Planning - Hot Desk Feedback

I tried to get feedback for my second draft of my front cover by displaying it in a gallery at my college and asking people to send me their ideas via email. But I got no responses so, with my peers, we held a hot desk activity. This is where we looked at each others work and write feed back. This is the feedback is received.

Is there anything that you think my front cover is missing?

2 x I feel that you aren’t missing anything, you have everything to fit the conventions of a magazine

Its very well placed and seems like a good start to designing a house style, it should be rather easy to follow through with it. However the image seems a bit blurry so I would maybe feather the edges but sharpen the image.

Are there any suggestions for changes or improvements that you have?

You could make the model stand out more, as the text is what grabs your attention rather than the model. Overall make the cover bolder so it stands out more.

The model looks clearly Photoshoped on the right hand side, particularly her hair, this can be fixed by using a soft edged rubber along the side of her in order for the model to blend the main image.

The layout of the front cover is especially good, masthead is clear, I especially like the placement of the puff’s which works well with the cover lines along the left hand side of the page. Good work.

Looks very professional and overall it seems very thought out. The font is easy to read and work well with the design. The model’s right side looks a little odd, though. Good work.

Critical Evaluation of Front Cover, Second Draft

I am not completely happy with the way this draft has turned out. However with the help of the feedback I received from my hot desk activity and with some of my own new ideas I can definitely improve on the areas in which I am not happy.
Firstly I dislike the emptiness off the page, it definitely needs more cover lines, puffs and maybe a few smaller images and more variation in the style of these additions, to make it more aesthetically pleasing therefore more attention grabbing.
I also dislike the main image, it isn't as interesting as I had hoped when I planned the photo shoot based on the photography work of Terry Richardson. So I could take some new photos or edit the image in Photoshop. From my hot desk task I was advised that the image looks obviously Photoshopped which is something I can retouch for my final draft.  The background colour is from grey because it is the colour of the background in the photograph and I think it needs changing because it is quite dull.

I am happy with the top third of the front cover with things such as the masthead, skyline and the date and price. I think these aspects of the page comply with magazine conventions and look professional, it fits the genre of mainstream music magazine and is similar to most other mainstream magazine's top third.
I also like the puffs, they are a bright colour and stand out and I like the way the font is a different size on each line of the circle to fill as much empty yellow space as the text can. However i feel that the puffs make the page look strange as there is little else on the page at all and especially little else that is bright coloured apart from the masthead.

Front Cover Second Draft

Double Page Spread First Draft

Contents Page First/Rough Draft

Front Cover Very First/Rough Draft