Masthead Designs And Analysis:

Using Photoshop to design my masthead. My masthead is called “Waves” or “Retro”, here to the left you can see two of my designs, quite simplistic through colour scheme and font. I prefer the top one because the blending is more subtle giving the title more definition. I think what I need to improve on with these designs is making them more striking and contrasting so that they eye will go straight to the masthead.

Here to the right are a few more designs for my masthead, however I don’t really like them because to me as a viewer they don’t stand out that much, however the names fairly catchy. I think I need to change the idea overall because it looks a bit boring and plain. It wouldn’t be the masthead that stands out for me if it was in a store on a shelf. I need to change the whole design and use a wider contrast of colour.

To the left here is just a screengrab of what the masthead looked like before finishing touches, it shows my progress of the piece, the screengrab at the bottom left is my finalised edit. I much prefer this masthead to “Wave” because it looks more attractive to look as its not just the use of simple colours but also shapes. I used basic shapes and edited them to make the title “Retro”, which at first was a difficulty but I used the internet to help me understand how to move shapes around and edit them so that I could achieve this outcome. I think this title/masthead is much better in my opinion than “wave”, because it looks more sophisticated and unique. I think the colour palette is rather dull which isn't exactly what a masthead should be, as it should be eye catching as it is potentially the first insert of the cover that a viewer will see. I think to improve this piece I could put the lettering on a turquoise coloured background or possibly even outline the lettering in a turquoise colour just to give it a bit more definition, I could also try different contrasting colours, orange and blue, yellow and green, play around with the colour palette, making it much more brighter. This is the design I would like to use for my magazine, maybe in a different colour however.

This masthead, I have changed the colours to green with a blue outline. I think the dark green colour requires a better brighter colour to enhance it making it more eye catchy and easier to pick up. However the lettering is crisp and can be read easier as oppose to other colours. The colours of this masthead relate to the theme of music I have chosen-Indie Rock. I think this is my favourite masthead because it looks the most effective and sophisticated.

This masthead, I have changed the colours to a yellow with a blue outline. I think this masthead looks quite childish as though it would appear on “Top of the pops” magazine. However the colours link to the theme of indie. It grabs the viewer because it consist of bright and contrasting colours making it look effective and eye catchy.

This masthead, I have changed the colours to orange with a blue outline. I could improve this edit by brightening up the blue, as it is a bit dim and dull, this would help bring it life a bit more giving it more depth. In my opinion this wouldn’t grab my eye if it was store because it looks rather dull and ineffective. I think the title itself “Retro” is highly effective because its short, snappy and easy to remember. My peers also picked up that the back and white “o’s” look like a record which links to the idea of music and Indie/Rock.

Finally this masthead I have created, is decent but I don’t think it works quite the same ass others because it isn’t that eye catchy to look at, although yellow and purple do contrast I don’t think it looks effective for a masthead on a magazine. It just doesn’t stand out as a masthead I think its because the purple is quite dark and patronising against the yellow.

Final Masthead Design Edits: