There is a lot of things to think about while designing something, especially if you are trying to follow some type of theme or style.  I had friends look at my designs and give me feedback before I progressed further into my designs.  This gave me a sense of what other people see in my designs and if it flowed nicely in the eyes as others.

This is a gif of some of the starting layouts I made

Having them there helped me finalize and fix design flaws.  When designing it is a good idea to step back and check your work.  Do the colors coordinate well with each other, is this design appealing to the eye, will it grab the audience I am looking for, are fonts and sizes appropriate, is it too much?  Questions like these are why making multiple versions and designs are useful.

These were my three finalists for the magazine cover.  I chose the last image because words were easy to read, it was clear and more concise than that of the other designs.

To make this product, I first used piskelapp to do the blocky and bit-like background, the images you saw in the gif above.  Then I layered the words on using Prezi.