Experimenting with layouts

whats going on everyone! Today, i am once again working on the production of my magazine, however i need to figure out a nice layout for my magazine, as my main concerns is if i want the table of contents as a two page thing, if i want a picture of my cat as the background or any picture as a background, etc. 

I also was contemplating my cover, for example how many words is too many on the front page? How big should eyecatchers be? How big should my main picture be?

But here i am, to experiment with some of the layouts and research some more! here are some results that i found:

I LOVE this cover, for how simple it is specifcially. My previous blog about finding covers only started my brainstorm process, however here is the finalized look i will be shooting for, as the simplicity doesnt strain any eyes of any extraneous reading, and keeps the focus on the cute little dog on the cover. The cherry on top is the suprisingly easy but nice background, a simple color with darkening around the edges.

This is the table of contents i will be aiming to accomplish. The incorporation of pictures doesnt encourage too much stress about reading, and also can help maintain organization by keeping the cats on one side of the table of contents to show these pages will include info about cats, whilst maybe the other page could be another animal. this will make navigation much easier.

The double page spread, however is where it gets tricky. No matter how much i think about it, the double page spread must include many words, however i can do my best to calm them down with cute pictures of my animals such as this cute dog with a bowl in its mouth. i will aim to do something of this sort, however i will definetely include subheadings and subtitles to make things look more appealing and organized.

Thank you! see you guys later!