Magazine Layout Tutorial

In this blog post I will be exploring and learning about how to choose the composition and layout for the text on a front cover page. 

I was given a "starter kit" made by my teacher with a bunch of layout components such as a masthead, cover lines, main cover line, barcode and etc.

The activity that my teacher gave was to make a bunch of mock-front covers within a 10 minute period. Here are my results! I was pressured by the time limit so I'm not very confident in my output.

Now, my teacher gave another activity. This time I will be adjusting the layouts I've made based on some key components that I must keep in mind. These are:

- Borders:

Borders are great guides, allowing the designer to see if the text and elements on the front cover page are in line. The borders will help to make the design look less messy and more organized so that the readers of the magazine will not feel "off" about the page since there might be small gaps or mistakes made due to the absence of the border. If used correctly, a border will help to guide the readers to look at the center of focus of the cover page whether it be the text, image or something else.

- Hierarchy of type:

Hierarchy of type refers to the order of importance of text. This can be either from top to bottom, left to right or other combinations. The purpose of this concept is to prevent confusion for the readers who are looking at the front cover page. This will allow the readers to save energy reading as they will not need to search for different text as they can assume where it would be positioned (important information first and less important information in the last order). It can also be used to draw the readers into the magazine as they may be grabbed by the hook text which would be generally at the top and clear to read.

- Typeface:

Typeface is one of the most crucial elements of design. Typeface can help to promote a magazine's brand identity as a certain typeface can be commonly associated with them. This will allow readers to immediately become attracted once they see the normally unique typeface if the brand is already well known. It can also help the magazine receive a more steady consumer base as they already know what type of typeface the masthead would be typed in. Choosing a clear typeface will also help prevent confusion for the readers. As an example. if a cursive typeface is used for the front cover page, some readers may not be able to read it due to its complicated nature, thus deterring the readers from purchasing the magazine.

- Color:

Color language is also important to consider while composing the front cover page. Why? This is because certain colors are associated with certain topics. In a scenario, reds, would be commonly associated with food and may persuade the feeling of hunger in individuals. Contrary to this, blues would discourage eating as its cool shade does not often come with food and if it does, its most likely food that is rotten. This is why blue is almost never used in magazines or advertisements that are associated with food unless it is to promote a popsicle that is blue or something similar to that nature.

Here are the finished results of some of the practice layouts I made! I made sure to keep in mind the 4 elements that my teacher just taught me after I did the practice layouts. It was honestly a struggle especially since this was done using google draws and I couldn't quite find out how to add borders, however I think the final products look relatively decent. I especially like the look of the first one as it is quite neat and nice to look at. 

Reflection:

This project honestly had me stressing a bit because of the time constraints that it had. Its also my first time making a magazine and doing an exercise similar to this so I think that it was quite experimental and challenging. I think that it was still definitely useful to do this exercise because now I can apply the concepts and skills I've just learned to make the best version of the magazine I'll submit for this project. I'm sure I'll learn more things along the way but this exercise has made me aware of the different requirements needed to make a magazine cover page look more professional.