Front cover and props brainstorm

Following the feedback from my market research (where it proved to be the second most popular genre) and my own personal preferences, I have decided to make an Indie-rock music magazine. My principal idea for the front cover and/or the double page spread is to incorporate various shades of green, as it is an eye-catching colour that connotes nature, youthfulness and freshness, as well as a sense of innocence, themes that could be continued throughout the contents page and double page spread. To make the cover even more striking, a black and white version of the main image against a white background with the shades of green picked out using Photoshop would make it stand out. I intend to create an original, quirky and "indie" (independent) style for my magazine; for example one of the props in my main cover image will be a bright green apple. After researching other front covers and photos from articles from NME magazine on http://www.nme.com/, I have found that the use of unusual props adds to the overall effect of the image:


Here, Robert Smith from The Cure is pictured sitting in a golf buggy; the contrast of the Robert's gothic style with the stereotypically civilised sport of golf creates humour, and is an effective method of making the image look original, different, and stand out.



In this photo, the black and white colour scheme adds a moody and "cold" feel to the image, which is contrasted with Thom Yorke from Radiohead's sunglasses and ice-cream, which are both in the semantic field of summer, which is when the photo was taken and is intended to demonstrate; this also adds a humorous tone and a light-hearted vibe.


This image features James Allan from Glasvegas, and was taken near Christmas. The addition of the sparkler emphasises the celebratory feel of the season, while at the same time making the image stand out and appear more powerful.

I hope to recreate the style of these images through my use of props, in order to make my magazine as original and eye-catching as possible.

All images (aside from the collage at the top) are taken from www.nme.com and were all taken by Andy Willsher.