First Mock Up

I started with just a main image which I took from google and added my masthead and my skyline (kicker).  I chose this particular image because it's quite similar to the ideas I had in mind for a main image.   I also like how the colours work together which makes it quite easy to work around in regards to colour scheme; as I was having a bit of difficulty choosing one.  My tutor said that sometime magazines choose a colour scheme around the person in the main image.  This was also something that I looked at in the prelim task of the college magazine.  So I thought it might be best to decide on the colour scheme this way instead of predeciding it. 

The girl in the picture is a singer from Paramore, a band which fits well into my genre.  I fit my masthead around this so that her head wasn't slightly cropped by it.  The use of a stand-out font for the name of the band helps to appeal to the audience and reinforce the band's unique style.  Everything is in capital letters to make it all look loud, and to make everything work together (as I discovered that I just didn't like the look of mixing lower case and upper case letters)

I added a few sell lines, making some of them vague and adding a bit of extra info on some, as this will attract my target audience.

I decided on a plug which matches my colour scheme.  The logo for the Leeds and Reading Festival stands out which attracts the audience's attention; the purpose of the plug.

Finally I added a strip of contents teasers at the bottom of the page, a barcode, and a price and issue number.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my first mockup.  I feel as though it looks like it could be a real magazine, as the fonts, layout, use of colour scheme, etc match conventions.

Conventions that I've broken include;  - Colour theme, as this particular one isn't used on a rock magazine very often
-  Use of a long shot, however I think it works in this instance so I will take some long shots for my drafts.

Slight gripes are;  I feel like the masthead might be a bit too big and dominating.
Some of my sell lines are a bit long
The plug would look better if it wasn't over the masthead
I need to take some of my own images, however this is not a draft it's a mock up/practise.
The issue number and price should be near the barcode
If I move the issue number and price, I can put the kicker below the masthead and it will look less crowded.
Although I like the consistent fonts, I will have to experiment with using more varied font styles.