Pre-Production Work: Masthead Designs

I decided that a suitable name for my rock music magazine would be 'Amplified'. I decided on the name, 'Amplified' as it has connotations of loud music, which is often a factor stereotypically associated with rock related genres of music. Also, rock music can be typically associated with lots of guitar sounds and to be heard properly, guitars need to be connected to amplifiers. Other names I considered for my rock music magazine included, 'Music Pick', which is based on guitar picks used by musicians and 'Loud!', as rock music is generally assumed to always be loud. I decided to use 'Amplified' however, as I think it sounds the best and most professional as well as has a deeper meaning which is linked to rock music. 

Initial Hand-Drawn Masthead Designs:

I experimented with serif and sans-serif influenced typography for my potential magazine masthead designs. 

I then experimented with different ways to present my masthead. Each one of these illustrations represent the idea of amplifying, and making noise louder. I experimented with the idea of sound waves, strings of a guitar snapping, an explosion and an input lead which connects instruments to amplifiers. 

After this I combined my favourite masthead typography and favourite masthead backings together to see which designs looked best. 

I like how my experiments turned out, and I particularly like the additions I added to the line running through the top masthead experiment, as this illustrates sound waves actually being amplified. Making the lines more pointed and jagged fits the 'rock image' more than the curved lines as they are harsher and heavier and firm compared to the soft gentle curved lines. I then decided that I would combine the amplified line backing to the third masthead typography experiment instead of having the explosion. 

I really like how this design looks and have decided to use it as the masthead for my rock music magazine.