Phew! Who knew making a magazine cover could be so much work? Over the past few days in class, we've been learning about the conventions of a magazine. I have to say--you never think about these things when you see them lined up by the cashier. Magazines are all strategically formatted to pull in passersby to pick it up. No one looks twice to see if the company used a 'puff' or 'strapline', but those making the magazine do.
My teacher used this graphic to help us better understand! When it came to our assignment to make a magazine cover, I frequented this guide a lot! Luckily we were able to use a photo in our camera roll so I had a wide range of applicable photos.
This is a photo I took of one of my friends who gave me consent to use it for this project. I really liked the vibe she gave off in this photo and it was a no brainer to go for a magazine revolving around pop culture and fashion. Her look is with the times of grunge media which I thought fit with the theme I wanted to give off.
Following a pop culture theme, I came up with the magazine company to be named 'BLING'. I was a bit indecisive with the font choice because I wasn't sure if it was legible, but I feel like it added to the aesthetic I wanted to portray. In this project, I didn't shy away from adding color. By doing so, it made words pop and drew the reader into picking it up if they did see it on the shelf. Moreover, in the strip I did towards the bottom of the magazine, I included popular names in today's pop culture. This magazine would include interviews with famous music artists: Bladee and Yung Lean!
As I continued to work through Adobe Indesign I got more comfortable with the settings and haptics. I played around! At first, it definitely was challenging to go through all the fonts and find out how to expand an image. I found myself searching up YouTube tutorials to answer my pondering questions. I did extensive research to learn the program better and to look into goth media and see vintage magazine covers to further inspire my project.
Upon finishing my project, I'm left feeling alright with how it came out. I'm happy with my work, but I feel like it could have come out better. However, I know I have to be easy on myself because after all, it is my first magazine project. From here, I hope to further improve my editing skills on Adobe InDesign.
