Wednesday, September 28
• Complete and hand in Typographic
Portraits
• Power Point about Magazine Cover design
• Continue working on creating magazine
cover image
Create a Magazine Cover
• Think of some different popular magazines
• How can you create an interesting magazine cover
using your own imagery?
• Think about
– layout
DIMENSIONS:
– masthead
– typography LETTER SIZE
– UPC code PORTRAIT
– date and price
• Print out 3 copies of your image (portrait) and create 3
different possible layouts by hand
• Final layout must be approved by me!
How do I create a successful
magazine cover?
• Go to a store and Get Inspiration!
look at a few
magazines that
catch your eye.
• Try to decide WHY
they caught your
eye. What is it?...
the photos? the
layout? the subject
of the magazine?
• Use elements you
like in other
magazines to
inspire your
magazine's layout.
Use a Great Masthead
• The masthead is your magazine's logo. It is most often
located at the top of the cover and should be the first thing
your reader sees.
• It must be legible and tell people about your magazine.
• If the masthead is developed with illegible fonts, people
won't view it as you intended.
• Does the top 2" of your magazine lock in the reader's
attention?
• Remember, your cover design will be fighting the other
covers for attention. A well-designed masthead visually
entices the buyer to choose one magazine over others in its
category.
Use a Great Cover Photo
• A well-designed cover can get your magazine
noticed and even more importantly, picked up!
• Choose a photo that is interesting to your
potential readers or which tells a story.
• Choose a photo that is recognizable to your
target readers or shows action, unusual colors,
taken from unusual angles, or combinations of
all these.
• Remember, your magazine only gets one
chance to make its first impression. Photos are
powerful in making a good first impression.
Careful Font Usage
• The choice of fonts can have a major impact on the overall
professionalism a magazine conveys.
– Using too many font faces is visually confusing to the reader. He/she
may have trouble distinguishing the stories from the ads.
• Consider using only one to two font families in your articles;
one for the headlines and subheads, one for the body text.
• Research shows that serif fonts, especially small ones, are
easier to read than san-serif fonts
– (serifs are the little tick marks at the end of lines in the letters).
– The eye tracks across the serifs of the letters making reading easier.
• ALL CAPS are difficult to read.
– If you want to emphasize a word consider using bold versions of
that font as an alternative.
– Stretching/compressing fonts look awkward. Consider the extended
or condensed version of that font or even another font family.
Website featuring a magazine
cover redesign:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk8hOc5
gUGo&feature=related