Final Cover Choices and Edits

 In this post, the final cover for the magazine will be made. So far in this process, Canva has been used as the only editing software. The goal for this cover is to seem modern which can be achieved by making the cover simplistic and clean-looking. This goal follows the conventions of tech magazines as this is very common among said magazines.

Out of the two mockups that were made earlier, the one above is the one that was chosen for the final cover. While this was the design that was going to be implemented into the final cover, each of its components still needed some revisions as it was still only a mockup.

Masthead - 

The first thing that needed to be changed was the masthead. As seen, there was still no name for the masthead so that was the first issue. I figured that it should have the work "tech" somewhere in it. This is because viewers would informed immediately that it is a tech magazine from the word "tech" , but if I put "fashion" in it, they would think that it is a fashion magazine. 

Once "tech", first word was decided, I thought adding "light" to make it "TechLight". This is because I thought that "light" can be linked to the metaphor of a light bulb going off in someones head when they think. Since this is going to be an informational magazine, "TechLight" is perfect.

As for the font of the masthead, I decided to go with Mont Bold. This is because it is an interesting bold sans serif font, which is what most tech magazines implement. I found this by simply searching up "sans serif fonts" and viewing all of them until the perfect match was found.

The masthead was chosen to be red because it contrasts with the blue background, which will be talked about later. The color of the masthead looked too dark compared to the rest of the cover so I changed the color for a brighter form of red.

Main Image - 

For the main image, the idea was that there was going to be seven different images to form one main idea, with each of these images being in a circle. The reason that this idea was chosen is because it is very rarely implemented in any of the popular tech magazines, so when a viewer sees this unique design, they will be interested.

Each one of these pictures with their circles were placed in the middle. Since having them in a straight line across the magazine would lack excitement, I made them diagonal but still in the middle. This greatly increased the appeal of the cover. A very important change that was made was a change in position of the circles. Before, there were large gaps in between a few of the circles, but after a few changes, the small gap was removed for a more consistent look.

As for the color of the circles, they were chosen to be the same red as the masthead, to help contrast against the light blue background, however, when editing it to be ready for the final design, I decided to make it brighter, like I did previously to the masthead.

After the changes to the masthead and main image were made, this is what the cover appeared like.

Cover lines - 

Now, it is time to edit the cover lines. They inform people on what they can expect to see later on in the magazine. Originally, the cover lines, do follow the conventions of tech magazines as they are sleek, simplistic, and have a modern appearance, however, they still need some changes. 

The letters originally are all Mont, but the cover line titles were changed to Mont Bold and capitalized them fully, while the body text was reduced in font size so that readers can be able to differentiate the title from the body text. I then changed the image, the title, and the body text in the cover lines because before, they both featured an image that was already shown in the main image.

Each cover line's body text is keep short enough that the viewer can know what to expect, but still not know everything so that they are curious about the rest of the magazine.

 So far, this is what the cover looks like, but there still needs to be some more edits.

Selling Line -

For this cover, a selling line was not included. The reason for this is because selling lines are a characteristic of older magazines and over time, many new modern magazines have stopped implementing selling lines as a way to break into a new style of covers that makes the design feel "new". Another reason why the selling line was not used in this cover is because without it the cover seems more minimalistic, as there is less for the viewer to worry about on the cover.

Miscellaneous -

The date that the magazine was published and the issue number were not included in this cover either. The reason for this is the same as the two mentioned for the selling line. However what was included is the bar code. This is because this is still something that is vital in magazines and is still used in many major tech magazines. As for the position of the bar code, it is put exactly in the bottom right, where it is not gaining attention, as it is not important for the readers to look at at all.

Color Scheme -

The colors that were chosen are red, blue, and white.

When deciding the colors for the cover it was slightly difficult. I could not choose the color palette based off the main image since there were multiple with different colors. Because of this, I decided to use a hue color such as red, green, or blue for the circles around the images. I decided on choosing red for them since it is a basic color that is used often in tech magazines. I then made the background blue since it is a complementary color with red and they contrast well. For the background instead of making it just solid blue, I found a gradient blue background through Canva's elements section. Once that was done, it was time to figure out the color for the masthead. I made it red since it matches with the main image circle colors well and contrasts with the background. When making the color of the cover lines and headline, I decided to make them white since I figured only having blue and red on the cover does not have good color harmony and white is the best color to match that makes sure that the viewer is not overwhelmed with colors.

Font Choice - 

When choosing the font, I initially decided that I would like to stick with only one font for the whole cover, with some letters being bold and others not. Since sans serif fonts are widely used in tech magazines, that is what I went with. I then searched through many sans serif fonts until I found Mont, which is what I used. I chose this because it is a clean and simple font, which is what many major tech magazines use. I used Mont bold for the masthead and cover line titles, and Mont for the headline and cover line body text.

Layout - 

The reason everything is positioned as they are is for simplicity in the design. By putting everything where they are, the viewer will not feel overwhelmed and instead be pleased by the design.

Final Changes -

After all of the changes stated previously have all been made, I began to notice that there still is some small improvements that can be made.

Firstly, I made all the main image pictures larger. Once that was done, I added a drop shadow for each image through the shadows tab in the photo editor portion of Canva.

I then decided that the headline needed to be changed. The headline was changed to Mont instead of Mont Bold so that there is a difference between the headline and the masthead. I then formatted the words of the headline so that they go in a diagonal direction. 

Another change that was made is adding a page number for the cover lines. These were added at the end of the body text and were in the Mont bold font. By doing this, it is easier for readers to go directly to the page of the topic they are interested in.

All of these changes were made to challenge the conventions of tech magazines in a way that helps to promote the uniqueness of the cover.

Here is the final design:

Conclusion:

Almost all of the choices align with the general conventions of tech magazines, however some aspects do not. The main element of the cover that does not align with these conventions is the main image. The main image format is very unique and is not implemented very often in tech magazines. The other element that is rare among tech magazines is the cover line format. Many cover lines do not feature an image or a page number, which helps make this cover stand out from others when put on a shelf.