Preliminary Task - Rough Drafts

I created 3 mock-ups of potential magazine cover layouts, all incorporating different features. When it comes to deciding on which one to use, I'm including the 3 backgrounds into my questionnaire and will use the one which is most popular.
My first mock up uses chunky blocks of the theme colours to make a large star in the corner of the cover, the rest of the background being grey. It has a typical large masthead at the top, instantly making it look very conventional, and therefore recognisable and familiar to the audience. The rest of the layout is also very conventional and so coded like any other magazine, which is what I see as an advantage, as it would look like a real, credible magazine. It has the main cover line overlapping the photo of the student and smaller cover lines above the main one.
My second mock-up again uses the theme colours as a feature in the background, multiple coloured diagonal stripes through the center diagonal. On this cover, the masthead would be printed sideways up the edge of the magazine, as I think this gives a very contemporary feel. It is quite different to a conventional layout as the large photo will be at the top with all the cover lines at the bottom.
My third mock-up consists of a very abstract masthead feature. After designing the masthead, I'd create a print pattern of it in lines in alternate theme colours, which may remind the audience of popular clothing prints. Due to the busy masthead, I would have a plain grey background and would have to keep the rest of the magazine cover subtle so it doesn't look overloaded and messy. I think this may be difficult, therefore a disadvantage, and personally I prefer having the theme colours spread over the background of the cover.