Magazine+Cover+Design


 * Magazine Cover Design **



**Student Magazine Cover Design Project **

Magnzine publishers, editors, and circulation directors know the importance of the design of a magazine cover. Eighty percent of consumer magazine 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 logo, cover image and layout of a magazine cover sets the image for the magazine. They are important identification factors 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, technology and medical trends. As both historical artifacts and marketing tools, magazine covers deserve closer study.

**Your Assignment **

You will design a magazine cover using Apple’s Pages software. You can imitate the layout of your cover from an existing magazine. For example use the layout and name of Teen Magazine, but design your own photos, titles and story lines. Or you can create your own magazine totally from scratch.

Choose a topic from the list below to do your research and magazine cover on:


 * 1) The top ten Colleges in NYS or Universities in the USA.
 * 2) The Pros and Cons of attending a State College or University
 * 3) Community Colleges
 * 4) The Growing cost of Colleges Universities
 * 5) Freshman Requirements and Expectations
 * 6) Financial Aid, Grants and Scholarships
 * 7) Why go to College?
 * 8) College vs. Technical vs. Trade School
 * 9) Online Colleges and Universities

**Process **


 * 1) Choose a topic from the list above. Email your topic to istoessel at Wikispaces.
 * 2) Determine the name of your magazine based on your topic. For example: I chose #10 Why go to College? for my topic. The name of my magazine will be College Bound.
 * 3) Research your topic. Read different articles from different websites that provide information about your topic.
 * 4) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Choose 5-10 important sub-topics that you will put on your magazine cover. Make titles for each sub-topic. You will use these story line titles for your magazine cover.
 * 5) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Choose pictures from the Internet that relate to your topic.
 * 6) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Using the headlines you wrote and the pictures you found, design the layout for your magazine cover.

**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Requirements **

Your magazine cover must have each of the following elements:


 * 1) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Title
 * 2) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Background
 * 3) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A cover photo/art/illustration (can use large and small)
 * 4) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">At least five story line titles
 * 5) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Issue date
 * 6) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Price
 * 7) <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">An Exclusive Interview with a subject matter expert

**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">You will be graded on the following: **

**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Unity ** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">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? <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">Does the photo or photos support the theme? Does the photo catch your eye? Is it too busy or too simple?

**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">Readability ** 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?

**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">Layout **

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?

How is your effort and craftsmanship? You will need to be selecting, cutting, pasting and cropping. Does your cover look professionally neat?
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">Professionalism **

**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Where do I create my magazine cover? **

You will create your magazine cover using the PAGES software on your computer.

The icon for pages is:

[|Pages Tutorial]