Main Task Flat Plans and Written Rationale

Front cover flat plan:

For my front cover I am going to follow the basic conventions of a music magazine cover. I have decided to firstly use a skyline above my masthead to incorporate a catchy line to outline my magazine's unique selling point. My masthead will fill the width of the page and will be placed behind the head of my model in my main image. Also my masthead will be in old English font to provide a rough, urban look and appeal to the conventions of my chosen genre. My main image will be a mid shot of my model in the centre of the page with a minimalistic dark background. I will include essential information such as the issue number and date in the top right below my masthead in also a dark font so that attention is drawn to the masthead first rather than this information. I have chosen to follow convention by including a main coverline in a central position with my subheading placed directly underneath to provide emphasis on the coverline and elude to the main article. I have also followed conventions of music magazines I have analysed; specifically rap magazines such as XXL to include coverlines to the left hand side of the front cover including a list of artists that are included within this issue. Finally I have chosen to place my barcode in the bottom right of the page as this also follows convention of music magazines.

Contents page flat plan

I have chosen to follow conventions for my contents page from a music magazine contents page that I have analysed, XXL. It follows a minimalistic style with an image of the artist from the main article to the right hand side and numbered contents to the left hand side. Each feature including a brief description to prompt the audience to read on further into the full article. The masthead will again be placed the same position as the front cover masthead filling the width of the page. A convention that I have picked up on from magazine contents pages that I have analysed is using another word to replace contents as the masthead, The word that I am planning to use is 'Features' this gives a modern feel to the magazine. Finally I have chosen to include links to social media on the bottom left hand side of the page as this is a convention that has grown recently and increased interaction with the target audience and makes them feel more involved in the magazine.

Double page spread flat plan

Again for my double page spread I have chosen to follow convention firstly by having the dominant image on the left hand side page including only a pull quote on that page to add emotion and emphasis to the image and to allude to the main article. I am going to include my main body of text on the right-hand page with the article title at the top. I am planning to use a font with the article title that will stand out against the main body of text and the strapline so that it is the first thing other than the main image that comes to the attention of the reader. I have also followed the convention of using drop caps to being the main article as it gives the article a professional look and makes the beginning of the article easily identifiable.