Magazine Cover Conventions

MAGAZINE COVER CONVENTION

11/14 

Our learning of magazine conventions was pretty simple and easy to understand. We were given a paper cutout at the door, which was a practice magazine with arrows pointing to certain wording and visual elements. Then, as a class, we went over the vocabulary and learned things like coverlines, masthead, and direct address. After finishing the vocabulary, we then filled in the corresponding vocabulary term for the element on the magazine cover. Personally, I really liked how we were given a fill-in chart. I feel like it made it easier to understand and helps to identify. 

I knew right away that for my assignment, I wanted to do some kind of travel magazine, mostly because I love traveling and have lots of cool photos of the world. Honestly, it was pretty difficult to decide on a photo just because I had so many to choose from. I was going back and forth between a photo I had taken from the Eiffel Tower and a photo of this amazing food I had  (which would have made it a food magazine), but I ended up choosing the Eiffel Tower because I liked the dark, strong background the photo had. My magazine cover contributes to the genre because it is a photo taken from one of the most beautiful vacation spots, which many Americans aspire to visit. 

I used a variety of magazine conventions, I used: 3 coverlines, a feature article, a puff, and a banner. I made sure that all coverlines had to do something with traveling, for example, I did "How to Avoid Scams" and "Eat and Drink Like a Parisian." I used the puff to create a circle where inside it says "Win a Trip Pour Deux." I wanted to use "Pour Deux" instead of "For two" because I wanted to create the illusion that they were already there, and also to use diversity of wording on the cover, the readers' eyes immediately go there because it's words they are unfimialr with. I color-picked the Eiffel Tower, and it gave me this really pretty glowing yellow/orange. I used that color on words I wanted to EMPHASE. I think it's a good way to add diversity to the cover. 

 

One main struggle I encountered was when I first uploaded my photo onto InDesign; it was VERY blurry and pixelated. I was super confused on how to first fit it on the screen and second, clear up the photo. I asked Mrs. Acosta for help because a lot of people were having similar problems, but it was because I dragged the photo on the screen instead of doing "file" "open." She then showed me that you have to double-click your photo and change the resolution to high. Overall, I didn't struggle too much after that. I was getting a little frustrated because I would forget to press the direct selection tool, and then I was confused why the text box wasn't moving, but eventually I figured it out! 

Next, I plan to use the  "file" "open" method instead of dragging it onto the screen, that way I save myself time and do not have to deal with a pixellated photo. I think I am better at doing design than editing video, so I plan on doing a magazine cover, and learning InDesign was super helpful.