College Magazine Cover and Contents Page

By Katrina Stapleford

This is my trial magazine cover. This cover conformed to the front cover ‘rules’ of a magazine, and was an experiment for colours and themes. My later design is below.

Front Cover PlanFor the front cover I want to have a simple plain mast head but

also for it to run across the whole width of the page. A font I have found which reflects this is Futura; it is not dominant but is clear and obvious; a trait I want to magazine to have. I have put a cover line along the bottom of the page, this acts as extra article information, I have set it apart front the left third fonts and sizes by making it stand out, this could then be used to advertise a different type of article or contents of the magazine.

House StyleThe house style of my magazine is plain backgrounds and fonts

but bright text boxes, images, and headlines. This will draw focus to the articles and photos with no complex backdrop to distract. I have chosen the font ‘Steiner’ for my masthead and page titles because it is plain and reflects the ease and simplicity of the magazine. I want the magazine to feel easy to navigate around and not be filled to every corner with text and images.

This is the font I decided to use for my final cover design, I chose it because it wasn’t too striking or sharp this is important as the cover has a lot of text and imagery so the title must not steal too much attention. This also meant it seemed quite relaxed and reflected what the magazine had to offer.

This is another font I was looking at, I was interested in it because it is a typical college font and everyone knows its association with college, however it felt too American and stereotypical to use for my magazine as I am trying to make my magazine relatable.

This is another font I was thinking of using, it is very similar to Steiner, the font I eventually went with, but it was more spaced and felt a little too feminine for a college magazine.

Fonts

Final Front CoverThe first front cover I sketched was very plain, but used a bright background with dull title colours. I changed it because it was not very eye-catching, didn’t grab the readers attentions and the article names were not intriguing enough for the reader to ‘want to know more’. I also changed the left third to the other side of the page; this is because I think it looks more aesthetically pleasing to be on the right side as there are banners which break up the main image on the left. I also may have done this as I am left handed so the text, to me, looks better on the right. I did keep the cover line along the bottom, although I made it stand out more yet not dominant in size against the left third.

I changed the background from a bright yellow to a bland grey colour. This means I can use bright fonts and coloured text boxes without the background clashing. The masthead is not in a bright colour though as it would then become too messy, the font used in the masthead is Steiner, and the text is in Eras Demi ITC and Calibri these texts are quite similar but it still sets apart the title from the left third. One theme I have incorporated throughout the magazine are bright coloured text boxes behind the text, against the grey background, it makes the page more attention grabbing and draws the reader into the text getting them to read the article names, and hopefully interesting them.

I chose to give the magazine an article theme to make the pages seem linked

rather than thrown together, I feel it would make more sense reading through it for there to be a reoccurring theme. I chose

food as the theme because it can be divided into many sub-categories such as healthy eating, recipes, and restaurants. Giving the issue a name will also make it seem like a one-off, special edition and

students will be more likely to buy into the novelty.

Above: The magazines cover and contents before I uploaded the photos. I planned at this stage to have one large mid-shot on the cover and three small shots on the contents in the coloured textboxes. The photos on the contents page would correlate to the page topic mentioned.

This is the magazine with the main image. The backdrop I used behind my model is the one seen; I didn’t change this as it gives a smooth tone and appears more natural than the grey I intended to use. The use of the flash in the camera has also given a defining shadow and suits the cover design perfectly. I gave my model a piece of fruit as it reflects the theme of the issue.

Main Image

This is my final stage of design for the cover and contents pages. I have added two new photos to the contents which are there for reference to the articles and I changed the background to a lighter blue/grey shade. I achieved the colour from the eyedropper tool and I took it from the cover page using the tone above the models head. I tested a few shades before I chose this one.

After importing and editing the photos. I noticed a large space on the cover page above the apple image; I can use this space to advertise another article.

These are my final cover and contents designs. I added articles to the space above the main image and added a tag in the left hand corner.