting pose, a typical blonde haired, tanned, tall and slim girl with perfect complexion and perfect features. I tried to encourage the readers to believe that this is an ordinary 'Original' reader (identified simply as "Gracie"), and is the beautiful woman inside each of us, waiting to be unleashed. The silver bracelat shows luxury and sophistication, and her cupping her hands around her smilling face connotes a fun, bubbly nature and draws attention to her slim body (her sex appeal). With her long blond hair flowing around her face to reveal dazzling blue eyes which match the choosen background. 'Gracie' is seen as an icon for the reader, and as seductive to the male reader. Since my choosen Genre was Pop I focused on who I visualized to be the most successful Britney Spears, because of the amount of coverage she received through her transformation, from school girl to sex symbol. I believe my picture is similiar to Britneys debut album, perceiving Gracie to be the new naive Britney. The simplicity of the colours allows the audience to concentrate on the more important features on the cover without being distracted by a busy background. The light background colours of baby blue and cream show her purity and further emphasise that the magazine is targeted at a female audience, contrasting with the red and black skyboxes. Making the cover look bright and alive,with Gracie as the main attraction. Over this image is the word ‘Gracie' written in Tahoma big, bold capitals. This is the largest writing on the cover, and this deep red is used as it connotes passion and love. Above 'Gracie' there is an added line, which helps the communication of the cover (being an entry point- designed to make the reader's eye go where you want them to go, this gives a hierarchy to the cover lines and puts emphasis on the main cover line.)
There are cover stories surrounding 'Gracie'. They are written in smaller font to give away little detail about the stories but enough to make audience want to read more. The stories are related to music, however, 'Style' is mentioned, adding another aspect, this shows that not all features in a music magazine need to be associated with music. Having words like 'plus' '200' 'your own music' and '50 best albums of 2009' highlighted, enough to attract the consumer without giving away information about the features in this magazine issue.
The barcode, issue number and price are all common conventions found on all covers. They are small as they are not important to the consumer but still needed for purchasing. The price is a necessary to the magazines front cover. I have placed my barcode on the bottom left of the front page, its small to allow the consumer to see what features are in the magazine without being influenced by the price.
background allowing it to stand out and appeal to the consumers. Having the main image covering the masthead emphasises the popularity of the magazine as it shows it is still easily recognisable by the consumers. The title 'Original' acquires this quality of idealism, but as the word stretches across the width of the page it could be suggested that the reader is more sassy and larger than life. I attempted to attract their readers by placing a female character in the centre of the cover of 'Original'. An interesting characteristic considering that corresponding male magazines similarly adopt central female models, either posing seductively or like the typical 'girl next door', on their covers. She could successfully be placed on a magazine such as FHM that adheres to its own set of generic codes and conventions and encourages very different interpretations from its reader.She is in an inviting pose, a typical blonde haired, tanned, tall and slim girl with perfect complexion and perfect features. I tried to encourage the readers to believe that this is an ordinary 'Original' reader (identified simply as "Gracie"), and is the beautiful woman inside each of us, waiting to be unleashed. The silver bracelat shows luxury and sophistication, and her cupping her hands around her smilling face connotes a fun, bubbly nature and draws attention to her slim body (her sex appeal). With her long blond hair flowing around her face to reveal dazzling blue eyes which match the choosen background. 'Gracie' is seen as an icon for the reader, and as seductive to the male reader. Since my choosen Genre was Pop I focused on who I visualized to be the most successful Britney Spears, because of the amount of coverage she received through her transformation, from school girl to sex symbol. I believe my picture is similiar to Britneys debut album, perceiving Gracie to be the new naive Britney. The simplicity of the colours allows the audience to concentrate on the more important features on the cover without being distracted by a busy background. The light background colours of baby blue and cream show her purity and further emphasise that the magazine is targeted at a female audience, contrasting with the red and black skyboxes. Making the cover look bright and alive,with Gracie as the main attraction. Over this image is the word ‘Gracie' written in Tahoma big, bold capitals. This is the largest writing on the cover, and this deep red is used as it connotes passion and love. Above 'Gracie' there is an added line, which helps the communication of the cover (being an entry point- designed to make the reader's eye go where you want them to go, this gives a hierarchy to the cover lines and puts emphasis on the main cover line.)
There are cover stories surrounding 'Gracie'. They are written in smaller font to give away little detail about the stories but enough to make audience want to read more. The stories are related to music, however, 'Style' is mentioned, adding another aspect, this shows that not all features in a music magazine need to be associated with music. Having words like 'plus' '200' 'your own music' and '50 best albums of 2009' highlighted, enough to attract the consumer without giving away information about the features in this magazine issue.
The barcode, issue number and price are all common conventions found on all covers. They are small as they are not important to the consumer but still needed for purchasing. The price is a necessary to the magazines front cover. I have placed my barcode on the bottom left of the front page, its small to allow the consumer to see what features are in the magazine without being influenced by the price.
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