Magazine Cover Reflection

Magazine Cover Conventions Blog Reflection 

Learning Magazine Cover Conventions 

    The learning process of magazine cover conventions was relatively smooth. We started by going through a Powerpoint that listed and explained the various elements that create a proper cover, inlcuding the masthead, feature articles, cover lines, puffs/plugs, as well as other important conventions. 

Seeing a laid out format of a magazine with in depth definitions and examples really aided in creating an understanding for the reason behind everything on a magazine cover. To practice our skills and see what we had learned, we were given an magazine cover example, we pasted it into our notebooks and labled all the different elements on the page. This helped cement our learning process and served as a great “full-circle moment” for me personally, since I had always been surrounded by magazines, especially fashion magazines. 

Example Magazine Cover

Genre Choice and How I Conveyed It 

Ravie (Top) And Bauhaus 93 (Bottom)

    The choice of genre I picked for this assignment was a toy magazine. I conveyed this theme through a cover image of a pair of mustache burrito plushies me and my friend were holding. The silly and playful design of the plushies creates a childlike persona for the magazine, which certainly matches the toy genre. The cover creates a very clear target audience for any viewers, being children, as well as anyone who would   be interested in cute items.  

    To help support my choice of genre I utilized a plethora of different colors such as light pinks, berry tones, and vibrant yellows. I also used eye catching fonts like Bauhaus 93, Brittanic Bold, and Ravie. Using unique colors and fonts immediately captures the viewers attention and encourages them to continuing reading each piece of writing that intrigues them, which is something that many toy magazines like to partake in, most notably around the holidays.

    

Magazine Conventions and Contributions

    I incorporated a range of different conventions to attempt to emulate the feeling of a magazine as best as I could. My masthead, named Toybox, used a light pink color for the font, and a dark berry shade as the banner beneath it. The contrast of the two colors not only draws attention, but it also forces the viewer to gain some information of the magazine, which will help decide if they will continue reading.

   
My coverlines were purposely placed below the faces of the burritos in order to avoid obstructing their faces and make the text a lot easier to read. I used the brightest color and biggest font size for the feature article (the main cover line) and a lot more subtle and smaller sizes for the regular cover lines, this helps demonstrate the levels of importance to each piece of text on the page. I also included elements such as a barcode, price tag, and publishing date in order to add a more “realistic” feel to the page. 

Beginning of the Project 

                                  

Challenges, Successes, and Take-aways

    Creating this project had some of the hardest learning curves that I have ever had to face, and greatly impacted the overall integrity of the finished product. The learning program we used for this specific project was Adobe InDesign. Seeing as it was another Adobe product I assumed it would be similar to the learning process of Premiere Pro, one of the easier programs, however, my overconfidence would lead to a world of confusion and frustration. 

    First off, I spent an absurd amount of time trying to figure out how to import a photo, and ended up asking my classmates sitting next to me. Having to click file and press “place” rather than import or add photos felt rather counterintuitive and uneccessary, and when I had finally gotten my chosen photo onto my page, a reoccuring issue I faced was when I tried to move the photo, it would move within a “border” and crop itself out of view. I had actually never figured out what I had to do to stop that, in reality I was able to  properly shift it and then just left it alone. It was extremely frustrating and while there were videos posted on Canvas meant to aid students, a lot of them did not cover specifc issues I was facing.

    After what felt like aimelessy controlling my cursor around the screen I searched online for help to some of my issues and reviewed a handful of videos. They ended up being very simple and helpful and made the process feel a little smoother. 

Initial view palette before RGB

    However, another part of the process I struggled with was figuring out how to change the color of the text on screen. Whenever I had higlighted it to trigger the palette it was always black and white rather than the usual spectrum of color, after clicking around determined to not ask a classmate or look at another video, I was able to click the 4 lines at the top right of the color panel and change the setting to RGB, while it was a small success, it felt huge for such a overwhelming program. 

    Another triumph I had was just being able to actually

create something that looked cohesive as a whole. There are many mistakes and misteps, and times I had just moved on in order to make progress, which I heavily regret when looking back. This ended up making the colors, while vibrant, look very awkward when placed on screen together and make a lot of the page seem unappealing, while I managed to make it look like a magazine that would catch attention, I’m afraid it would do so for the wrong reasons.

    My main takeaway of this project is to move slowly but steadily, progress is important but so is work that has a much heart and soul as possible. I also need to be unafraid to look for help and heavily lower my expectations for the complexity of the programs I will need to be using throughout the rest of the year. Since I am considering to pursue a magazine rather than a video, this project has showed me what exactly I will be getting into and will help me prepare when I actually start that component of my exam.    

Final Product