Magazine Cover Construction

Step 1: The entire construction of the magazine took place on the Adobe software Photoshop CS6. It started out by first selecting the appropriate image for the cover.

Step 2: The image had to be cropped of course and turned into vertical form in order to be more 'cover-like'. And then slightly add some changes to it like increasing exposure and adding contrast to give it that magazine look.

Step 3: Now to start things off, the masthead needed to be added first. This is because all the other features (side stories, cover stories etc) were to be aligned accordingly to its placement.The choice green and white were chosen to emphasize on the 'patriotic factor' and encourage local holidays. 

Step 4: The 'Mountains Edition' kicker was placed to signify the magazine issue. It shows the target audience, be it loyal readers or newly attracted ones that the magazine covers not only the mountainous regions but all over the country. However a small patch of snow in the background next to where the text was to be placed was just simply irritating and removed using the clone tool as it felt too stranded and unappealing.

Step 5: The cover story really had to stand out from the other elements of the cover. In order to achieve this an attractive color and distinctive font was needed. And further editing was done to the text using the blending options such as using the 'stroke' option to increase visibility and adding 'drop shadow' to give it a more 'popping' feel.

Step 6: The side stories needed to be in a plain, normal color with the task of not being to captivating immediately. To make sure the reader's first glance isn't upon them, they were placed on the right side as majority of readers naturally look at a cover from the left side first. They were placed over the crystal blue lake to be more conspicuous and apprehendable. The design of it was constructed similarly to the magazine cover analysis. 

 

(Cover used for analysis below)

Step 7: By making the cover story orange and distinctive, a plug in orange was added to prevent it from looking random or arbitrary. 

Step 8: The last two features were the bar code and selling line. The selling line was in white and black to add balance to the overall look of the cover. These two weren't aligned as too much alignment sometimes looks excessively neat. As odd as that sounds it's quite often where magazines don't follow conventions.

Step 9: The last step wasn't planned during the construction. After the cover was presumably over it was compared to the covers that were used for analysis. And something did see off. On the left edge of the covers were an area of information about the magazine such as email, website, contact number and so on. That's when i decided to include this in my magazine too to give it that professional feel. 

End of construction

Choosing the image for the magazine cover

OPTION 1:

 

OPTION 2:

OPTION 3:

OPTION 4:

After a long and rather tiresome photo shoot which involved a trekking trip that lasted about 9 hours, about fifty photos were taken which were then narrowed down to four. The ideal cover I had in mind, would be an extreme long shot, would have a lot to portray and would not consist of any human activity whatsoever. Which is linked with the cover's motto that's about informing the target audience of areas that very few have set foot on.

Option 1 was chosen as the cover page, due to it having an appealing and attractive look. The mountains, lake, clouds and streams really fit the idea of a perfect place and almost heavenly. The contrast of all the elements in the photo really weave the image together even though it's hard to imagine so much going on in one photo; naturally that is. 

The other 3 weren't chosen because they weren't quite honestly 'cover material'. Mainly because they seem to be much more attractive when seen from a wide angle or landscape perspective. If turned vertical (for the cover) these pictures would lose their grandeur especially with option 2, which was the 2nd best choice. If any part of the image were cut in order to be processed into the magazine, it would look bare and empty like a twig without leaves.

Question 3&4 Magazine Cover

Q.3 How did your productions skills develop throughout this project?

If one was able to see the changes that had been made and the entire process of creating a magazine compared to last year, it would be quite astonishing. Now where do I begin; the first cover that had been made was appalling simply. It had been the first time I had used the Photoshop CS6 software and it all seemed so alien and baffling. Never would have I ever thought making a cover would be so time consuming or complex. The planning was just atrocious, the photo shoot was poor and photographs were taken from a mobile phone camera. I didn’t even submit my cover till a day before deadline and it was still incomplete. And the content page resembled a list someone makes before going out for groceries.         Yes, there were simpler and less elaborate alternatives than Photoshop to resort to in order to edit the cover. And they handled most of the technicalities within a few seconds. But upon hearing that next year Photoshop must be used on the advanced portfolio and will be graded, an ominous feeling became overbearing and something had to be done.

I’ve had quite a few pointless workshops after that, the instructor failed to realize that our experience with Photoshop at the time was somewhat similar to skedaddling on the moon. Lessons were taught hastily and left us even more confused than ever. And when one is confused about something, where does he or she stumble upon seeking the holiest and divine information? Why the internet, of course.

Every day online tutorials were watched over and over. Learning my way around alignment, gradient changes, texture alteration, playing with or distorting images and everything I needed to know. But of course I didn’t practice on the magazine cover immediately, but used a more equal adversary, a picture of my cat.

And a couple months and internet bills paid later, I started working on the advanced portfolio cover and had a proper DSLR camera. I made the decision of creating a Travel and Tourism magazine even before we were instructed to start working on the advanced portfolio. For three reasons mainly; first reason naturally would be to avoid the catastrophic errors faced, such as on the foundation portfolio. Second reason was that a Travel and Tourism magazine requires a lot of work; travelling around for the photo shoot, props and other equipment. This would be no simple task as it can’t be shot at home or school like the foundation portfolio and would require tons of time. Final reason was that our Media Studies teacher claimed she has never had a student who chose tourism as a magazine genre before and the risk was actually kind of motivating and encouraging.

And at this point using Photoshop seemed significantly less complicated. Obviously there are various options and functions that I still don’t have my head around. But I suppose Photoshop is identical to an entire galaxy. Thousands and thousands of unexplored areas, but at this moment I already glad where I am, skedaddling on the moon.


Q.4 HOW DID U INTEGRATE TECH-SOFTWARE, HARDWARE AND ONLINE IN THIS PROJECT?

Well first thing’s first, High Definition images were absolutely essential in the making of the cover, content and double spread page. And I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a Nikon D5100 DSLR camera. Not the best of cameras on the market, sure, but certainly a boost up from a cell phone camera and gave me the results I wanted. It helped in capturing those crisp, serene pictures that a travel magazine usually tends to have. And travel magazines usually do use photos that are of several different areas unlike fashion or music genres that can be taken ‘underneath one roof’.

Next step was to find an adequate shooting site where variety of different places, decent lighting and subjects were conveniently reachable. I had to do some research using the internet on the northern side of Pakistan before making a firm decision. I had to consider places of high rates of tourism, weather, potential road blocks due to landslides or other causes, reasonable hotel rooms and of course distance from the current city. And then a city on the mountain side, Naran, Kaghan Valley, approximately 8,200 feet high from sea level and 600 km away from my city, was my shooting location for the magazine cover.

Around this time I was a rookie Photoshop CS6 user, but I had a lot of help from online tutorials. I hadn’t ever realized how useful some online tips can be till one day I was looking up ‘how to add gradients to font’. And saw some recommended videos which deeply enlightened me. After having learned the step by step instructions, I started to use these techniques more and more into my work. I used to think that perhaps the outlook of the cover should be from a more superficial perspective, but in the end the little details were beyond significant. Such as font texture, removing some of the aspects of the background image that were making it rather troublesome to add font. For instance, the mountains on the cover had little splatters of snowfall which made it difficult to add a conspicuous and sufficient text. Nothing seemed to connect and made it unappealing. But I learned to clear out some of the snow using the ‘Clone tool’, which again I learned how to use from online tutorials, was truly was a life saver.

There are many other ways in which technology helped even before I started working on the cover. Obvious examples, such as the magazine covers of professional magazines which I analysed. Some of the inspiration I got for my cover came from these magazines. The layout, structure and conventions which I didn’t know about. And also converting the results of the questionnaire into pie charts using online generators. 

                                                                      

Question 1&2 Magazine Cover

Q.1:  How did your product use or challenge conventions and does it represent social groups or issues?

The cover page was definitely the trickiest stage. The ‘Mountain Edition’ was slightly larger compared to the masthead. At an early stage, the choice seemed to be quite subjective. The fact that it went against magazine covers in the norm and the covers analysed was intriguing. There should never be an ‘orthodox’ structure to a magazine cover. Besides this way, the cover distinguished itself and created a unique selling point. Or in simpler terms, its own identity. However the final outlook of the product was altered due to some feedback taken from a small sample. They claimed it’s exceptionally distracting and disorderly to have a smaller masthead and may bewilder the target audience. Upon hearing this, changes were made accordingly.

The target audience of the magazine has no specific age group but are likely to be 25+. It is for those who are capable of travelling from time to time. According to TradingEconomics.com, travelling locally in Pakistan are more leisure based rather than business based. That is about 27% of the travels are business based, while about 73% is leisure based. So naturally, the domestic population of Pakistan has a tremendous impact on hotel room rates and other things that can be linked to tourism such as tour guide fee and trekking equipment. This is why the magazine is so patriotically themed ‘Pakistan Pioneer’. Not to mention the white-green colour scheme chosen (the colors of the flag).

The content page is pretty basic; just one image included, two columns and a recurring color scheme (orange, black, green). The idea was to make it simple, professional-looking and not experiment to an excessive level. This is because again, the target population is not specified. Majority of Pakistan’s working population is over the age of 30 and are able to take vacations. If a consumer over 25 tries to obtain information about travelling and tourism, he or she may find the large fonts, various color schemes unappealing or unprofessional. The content should be clear and downright simple.

The cover page was constructed accordingly to answers taken from the questionnaire, the results were transformed into charts and then the cover page’s cover story, side story etc. were determined. The color of the font was pretty much subjective. Whichever looked best was selected. The background image that was used looked far more majestic than the other photos. The only problem was that finding a font and a font color that would blend in with the image. After several changes in font and what seemed like a lifetime later, ‘Franklin Gothic Heavy’ on a 167.82 size was selected.

The double-spread page had the same color scheme as the cover (black, blue, orange) so they don’t give off an ‘alien’ look. Of course as an interview subject, a tour guide fit the role best. Who else would know more about the shooting locations (where the images for the cover were taken) than the tour guide himself? Four images of different locations used in the bottom of the double spread that included restaurants, a marketplace and basically ‘images that are pretty to look at’. These images were however specifically chosen as they add variety to the overall look. Any more images would make the page less informative and catchy. A quote was placed next to the interview subject to attract attention. No analysis was done before making the double spread, just some basic detail was checked, such as how much space is required between the center of the page so the text isn’t distorted when printed. And also the overall size formats of the double spread. The rest of it, well, just went as creative and rogue as possible I suppose.

Q.2: What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

A publications house that mainly creates magazine issues revolving around a country’s own domestic beauty, events and stories rather than international. A magazine that encourages local travelling, culture and shows the target audience places within their grasp. International travelling can be quite expensive and airline services can be unstable, inadequate time schedules and other problems may be present such visa acceptance issues etc. Not many can afford to spend their holiday time dwindling with these troublesome complications.

Afar magazine is a travel publication focused on Experiential Travel based in the United States with little focus on other countries. This magazine was primarily selected as it chooses almost the same sequence, structure and simplicity of the magazine cover similar to my piece. Using just a few color schemes and text on the cover. Its content revolves around interviews with the local population, restaurants and majestic areas. It communicates with audiences using articles, side stories and eye catching photography to a certain extent. Afar hopes to attract new readers with its various contents including food, culture, music, lifestyles.

The main idea is to make one feel like a tourist in one’s own country. After all, every city, town, state or province has its own extraordinary living and differences. It tries to attract a target audience consisting of several demographics. For example, Romantic getaways for couples, water parks and thrilling amusement parks for families with young children and comfortable, mellow holidays for senior citizens. The reason why so many demographics are targeted is due to one simple idea. The idea that the magazine is for everybody and anybody. More specifically, anybody in the middle-upper class.

This way the magazine has more of a chance to be a successful as it is targeting those whom are able to travel. And the risks are also significantly eliminated. If the launch is auspicious and gets marketed well enough In other another term, word of mouth. Who can prove to the target audience of a good magazine better than the reader itself? Plugs are not usually used on the cover, which is a feature that they should consider adding more often. Yes, simple is good but too simple is costly and rather unappealing. Since they rely so highly on their cover to attract new readers, it should be relatively attractive. Emphasis on the background image and gripping stories is the key to a successful travel magazine. And also why they should consider distributing my product.  

Foundation Portfolio

Foundation Portfolio

Cover Page

  

                                                        Content Page

Double Spread    

Preliminary Exercise portfolio w/ questionnaire

Questionnaire, Cover Page and Content page

Preliminary Exercise Analysis

Preliminary Exercise

COMPARISON OF THE TWO SPORT MAGAZINES:

Both of the two use a rough font as title of the cover. Whist one goes with the multi-colored on fonts, the other sticks with a just one color for all texts. They’re both about the MMA (mixed martial arts) yet completely portray a different message to the reader. One has the classy appeal, where the model is wearing a suit, well groomed, and holding a dog indicating ‘caring and loving’. Model’s name is given in case the audience is unaware of him, although is probably popular among MMA fans. The other cover has more of a masculine approach, shirtless and sweaty emphasizes ‘hard training’. His name isn’t given so it’s the magazine is perhaps for amateur fighters in training or equipment advertising. The background used in both covers is plain and dark, however this would not be used in the school magazine cover to show the photo shoot took place on an actual sport activity area.