Creating the Front Cover of a Magazine (Re-edit)

Meraki
Made using: Pixlr.com, Picmonkey.com, Befunky.com
Font: Mathlete Bulky
Pictures from Pinterest

In order to improve my cover, I thought it was necessary to change the main cover image and the font. Now the main cover image is a picture of band member and singer, Harry Styles as he paints. I think this a successful cover image as it will both attract fans and it also correlates with the theme of the magazine as Harry is producing art. In my opinion the font is really pretty and bold, but not distracting with highlighted words. Also because this font is more neat and small, it allowed space for there to be a tagline.

Creating the Front Cover of a Magazine (Original)

Meraki
Made using: Pixlr.com, Picmonkey.com, Befunky.com
Font used: Londrina Outline
Pictures from Pinterest

This front cover is a practice trial for my main-task front cover. It's called Meraki which is Greek slang and describes doing something with soul, passion or creativity (- Thus this is a magazine aimed at certain hobbies). I chose to call it a foreign term because I liked the meaning and I didn't want to choose an obvious word or phrase used in everyday speech; I wanted to chooser either an eloquent item of the english vocabulary which is quite exclusive or a foreign word which isn't commonly used in England. If you look at popular magazine like: Ok!, Kiss, Kerrang, and Vogue, Ok(!) and Kiss have names that are casual speech words, therefore if someone said "kiss" without any context, you wouldn't immedietly think of the magazine. Whereas if someone said "kerrang" you would naturally think of the magazine as that is the context that it is most usually used in.

The main cover image is a band member called Sehun from a popular Korean band called EXO. Now that my front cover is finished my feelings about the image are mixed. On one hand I like the cover because the model is not from England and neither is the title, so it makes the magazine seem more cultured. Also I like the cover image because it's quite simple with minimal colours going on and it seems kind of "pastel indie". - An aesthetic popular among adolescents, popularized by photo-based sites like Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram. The pastel-indie genre is characterized by grunge or vintage objects enthused by pastel hues. For example:

I also like it because if any EXO-fans walked past this magazine in a shop, because having a K-Pop star in a(n English) magazine is so rare, they would immedietly buy it. But on the other hand, I feel that K-Pop is so out of the mainstream that not many people would buy it, for Sehun. I also think that the main image doesn't suit it because it's a magazine to fuel people's creativity and a pretty model does not do that.

Moving on, my problem with the coverline is that the font is soi small and thin thaty they are hard to read. I imagine thaty if this cover was actually printed then the writing would be readable however it should also be easily readable on a screen. The first coverline I wrote was "50 UK places to go on a road trip". Which I think is quick, clear, and most of all inclusive. The fact that I advertise fifty locations attracts even picky travellers within the audience as there is such a range of places. I highlighted the words "Road Trip" as I want them to stand out to the audience. because this coverline is inviting them to an article about vacations on the road.  The coverline which I am most undecided about is parralel to this one and it says "Writing promts and ideas, thought of by Jhon Greene, us and Douglas Adams". The negatives about this coverline is visual, in that it is nearly impossible to read. This is due to the font and also where it is placed - black writing on his black hair. However the positives are that I have mentioned two well known authors, and this will boost magazine sales. 

This cover does not have a main coverline and nor does it have a tagline. This is because taglines are meant to pop out at the reader and tell them exactly why they should purchase t his magazine, however as soon as I made the font small enough to fit, it was no longer popping and didn't stand out.

This cover is the July edition which is stated at the top above the title. The magazine retails at £2.99 and the price appears in a black box above the barcode to the bottom right. It appears inside a black box so that it's easily readable.

Analysing the Editor's Letter in a Magazine

The header of this page is a small box which reads "hi from ann". The incorrect grammar and the short welcome makes it seem like Ann is friends with the audience and has been writing as the editor for a while. This is because she introduces herself in such a familiar way that the readers assumes she is their friend and new readers assume that she has built a friendly relationship with the consumers.

She continues to say "I've got do many tweets and FB messages (from you guys)". This furthers the friendliness that she emits. Using annotations ('tweets' and 'FB') makes her seem more casual and connected to her audience, who are teenagers whom presumably use multi-modal language techniques.

Then she quotes what they asked, "what my job is like at Seventeen ... The best part of the gig?". By pointing out what she has and what they want, she seems more like an idol to them, which is a desirable position to be in because she seems like a wise older sister who will help them. This is effective because a wise and kind older is the sort of principal that Ann is going for.

Ann engages in banter with the audience, joking about her twitter and facebook followers hoping they can "snag it (her job) one day" and "tweet(ing) back at random hours". This denotes those friendly vibes I was talking about earlier, because Ann understands their humour and wants to appeal to that criteria.

Further down the text, she uses emotive language to connect with her audience of young, impressionable girls. She says that "it's crucial that we represent girls of all shapes, sizes, and skin tones for their real beauty. We want every girl to stop obsessing about what her body looks like and start appreciating it". This is successful as she clearly and simple articulates her message and the magazine's goal and in doing so she connects with her audience. She is telling them that she wants them to love themselves even if they don't fit into european beauty standards.

Finally she ends by describing the point of her Body Peace Treaty, which is to "always make you feel amazing". This furthers her relationship with the reader, by using 'you', it comes across like she's specifically speaking out to her reader, as it's more personal, and the effect of this is that it encourages them to read on.

☆☾⭐︎✧✧✧✧✧✦✦⚬⚬◦◦・・▫︎▫︎▷▷❐❐❐❐❐❐❐❐❐❐❐
Gem, who writes Cleo magazine starts off by stimulating the audience with an amusing statement, "Riddle me this: High on the list 'things that rock my world' are a) eating b) flicking through food magazines and c) hitting up the latest restaurants". Starting it by "riddle me this" is stimulating because it captivates the readers attention by presenting a task. The reader thinks: wow, a riddle for me to solve, exciting. And so it engages them. Then she states things that "rock her world" within a pop-quiz format. This phrasing is similar to a multiple choice question and so excites the reader as it seems quite active and interactive.

Gem continues to use words and phrases like "Nah-uh" and "Drum roll, please...", These things are what friends would usually say to eachother because they're so casual and the 'nah-uh' in particular sounds most like spoken word.

In a large, colourful font, she says "cooking and I are not friends. we're not even frenemies.". She has chosen to put this in a big, bright font, as people will either relate, or find it amusing. A percentage of the audience will relate because it's a cooking magazine. therefore people will be have an interest in food, but not be able to cook, or they will find it amusing because they can, and love to cook.

She proceeds to list her favourite foods, which all have very personalised names, which will attract readers because people tend to like personalised, 'home-made', things. One of her favourites is "Tina's spaghetti bolognese". By naming this spaghetti after someone makes this dish seem different, as if Tina makes it in a way unlike your standard recipe says. She says "lamb chops" and "custard doughnuts" which are relatable, favourable foods as they're eaten so often. She says "granny's chocolate mousse" which is effective as with a life-time experience of cooking, grandmas are stereotypically amazing at cooking, therefore this probably resonates with the audience and makes them want their grandmothers' home cooking. Then she says "bun cha" which is a famous Vietnamese dish. Adding a foreign food makes Gem seem more cultured and also pleases her audience of Vietnam origin.

Analysing the Contents Page of a Magazine

Vogue's magazine depicts an essence of sophistication through colour, font, and layout. The masterhead font is written in a font called Didot which is a very old French font. The fact the font is in an old font makes it seem classy and the origin of the font being France is important because France is associated with fashion, regality, and elegance.  The text and the main image throughout the page follows the colour scheme of red, black, grey, and white. Black, grey, and white easily compliment each other as they're next to each other on the grayscale. Also red goes with these colours as it makes the page more bright and red is a sexy colour, which furthers the sophisticated vibe from the magazine. The composition of text around the image makes the page seem orderly, and less randomly scattered. The editors have placed the main cover stories on top of the image, which emphasises the model's figure and makes her waist seem more petite. This is effective as it preaches body standards/goals.

The article titles are mostly synonymous fashion phrases. Vogue means: "the prevailing fashion or style at a particular time", and fashion means: the "popular or the latest style of clothing, hair, decoration, or behaviour". Both of these words are centred around clothing and style. The effect of using synonymous phrases is that it ingrains it into the audience's head that this is a fashion magazine. It also is relative and straight to the point.

In the bottom right corner of the page the magazine promotes their subscription, by bribing the audience with Anti-Ageing Eye Treatment. They have done this to increase their number of magazine sales, and the contents page is a good place to put this information because considering the reader is bothering to find out exactly what is within the magazine, we can presume that they're bothered enough to pay a subscription.
Unlike most content pages, Vogue feels the need to state the date. Personally, it makes me think of famous art pieces which have the date  and artist's signature at the bottom. Vogue is such a renowned magazine, and also a luxury magazine, so I think they feel the need to claim their name and date on the contents page because they see their creation as art.

Conventional layout of a magazine front cover

	Ok! Magazine	Flare Magazine	Empire Magazine
Image	The main photograph shows ex-band members Cheryl Cole and Victoria Beckham. This image links to the main article within the tabloid, of Victoria and Cheryl not having a quarrel. This image is suitable as this news is desired knowledge; people want to know what has happened between both singers, so having a large picture of them is likely to attract curious buyers. Also even though the photograph is photoshopped to make it seem like both singers are together, it's not. The editors have probably done this to make people think that Ok! magazine has a big scoop on Cole and Beckham being together at an event.	The cover model of Flare magazine is Amanda Seyfried, who is renowned for having beautiful, youthful, pore-less skin. She is suitable for this magazine because it is conceited around beauty, which is what she is known for. Also this edition of Flare is a spring edition and Amanda has been styled with natural makeup, which appears airy and light. Spring is also thought of as light, airy, and natural.	Empire magazine features Johnny Depp dressed up as Captain Sparrow for the cover model. He is also placed infront of a majestic lively blue sea. The main image is good for two reasons, the first being: it's a preview of Captain Sparrow, and looking at him, it's apparent a lot of work has gone into making him look authentic. His eyeliner, facial hair, beaded dreadlocks, and outfit have been intricately designed to be realistic. Seeing the effort that has gone towards his outfit, this makes the audience think the same amount of effort has probably gone into the film. This excites the reader. Adittionally as the cover image is mainly blue (due to the sea), the overall cover is pleasing to the eye because the primary colours are used. The blue sea + the red masterhead + the yellow coverlines = the primary colours. It looks simplistic yet fun.
Coverlines	To the bottom left is a photo of TV personality Holly Willoughby, anchoring this image is the coverline "pregnancy exclusive my baby girl'". This appeals to Willoughby fans as they want to see a photo set of her and/or read an interview from the star. Then, to the bottom right there is an image of celebrities Geri Hallowell and Fabrizo Politi, which is anchored by the news of their 'secret wedding',The editors use words like 'secret' and 'exclusive'. These words make the audience feel like they're receiving something which no other people can receive. this attracts buyers as they want to feel involved with this secret.	The top left of Flare magazine features a coverline saying "Amanda Seyfried on breaking the starlet stereotype". This informs the occupier that there is an article purely about the young actress. Which attracts her fans. Then, there are lots of coverlines which are fashion and beauty based, such as: "Denim Update", "...Fashion Mojo", "Top tips for every skin type", and more. These tell us the purpose of the magazine; from these coverlines we know the function of the magazine. It includes tips and tricks, as well as fashion inspiration.	In the bottom left corner, Empire magazine says "Matt Damon goes dark! Christen Bale lightens up!". Here, it put the Damon's and Bale's name in yellow and the following statement in white. The effect of changing colours is that some words are extra bright, and this is good because it pops out to movie lovers. These names are all renowned in the acting world so movie lovers will be drawn towards this magazine because if converses about these stars. Parallel to this the magazine uses the same technique of switching colours, as it lists some movies. These movies are likely to soon debut and movie fans are probably anticipating these, so listing them for us tells us that these are discussed within the magazine.
Main coverline	Ok! magazine's largest cover line is "Cheryl and Victoria 'there's no feud - Victoria's an incredible woman'. What this does is inform the reader of the main article inside the tabloid; as this coverline is the biggest we can tell that this topic is the biggest. Then below this is a puff, in a pink rectangle the editors describe this scoop as a "world exclusive"	The main coverline is "200+ hot spring looks". The '200+' is in yellow and larger than other words on the front cover. Stating the amount of looks featured appose to saying just  "hot spring looks" is effective because it denotes a message that there are a variety of looks. It makes me think that these looks are probably inclusive to everyone because there are so many, so many so that it would be hard not to be inclusive to everyone. Therefore with this message, I feel more persuaded to buy this magazine because I like the momentum. In relation to this because the '200+' is larger than other texts and a different colour it stands out more.	For Empire magazine the main coverline is "Essential 2011 preview". This coverline is effective because it is quick and includes lots of information. 'Essential' makes the magazine seem intrinsic to film lovers, as it contains a peek for a hit movie. 2011 was the year this magazine and movie were released so at the time, '2011 preview' probably seemed like an ultra modern line. 'Preview' tells us what the thing is.
Title	The logo for Ok! magazine is neatly tucked into a rectangle at the top left corner, and is in red and white, unlike any of the other text on the cover. The red background makes the white pop out, and the quadrilateral looks simple and minimal which suits the coverwell, as there's a lot going on within the image and coverlines.	The master head Flare is elegantly written in a long and thin traditional font. However, in spite of the traditional font the master head has a contemporary twist of being in a bright colour, and this makes it aesthetically pleasing.	"Empire" has (social) connotations with being at the top. This is a good title for a magazine as it shows they regard themselves highly; it's their way of saying we are at the top.
Tagline	The tagline for Ok! magazine is "first for celebrity news". This informs the reader what exactly it is that Ok! magazine covers. Also by describing themselves as the 'first' shows that they regard themselves high, which attracts more consumers because it shows that the editors are confident.	The tagline for Flare Magazine is "Canada's Fashion Authority". Stating the origin of the magazine is good as it expresses their pride about being Canadian. Describing Flare as the 'fashion authority' is effective as it tells us what Flare has to offer and by using the word 'authority' we can tell that they think that their style opinion is better than any other magazines'.	Empire's tagline is "Movies' Biggest Year Ever". I think this tagline differs from the other magazines as instead of denoting a message like: we are the best magazine, it denotes a message like: our (movie) magazine has so much to discuss with you. This seems modest and empathetic of the editor's which attracts more customers because Empire seems like a like-able co-corporation.
Price	Ok! magazine retails at £2.00, however the price isn't stated on the cover.	The price of Flare is £3.99 and the price is shown by the barcode. Seeing as this magazine is kind of expensive, it is insinuated that this magazine is a luxury product, and I can imagine this magazine to have a glossy cover.	The price of Empire is £3.99, and like Flare the price is shown by the barcode and this magazine is a luxury product.
Date	This Ok! edition was released on February 10th 2009, and the date is stated below the logo. I think the reason why the date is placed in such an obvious place, is because it is released weekly, and so the date is a reminder to audience that the news inside is current.	This Flare edition was released May 2010 and the date is stated by the barcode.	This Empire edition was released February 2011 and the date is stated by the barcode.

Analysing the Front Cover of a Magazine

Firstly the name of the magazine is simple. "Men's Health" makes the motive of the magazine very clear, which pulls in the target audience; most consumers are fit men.

Then when looking at this cover I notice that this edition features David Beckham as the cover model. He is looking at the camera, so there is an essence of direct mode of address. The magazine is produced for health and beauty conscious men, therefore this mode of address is suitable for the magazine's purpose as it's quite personal and intimate (- as is the magazine's purpose). Also the fact that David is looking directly at the camera, attracts more consumers because fans immediately notice him.

Another successful thing about the cover picture is the present colours. His red fleece and white t-shirt suit the colours of the master head and cover lines well because they're analogous colours. The red and orange are both warm colours, that are next to each other on the colour chart, and black, grey, and white are all next to each other on the grayscale.

The cover lines have intricately been styled to charm the holder. The largest cover lines are "101 ways to look great!" amd "style with muscle". Both of these are in bold as well as enlarged. "Style with Muscle" has the 'with' in smaller letters, a lighter colour, and italic. So when just skimming the text it would be easy to just read 'Style' and 'Muscle'. The editors have done this on purpose because these are two keywords which will attract the audience, as they are presumably concerned with both of these things. "101 Ways To Look Great!" fits the magazine as the buyer probably wants to know 101 ways in which they can look great. Also '101' is in red which adds a pop of colour. This pop of colour is good because '101' sticks in the readers head, and as 101 is a big number this coverline seems impressive.