CONVENTIONS OF A FRONT COVER

BY SUMMER SMITH

DESIGNS • When putting a picture of a

model on the front of the magazine, you need to make sure that the model is looking straight into the camera.

• You should stick to 3-5 font styles and 3-5 colours. One of the most used covers is red, and one of the least used colours is green. Black covers do sell well in rock or indie magazines.

• Photos normally looks better on the cover page and normally sell better than magazines that just have illustrations on the front.

• When you are creating a front cover you should stick to one style and know what you should be exaggerating more than other stuff.

• The cover page should have a main focus point, it is normally a model in the image or it can be a headline or a number, this is to help draw the eye to the magazine.

• Every magazine needs one headline that will pop out, it needs to be in the style of the magazine, making sure the colours and style all go together.

COVER PAGES

• The first design isn't normally the best one, if you try a few options and different ideas then you can experiment with what looks best and what suits your magazine the best.

• You need to have an good idea of who your target audience is, this way you can then base your colours and fonts around who your target audience is, e.g., if your target audience is teenage girls, you would chose more pink and purple colours.

• Cover pages sell the brand, so it has to be appealing and different from the other cover pages on the news stand so that it catches people eyes more and makes them want to buy it more.

• As well this every new cover page has to be different from the previous one, but also similar to the other issues so that the readers can recognize the magazine.

IMAGE BASED MAGAZINE COVERS

• This is one of the most commonly used cover designs, it is normally a picture of one or just a few people on the cover. This is normally used in celebrity magazines, fashion magazines and men's magazines. Some magazines will sell more than others just because of the celebrity on the front.

MAGAZINE COVER LINES

• The reader will have to be able to know what it says as soon as they read it as they may lose interest if it doesn’t make sense to them.

• The average person spends 3-4 seconds glancing on each magazine in the new stands, this is why it is important to make sure that everything is clear, from the design of the cover and also the writing.

• The most important part of a cover page is the interaction between the pictures and the writing, the cover lines send a message to the readers and it needs to be able to stand out when with all other magazines.

• You need create somethings appealing and attractive to the readers and this can take a lot of time and effort.

MASTHEAD AND LOGO TIPS

• The top left corner is the best place to put your logo because when magazines are stacked on a newsstand the top left corner is always more visible, if the name of the magazine is longer and bolder it will make a bigger impact.

• It is better to use different font for the logo than the ones you use for the cover lines, the options are endless.

• When working on designing your logo and masthead, you need to chose the right typography and think about the length of the mas head, if it is too long or too short and consider the positioning.

• The mastheads and logo’s role is to make the magazine recognizable and stand out from other magazines, this is not the easiest thing to do some you need to ty loads of different ideas and see what one you like the best.

CONVENTIONS OF A CONTENTS PAGE

CONTENTS

• Structured layout should include 1-3 columns. Usually divided into categories and headings e.g. main categories- features and regulars

• Features in different font/border as its special.

• Contents items- bold/italic titles in size 12/13pt

• Description in size 11/12pt

• One main image relating to the feature article.

• Other small images, usually up to 4.

• Colours- contents page use the same, simple colour scheme as the front cover.

• Images should take up 50% of the page.

• Images should contain page numbers and anchorage text.

• Top of the page• Name of magazine, issue

date and word contents• Various pages• Subscription and contact

information• Issue date/ month• Social Media Info• Photographer Credits• Sometimes there is a letter

from the editor• Sometimes there is an image

of the front cover

CONTENTS

DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD TIPS

• Magazine spreads are two pages that are next to each other and they work together to create one unit. When designing your magazine it is vital to look at these two pages as one single thing even though they are about two separate stories.

• Since magazines are smaller than newspapers, they can be seen in one view because our vision encompasses the entire spread at normal viewing distance.

• The grey areas are the places that are the most visible to the reader. The lighter areas are looked at less when looking through a magazine, the readers eye is drawn to the upper part of the magazine and there fore them areas have the most impact.

EVERYTHING SHOULD FLOW

• Everything should have a flow to it.

• With your work you should wok your way from the top let corner, which should be meaningful, and then continue to the bottom.

• Headline, intro copy and then the main copy.

• However, the bottom part of the spread, the inner corners near the gutter are not as important.

• Designers place foot notes and even some credits in those places on the spread.

IMAGE AND BODY TEXT ARRANGEMENT

• By doing things this way the reader will have no problem with following the text part of the story.

• If you are trying to place big blocks of text, you should try not to break them up.

• Don’t throw elements on a page for no reason. Everything has to be there for a reason.

• Keep everything neat and tidy because, if it is messy then the reader will struggle trying to follow the flow of the story.

• Try to make things simple, you can do this y aligning the columns at the top and placing your images above them.

HEADLINES

• All headline can vary in size, the more important the article, the bigger the headline should be.

• As well as the size the positioning of the headline is also important and you need to make sure that you place your headlines at the top of the page. This is because this is one of the first places that the reader will look.

• The headline should be set in the bigger size regarding other text elements on the page.

• The most important text on the page is the headline, this is just as important as the layout.

• This is because the first things that the reader will notice is the layout of the page, the second thing that the reader will notice is the headline., as this is what will make the reader want to read the article that is on that page.

• Even if the layout attracts the reader, if the headline isn't appealing then they wont want to read the article.

INTRO (KICKER, STAND-FIRST, DECK)

• As well as changing the size you can also change the style of the font to make it stand out more.

• The intro should be placed just below the headline as they work together to get the readers attention.

• This will make them more curious about what the article is bout and make them want to read on.

• This is the introduction to the article, after the headline has caught the readers attention, the intro is seen as a bridge between the headline and the body copy.

• This briefly describes the article and sets the tone, in the intro you should summarise the article in a way that will attract the readers attention.

• The intro should be set in a bigger font then the rest of the article, but still smaller than the headline.

BODY COPY

• As a designer you should use Column and type choice to reflect the identity of the brand and to present the story in a way that it suits the content.

• This is the largest part of any type of article, this needs to be just as interesting as the design, the headline and the intro.

• It doesn’t matter how good you the design is, if your text isn't written in an interesting way then the readers will lose interest.

PULL QUOTES

• Pull quotes can be taken out directly from the body text or they can be summarized.

• Your pull quotes should be set in a big enough size so that it catches the readers attention but it shouldn’t be as big as the headline.

• They can be emphasised with frames, you can put it in a circle or you can place it inside big exaggerated quote signs.

• These are a very useful and attractive design element .

• You should pick out the most interesting quotes of the story and emphasise them.

• These are great to break up big blocks of body copy and make the article look more interesting.

• They can be used in conjunction with the image so that they can tell a story in their own way.

SUBHEADS

• These are used to break up the body copy and to give an insight into what the reader can expect to read in the next few paragraphs.

• The reader might be put off if they see a long block of text.

• Subheads should be placed to break up he big blocks of text and to denote a new section or chapter.

• The size of the subhead should b a little bit larger then the body text, or you could just make it more bold to make it stand out more. As log as it doesn’t look the same as the body text.

• Don’t place subheads just below your images.

• Don’t place them in the last 3 rows at the bottom of the column and do not place them in the first 3 rows at the top of the column.

• Neve place them at the top of a column, they do not serve any purpose there.

• Do not place them below the pull quote, they should always work as separate things.

IMAGE CAPTIONS

• Image captions are usually set in sans-serif as it is easy to read on image backgrounds and at a small size.

• Image captions can be set in a large type size but they act more like a pull quote.

• These need to work with the image and relate to them. Avoid placing image captions above the images as it is a bad design.

• Images should be placed on the top and the captions should be placed below them.

• The type size should be around the same size as the body copy.

BYLINES AND CREDITS

• However if the article is written by a famous journalist and the images are taken by a photographer then you should place the bylines just below the headlines or below the intro text if the intro is located below the headline.

• These are determined by the importance of the authors and the photographers that worked on the article.

• I if stock images are being used and you outsource writing of the article you can put the credits near the gutter.

RUNNING HEAD

• Not all magazines need a running head but you can place them at the beginnings of the sections, as it may be too repetitive to have them on every page.

• Although it is up to you on how you design them, try not to over do it so they dominate the page.

• These are elements that navigate the reader. If you set them in a brightly coloured box and bleed them out of the page they will be visible even when the magazine is closed.

• running heads should be carefully designed to reflect the style and the tone of the rest of the magazine.

FOLIO

• If you chose to out folio on only one page on a spread, you should put it on the right page because it is more visible.

• This can consist of different elements, such as page number, publication logo, date, month, section title, web page, just don’t over do it.

• Unlike running heads, folios serve a bigger purpose and should be placed on nearly every page.

PANEL AND BOX COPY

• Boxed text should be set in a different style to the main body copy. Usually in sans-serif type because the box copy is not long.

• These boxes can have their own headlines and kickers, these headline should be a few to several points larger than boxy copy and kicker should be left as the same size or bigger.

• you can use heavier type for the headlines and the kickers to emphasize them a bit more.

• Boxes are used as news items or used as extensions to a long article, you can then place some facts and data in them that are relevant to the article.

• These types of copy tend to be shorter in length and have more of a factual tone to them.

• They can be in a formal text, bulleted text or list.