Masthead Design

This is the final version of the masthead which I have designed for the main cover of my magazine, Soundcheck. To create this design, I merely created a text box in Photoshop, and inserted 'Sound' on one line and the word 'Check' on the other. I decided to use the font 'Oriya MN', as it appears very simplistic but equally professional and unique. I had originally planned to incorporate a microphone into the design, and using the traditional cover of the microphone as the letter 'O', with the wire trailing through the other letters. I finally decided that this would not look effective, and decided on incorporating a green 'check' mark into the letter 'K'. This has connotations with the successful hopes of the subjects of the articles. I edited the check mark by removing the white background with the magic wand tool, and 'warped' the image too so it looks more curved and slightly more like the kick on the letter 'K'. I placed a rectangle shape behind the text and check mark, and modified the colour to red. This white on red contrast is common with many other music magazines (such as Q and Spin). The green check mark may not work well against the red background, but since the check mark is a brighter green, it does not appear particularly off-putting and can still be easily seen.

I decided to modify the original design to create a logo that fits on one line. This can be used inside the magazine (such as the contents page). This would be useful as it may be quite off-putting to see the large, rectangular version of the logo throughout the magazine, so a smaller, more compressed version could be used as an alternative.

Alternative Design

As mentioned in my Colour Palette, I discussed using a darker, more maroon-like colour as the masthead background, however decided against it based on the fact that it was not vibrant enough. I decided to merely test out the colour on the masthead background. I can see that while the masthead is easier on the eyes, it is not vibrant enough (as predicted). While the darker colour may work well on the corresponding dark main cover, I would not want the whole main cover to 'blend together', and would want the masthead especially to stand out when compared to the rest of the main cover.