Flat plans - Front Cover

After doing various research on music magazine covers I undertook the representative characteristics that most of them followed. This is my flat plan on which i think is the best with the images i have which you can see i incorporated and i hope to now follow this up in Photoshop.

I have firstly positioned the mast head in the center at the top and made it very large so it is in eye level with the reader and this will make it easier for them to comprehend. In every magazine it is placed right at the top because this is where the audience looks first so without a doubt i had to follow the generic trend and do the same. I decided to have a feature at the top of the cover that says 'Limited Edition' as i think this will intrigue the audience as they know that this magazine is special and them buying it will make them think it is important to have this magazine. The issue number is also at the top at the right left, as i think this is important to include so the buyers who normally buy this can know what date and magazine number it is in the series. The website and selling line is underneath the masthead and are small as i think they are in less significance but still important to include. I wanted my magazine to have many cover lines so people will understand that the magazine is filled with information and plenty of articles for them to read. I placed the cover lines either side of the page and made it orderly so it doesn't look complicated to look at. It was a bit bare at the bottom so i decided to put a slanted strip going sideways with a secondary image on it and also a cover line and this really made the magazine look a lot better. The less important features such as the barcode are at the bottom of the magazine, reasons to this as from  researching magazine company's, they all do this as well due to the features are less significant and relevant when going lower down the cover because they don't provide any information that the public are in search for. Lastly, to intrigue the audience just a bit more i decided to include a splash promotion. This should make the audience interested as they feel they have a chance to win something which is a good technique to include.

Overall I am very happy with the outcome of this flat plan. My research helped a lot as it told me what the main features need to be on a magazine cover and where they should be placed. I tried to interputate from my research but i also placed the features that fitted best with my design. In all i think it turned out great and i cant wait to take this into Photoshop.