Covergirl Chronicles Part 1
Now that I officially have a name for my publication comes the fun part: Figuring out what to actually put inside. I figured I should go about this chronologically and start with the first thing people will see when they pick out my magazine: the cover. And thus begins what I predict will be a long process of figuring out exactly what I want on my cover page and how I want to present it.
Shweiki Media makes a notable comment in their article on the importance of magazine cover spreads, recognizing that oftentimes, magazine readers are window shoppers. Yes, every publication has their loyal followings, but when it comes to appealing to anyone and everyone in my target audience, my magazine needs to give off that perfect first impression. Thus, I want to make sure that my magazine cover is snap shot of my brand, another aspect the article notes good covers accomplish. Not everyone is going to remember every single article written in a magazine. But they will remember my covers, and that can either help or harm my brand depending on how well I pull this off.
I've researched some magazines in an attempt to figure out how I'd like to lay out my cover. Although, for the most part, many fashion magazines tend to stick to the same general layout when it comes to their cover spreads, a genre convention I don't necessarily feel the need to break. The typical set up is very much visually based, with a main cover model taking up the majority of the page, the masthead in big font at the top of the page, and cover lines in smaller font bordering the cover image but not distracting the audience's attention from the model.
As I said before in my previous post, Paper magazine will be a hugeeee inspiration for this project. The boldness of both the fashion showcased and the design of of publication perfectly corresponds to the essence I'd like to create with Luk. However, Paper does one thing that other fashion magazines do not. They do not include cover lines on their cover pages. Instead, they only feature a cover image, a masthead and the name of the cover model. This puts all the attention onto the model, and it's a bold and daring decision that I am slightly attracted to when it comes to my own cover production. The benefits of this artistic choice is that it creates a more clean-cut look of the cover and allows you to experiment with more colors and patterns in your cover image since you don't have to worry about the cover line words conflicting with the image. However, this choice also places a lot of pressure onto the cover image, since that is the only thing the cover has to offer.
As seen above, Paper handles this issue perfectly by coming up with elaborate fashion looks to take up all the space on the cover. Here, you can see the lack of cover lines I discussed and the full focus on the cover model. Paper takes up the excess of cover space by not only focusing on bold fashion choices, but also taking risks with the set design of their shoots as well. In the left cover, DJ Khaled is shown draped in a royal wardrobe, photographed against a blitzing, gold background. This does a good job using pictures to attract audiences, rather than words summarizing what will be found inside the magazine. However, I'm not sure that I have the budget or resources necessary to pull of such a feat. I'd love to feature elaborate cover pages with only cover images, like Paper, but I fear that my cover image may not be as up to par as Paper's and will underwhelm rather than blow my audience away. Thus, taking Paper's route may not be the best decision given the time and resources that I have as I'm not sure if I will be able to get the message of my magazine across without words. Yet, even as I type this, a part of me is still attracted to the challenge, so I refuse to give up all hope yet. While I will continue researching other more traditional cover strategies utilized by other magazines, I'll also keep this format in the back of mind, and try to brainstorm ways for me to make this work on a budget.
I want Luk magazine to be bold and daring, and I think hands down, this is among the most daring of magazine cover designs. So it only makes sense that I give it a shot.
Citations:
“PAPER.” PAPER, PAPER, www.papermag.com/.
Shweiki Media. “Why An Attractive Cover Page Is So Important In Magazine Printing.” Hassle-Free Magazine Printing, 29
Jan. 2018, shweiki.com/blog/2017/10/attractive-cover-page-important-magazine-printing/.
Shweiki Media makes a notable comment in their article on the importance of magazine cover spreads, recognizing that oftentimes, magazine readers are window shoppers. Yes, every publication has their loyal followings, but when it comes to appealing to anyone and everyone in my target audience, my magazine needs to give off that perfect first impression. Thus, I want to make sure that my magazine cover is snap shot of my brand, another aspect the article notes good covers accomplish. Not everyone is going to remember every single article written in a magazine. But they will remember my covers, and that can either help or harm my brand depending on how well I pull this off.
I've researched some magazines in an attempt to figure out how I'd like to lay out my cover. Although, for the most part, many fashion magazines tend to stick to the same general layout when it comes to their cover spreads, a genre convention I don't necessarily feel the need to break. The typical set up is very much visually based, with a main cover model taking up the majority of the page, the masthead in big font at the top of the page, and cover lines in smaller font bordering the cover image but not distracting the audience's attention from the model.
As I said before in my previous post, Paper magazine will be a hugeeee inspiration for this project. The boldness of both the fashion showcased and the design of of publication perfectly corresponds to the essence I'd like to create with Luk. However, Paper does one thing that other fashion magazines do not. They do not include cover lines on their cover pages. Instead, they only feature a cover image, a masthead and the name of the cover model. This puts all the attention onto the model, and it's a bold and daring decision that I am slightly attracted to when it comes to my own cover production. The benefits of this artistic choice is that it creates a more clean-cut look of the cover and allows you to experiment with more colors and patterns in your cover image since you don't have to worry about the cover line words conflicting with the image. However, this choice also places a lot of pressure onto the cover image, since that is the only thing the cover has to offer.
As seen above, Paper handles this issue perfectly by coming up with elaborate fashion looks to take up all the space on the cover. Here, you can see the lack of cover lines I discussed and the full focus on the cover model. Paper takes up the excess of cover space by not only focusing on bold fashion choices, but also taking risks with the set design of their shoots as well. In the left cover, DJ Khaled is shown draped in a royal wardrobe, photographed against a blitzing, gold background. This does a good job using pictures to attract audiences, rather than words summarizing what will be found inside the magazine. However, I'm not sure that I have the budget or resources necessary to pull of such a feat. I'd love to feature elaborate cover pages with only cover images, like Paper, but I fear that my cover image may not be as up to par as Paper's and will underwhelm rather than blow my audience away. Thus, taking Paper's route may not be the best decision given the time and resources that I have as I'm not sure if I will be able to get the message of my magazine across without words. Yet, even as I type this, a part of me is still attracted to the challenge, so I refuse to give up all hope yet. While I will continue researching other more traditional cover strategies utilized by other magazines, I'll also keep this format in the back of mind, and try to brainstorm ways for me to make this work on a budget.
I want Luk magazine to be bold and daring, and I think hands down, this is among the most daring of magazine cover designs. So it only makes sense that I give it a shot.
Citations:
“PAPER.” PAPER, PAPER, www.papermag.com/.
Shweiki Media. “Why An Attractive Cover Page Is So Important In Magazine Printing.” Hassle-Free Magazine Printing, 29
Jan. 2018, shweiki.com/blog/2017/10/attractive-cover-page-important-magazine-printing/.
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