Submitted by: Renee
Berg Mitchell Middle School
Magazine publishers,
editors, and circulation directors know the importance of the cover image
as both a newsstand impulse buy and as a brand. 80 percent of
consumer magazines’ newsstand sales are determined by what is shown on
the cover, a fact that can mean the difference between a magazine’s
success or failure over time. The cover image and
design reinforce the brand, an important identification factor because the
average reader spends only three to five seconds scanning a magazine cover
before deciding whether to buy that issue. Magazine covers not only offer information about what’s
inside a particular issue, they also provide significant cultural cues
about social, political, economic, and medical trends. As both
historical artifacts and marketing tools, magazine covers deserve closer
study.
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| Designed by Jeff White for Art Tech class |
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You need to design a magazine cover using Adobe
PhotoShop Elements (Available at the Adobe Education Store
). Your
magazine cover can be based off of an existing magazine, for example use
the layout and name of Teen magazine, but design your own photos, titles
and story lines, or create your own magazine totally from scratch, around
an interest you have. For example, create a magazine based on Rats,
Shopping, a Boy/Girls Life in Middle School, or Fossils, etc.
You
must have:
- A
background
- A
cover photo (may have smaller photos to show other features included in
the magazine)
- A
Title
- Several
story line titles
- Issue
date
- Issue
price
Your
magazine cover will be graded on if you included the above elements and
how you carry out Unity in your magazine cover.
_____Unity
can be achieved by carrying out a common theme in the type styles, photos,
story titles and descriptions. Do
all the parts work together?
_____Think
about readability, can you read the type against the background? Is the
type style readable? Are the sentences too long? Are the titles
descriptive enough to make you know what the article is about? Does the
type size signify the importance?
_____Does
the photo or photos support the theme? Does the photo catch your eye? Is
it too busy or too simple?
_____How
is your effort and craftsmanship? You will need to be selecting, cutting,
pasting and cropping. Does your cover look professionally neat?
_____Layout,
how did you arrange all the elements? Is the type all lined up flush left,
right, centered? Is the type over the picture or a background?
Did you add a banner with the issue date,
web site, and cost? Does the layout make it easy to read or
confusing?
Student Magazine Cover Design from
Alix Peshette
From Alix: I have a magazine cover project I did with
one of my computer arts classes that turned out just great. The basis of
the lesson is typography, font families and font analysis. The kids select
a real magazine publication and then replicate the cover and fonts with
themselves on the cover and teasers about them or their favorite subjects.
Some of the covers came out looking totally real! The only problem is that
I have to alter the kids' faces and names on the covers to protect them if
I want to show the examples (faces have been blurred and names removed):
Below left: Magazine design by Janine Gleason of Liberty University.
Internet
Resources:
(from
Judy) I couldn't find any direct links for magazine layout design - but did find these lesson plans that might be helpful. I found LOTS of interesting magazine covers though (they will come up when you do a search).
Here is some
vocabulary for you: masthead (title), typesetting/typography, layout,
nameplate/logo, bleed (illustration goes edge to edge).
Lesson Plan "Digital Art: Future Magazine"- has links that might be helpful
"Gotcha Covered: Magazine Cover Design"- 
lesson
Has some terminology (but not the different parts of the cover)
Found on a cached page (no longer online):
The four cover elements:
Photo/Art/Illustration, Blurbs/teasers (cover lines), Nameplate and Folio
(includes price if for sale)
A good cover needs to accomplish four things:
1. Identify the personality of the magazine.
2. Attract the target audience
3. Lure the reader into the magazine
4. Establish a visual identity (consistent use of format)
Materials
Books
The 10 Influential Creators for Magazine Design
- What is magazine design? What are magazine designers and art directors thinking, and in which directions are they heading? Armed with those simple questions, the author visited ten prominent magazine art directors who have been influential in the world of magazine design.
Magazine Design
- Contemporary magazine design at its best is presented in this reference guide of examples from around the world, accompanied by interviews with key designers.
Designing Magazines
- How does a designer create graphic solutions to the behind-the-scenes editorial challenges at a magazine? Designing Magazines is the complete guide to understanding the inner workings of magazines and their day-to-day management--and a great guide to using that knowledge to create visually stunning, editorially effective magazines.
