A fantastic cover design will not only help you sell it more easily, but it will also pique readers’ interest and encourage them to go through the entire magazine.” (S. Kulkarni, 2022) S. Kulkarni (2022) The Ultimate Guide To Magazine Cover Design. Available Online: https://simplified.com/blog/design/magazine-cover-design/[Accessed 31/10/2023] Good Composition This design uses 2 columns, one for any text and one for an image. This makes it very easy to find any text because of the simplicity. Using guidelines, you can see the neat layout used and how the columns have been used efficiently for displaying content. It only uses 90 degree angles with directly horizontal or vertical lines, making it easy to navigate with little effort needed. The columns are not the same width however, as the keyboard fits perfectly in the height on the right, giving more space for longer text on the left (such as the WIN article towards the bottom). The subject of the image also reaches from the masthead to the footer which effectively uses up the space. There seems to be light that highlights the subject and also illuminates below it which allows it to be clearly defined on the page. Both columns are separated by a reasonable amount of space, giving the cover an overall clean and clear composition that the reader can easily navigate.   There are 3 different subheadings on the left side. The first subheading is the largest and uses different font sizes to make all lines of text perfectly align with each other. This is once again conforming to the clean and clear composition as there are no sticking out parts to make it begin to look messy. For the next subheadings, they get smaller and less eye-catching. This is so they do not take the attention away from the bigger subjects in the magazine, as if they were already caught by the other subjects, then they would continue to read along anyway. To split up the smaller subheadings, different colours are used. A yellow is used to link with the small image, which is then reused for “WIN” to make them have a contrast to other white text.   Bad Composition The reason this magazine cover does not compositionally work is because it is set out more in the style of a book cover than a magazine. The main reason I say this is because more conventional magazines are more clearly split up across the page. Instead, in this it shows one image with minimal text on top of it, making it extremely simple with nothing much to grab the viewer’s attention.  This composition does give the magazine a classy look which is supported by the serif masthead and the rich purple in the background, but the details of the magazine seem very overlooked and pushed aside. This will take a lot more effort for the viewer to read, if they even try to or not. Often, magazines overlap the bottom of each other in stores meaning none of the subheadings may be seen, making the viewer have to lift it out to read them which they may not if they are in a rush.  Redesign To improve this cover and make it more conventional, I have taken the small subheadings from the bottom and put them downwards across the left. I have also increased the size of the text so that it has much more readability. Because I have done this however, I’ve had to decrease the size of the text in the middle and slightly move it to the right. This makes the subjects in the magazine a lot more visible however, which could be the difference between a viewer purchasing it or not. Another smaller addition is that I’ve added a similar line to the subheadings to under the masthead. This also helps to break up the cover and also incorporate more continuity. References Sound On Sound (2023) Issue: April 2023. Available Online: https://www.newsstand.co.uk/192-other-magazines/2095-subscribe-to-sound-on-sound-magazine-subscription.aspx [Accessed 02/11/23] Stage & Studio (2016) Issue: Spring 2016. Available Online: https://store.stringsmagazine.com/products/stage-studio-spring-2016-digital-magazine [Accessed 02/11/23]