Final Cover Deciphered

 Introduction 

After multiple blogs of drafting and editing my cover, I have been able to come up with the final product. To do so, I used a combination of two editing platforms. I ended up using Canva not only to design my cover but to also edit my cover images. As a secondary aid, I used the image editing software on my smartphone to help make editing in Canva a bit easier. For this cover, I am aiming to impact the reader, make them feel strong emotions. I aiming to have a cover that is bold and sends a clear message to the reader in a creative way. I am also aiming for a cover that is clean yet sophisticated. My design is one that is not conventional. Though I do adhere to some of the conventions of my genre, I found that breaking them in certain ways can make designs more impactful. I pulled inspiration from one of these unconventional magazine covers in order to create my own. Though my final cover is not the design I started out with, it is one that I have found to be the most effective.

 Masthead

 The first thing I decided was what I want my masthead to be in Latin. I wanted to add a bit of a historical aspect to my magazine and found that incorporating Latin would be a nice way to do so. I wanted to create a sense of trust and dependability between the reader and the writer. Incorporating a bit of history into the cover is a good way to subtly hint towards dependability and trustworthiness. I did some research and decided to use the Latin word Permagni which means today in English. For the font of my masthead, I decided to go with a serif font by the name of Noto Serif Display Bold. The reason I used a serif font is because it conveys intellect, dependability, and trust, as my previous research suggests. The reason I used a bolded version of this font was because many current affairs magazines utilize this style including Bloomberg Businessweek, Newsweek, and more. Another reason I ended up going with a bolded font is due to the size and placement of my masthead. I decided to subvert the trend of mastheads being the largest piece of text on the page. Instead, I placed the masthead in the top left corner of the magazine in a medium size. I subverted this trend because I wanted people to be drawn more to the content of the magazine rather than the brand. In other genres, the brand is what tends to decide how many readers the magazine will have. In this genre, it is the content that decides the number of readers. I wanted to exemplify to potential readers that this magazine puts content and reliability before its brand. Plus, I was inspired by the way the Bloomberg Business set up their masthead and decided that this would be a bit more effective than the usual placement of a masthead. 

Cover Image 

This image is one that I had not thought about including until my last blog post. As an avid reader, I love to explore different genres, ideas, and topics through literature. Recently, I was listening to the news and heard a story regarding how students at a high school near me were petitioning their administration for banning a book. As someone who likes to read, I start to think about the books I have read. Immediately, I remember the author's note from one of my favorite novels, The Giver by Lois Lowry. It had discussed how The Giver had been banned in many communities and schools due to the range of topics it had discussed. From this, came the cover image displayed below. 

I decided to take a photograph of The Giver but wanted to send a message regarding censorship in schools. So, I used a red beacon at the end of my flashlight to tint the book a red shade with two slashes going across the cover. The reason I decided to tint the book with the red light was due to color psychology, something I discussed in one of my earlier posts. According to what I have learned, the color red signifies power, danger, and strength. I used the two slashes of red across the page to symbolize the danger that books face from censorship. The color of the slashes helps the reader feel this emotion as they are seeing the cover. The rest of the image is still tinted red as I wanted to make a statement regarding the power of censorship. With red being a color often associated with stop signs, it emotes power helping me exemplify the message that censorship is powerful. Finally, I also wanted to convey the strength of literature through the use of the color red. Throughout history books have not only been banned but burned for the ideas they discuss. Regardless of what society tries to do, literature still survives as a way to express thoughts and ideas. I wanted to not only show the power of censorship, but the resilience of literature, leading me to use this color. 

                                                              

My cover image was edited in a way so that the title of the book was hard to see in order to send a message about how censorship is a battle. I wanted to metaphorically inform the audience regarding how though some people may censor books and other media, the media is still prevalent and continues to educate people. I also edited the image so that the white on the book cover was extremely visible not only to create a contrast but make the face of The Giver visible. The reason I wanted the face of The Giver visible is because I wanted the reader to make eye contact with the character and feel the emotions being conveyed by this powerful illustration. After feeling the emotions that the book cover gives off, the cover image makes the message regarding censorship much more powerful. I also opted for the image to have a strong vignette because I wanted to display both the dark side and the brighter side of censorship. I wanted to convey to the audience that censorship is a bit of a hidden darkness, we don't realize to what extent it impacts us until it looks us in the eye. 

In the end, I decided to use this cover image because the message and metaphors it encompassed not only are powerful but are extremely effective. I decided to make the main image the background as I wanted it to be the first thing that the eye is drawn to. This image is one that is unconventional in the genre due to its extremely bright color. I used a bright colored image that was unconventional in order to draw the eye and make a larger impact on the reader. So, to increase this impact, I found that making it the entire background was the best way to get across the image's entire message. 

Cover Lines

For the main cover line, I tried to utilize a bit of alliteration in order to make it a bit more appealing. I tried to keep this cover line both short and slightly vague in order to entice the reader a bit. In order to make the main cover line a bit more powerful, I decided to use strong, emotion-inducing vocabulary such as censorship and conflicting. These words have strong connotations, helping make my cover line a bit more effective. In order to make the cover line even more effective, I decided to use the same serif font I used in the masthead. Though this is an unconventional choice, I chose to use this font because not only did it increase the cohesiveness of the cover but it also created a bit of contrast. The masthead is in all capital letters while the main cover line is mostly in lower case letters. By using the same font, not only was I able to create cohesiveness but I created a sense of contrast at the same time, developing a balance between these important pieces of text. I decided to place this at the bottom left corner of the cover because I wanted to do something that was a bit unconventional. Inspired by magazine covers from Newsweek and Bloomberg Businessweek, I decided that it would be a bit interesting to have the main cover line located in the bottom left.

Underneath the main cover line, I placed the subtitle of the story in order to make the flow of the writing a bit easier for the reader to follow. For the subtitle, I decided to use a short sentence fragment that described the main idea of the article by attempting not only to use complex vocabulary, but words that have a strong connotation. This helps increase not only the effectiveness of the main cover line but also that of the subtitle itself. For the font of the subtitle, I decided to go with a serif font called Noto Serif Display Extra C. I continued to use a serif font as I have been for the entire cover due to the emotions of intellect and trust it induces in a reader thanks to the historical connections of the font. I also used a font that was in the same typeface as the font for the masthead and the main cover line because it created a sense of cohesiveness. This cohesiveness however could not take away from the contrast as two different fonts were used, creating a balance that makes the cover a bit more appealing. The serif fonts that have been used so far match with the conventions of the genre as news magazines use these fonts in order to exemplify both intellect and reliability. 

For my two other cover lines, I decided to break conventions in the terms of font. Instead of using a serif font, I decided to use a sans serif font called Open Sans. I decided to use a sans serif font in order to create contrast and separate the main cover line from the others. Using a contrasting font, would help draw the eye more to the main cover line, which would help make the design a bit more effective. In addition to this, a sans serif font is clean and sophisticated yet friendly. I want to make the magazine cover a bit more friendly as I am not trying to appeal to the typical audience. I don't just want to appeal to the extremely educated people of society. My target audience is anyone who wants to learn more about current affairs. Thus, I find it necessary to make the cover a bit more approachable, which I have done through the use of a sans serif font. 

For the language of my cover lines, I decided to go with alliteration as I did for the main cover line and strong vocabulary that has powerful connotations attached to it. I decided to use words like battle and banned as they have a strong connotation that is a bit negative, something that makes people a bit curious. I also decided to include a page number as a part of my other cover lines because I noticed that many magazines including Time and the Atlantic use it on their cover. I found that following this convention would make my cover a bit more effective. I placed the two coverlines on the left side of the cover because I wanted the face of The Giver to be extremely clear so that I could use the illustration to my advantage. So, to maximize the effectiveness of my cover, I found that the best choice would be to have my other cover lines on the left side of the page. Plus, I was inspired by many other news magazines that had done this including Time and Newsweek.

Sell Line

I decided not to include a sell line in my cover. This is because throughout my research regarding the conventions of my genre, I have noticed that current affairs magazines tend not to have a sell line. This is because companies part of the genre of magazines are trying to create an image that is sophisticated. Adding a sell line is trying to blatantly convince someone to read a magazine, taking away from the sophistication of the magazine. Rather than using a sell line that may appear to be a bit tacky for a reader, they use strong cover lines, mastheads, and cover images in order to subtly entice people into reading their magazine. After all of this, I decided that in order to maintain a sleek and sophisticated cover, it was to my benefit not to include a sell line. 

Miscellaneous 

I decided to include the date that the magazine was published as it is an important convention of my genre. Due to the nature of the content provided by current affairs magazines, it is imperative for the reader to know when the magazine was published. This is so the reader knows how current the information provided is. People read news magazines in order to get current information regarding the world. If a magazine does not have a date, readers cannot tell whether the magazine is providing current news. This in turn will cause a decrease in readers. Thus, I decided to include the date as I wanted it to be clear to the reader regarding how current the information that my magazine is providing is. I decided to place my date underneath the masthead because I noticed it being done by magazines such as Newsweek and found it to be a bit intriguing. Not only does it follow genre conventions, but I personally found the design a bit intriguing, so I placed it there. For the date, I decided to use the same font as the subtitle in order to further increase the cohesiveness of the cover, making it a bit more effective.

I decided to include a barcode because contrary to my previous beliefs, many news magazines such as Bloomberg Businessweek do use a barcode on their cover. In order to reflect how much I have learned about my genre, negating previous assumptions, I thought it would be helpful to include a barcode. In addition to this, there was a large amount of blank space in the top right half of the cover. Not only does the barcode on the front make the magazine a bit easier for the reader to purchase, but it was able to fill the empty space in a sophisticated way. In order to fill said empty space, I placed the barcode in the top right corner of my cover. 

I decided not to include the issue number as a part of the cover of my magazine because I found that news magazines tend not to have the issue number as a part of their cover. Instead, they incorporate it at the top of the table of contents. So, instead of incorporating an issue number as a part of my cover, I found it to be more suitable that I add it to the table of contents of my magazine instead. I decided not to include a website link because most news magazines tend not to have this on their cover. If they do, it is in an extremely miniscule font. So, due to the conventions of my genre, I found that to make my magazine more realistic, it would be beneficial not to include a website link. 

Color Scheme

The basis of the color scheme of my magazine stems from the conventions of my genre. According to my research, magazines in my genre tend to have a color scheme of black, white, red, and blue. I kept this color scheme in mind as I designed the magazine. As my design for the cover started coming together, I narrowed down the color scheme to black, red, and white. I narrow the colors down to red and white through my cover image, which primarily uses the colors red and white. The reason I also kept black in my color scheme was because I found it necessary to have a font color scheme that had two contrasting colors. Thus, the color scheme of black and white. I decided to eliminate blue from my color scheme because even though blue is a good contrasting color, the main image sets the tone for the color scheme as blue does not go well with this tone. Blue creates a sense of calmness and peacefulness, which is the opposite of the emotion that I want this issue of the magazine to emote, leading me to my decision.

Peer Feedback and Revisions

During class, I received feedback from a variety of my peers regarding how I could improve my final cover. The main piece of feedback I received from my peers was that I was using too many different fonts that were not cohesive. They suggested picking two to three fonts for my cover. They also advised that I use a serif font instead of a sans serif one for my other coverlines. Due to this feedback, I first changed the font of my two cover lines (not including the main one) to the same font as the subtitle of my main cover line. This made a noticeable difference for my cover, making it look much more professional. Another piece of feedback I got was to change the alignment of my other coverlines to left aligned. At first, I was a bit surprised but did try it out as I could not figure out why I felt that my cover still did not feel completely cohesive. Doing so made a massive difference. Aligning my cover lines to the left made my cover look much more put together and professional. It elevated the design, increasing its sophistication. Another piece of feedback I received was to decrease the amount of space between the two words that are my main cover line. When I did so, I formatted the subtitle as well to fit the new positioning of the main cover line. This change made the design much cleaner and put together. One final piece of feedback I received was that I should decrease the size of my barcode as it was distracting from my cover line. After doing so, I felt that the barcode was not as abrupt and aided the design's professionalism. After all of these edits, my final design is displayed below. 

Conclusion

In all, I would say that my magazine is a bit more unconventional. Certain aspects of each piece of my cover break a convention, may it be the positioning of something or its color. I met basic conventions regarding content and colors but then I subverted more nuance-oriented conventions such as placement and font style. For example, though the font of my masthead was conventional, it's size and placement was not. Another example would be the cover lines. Though their placement was conventional, their font was not. I enjoyed breaking some of the conventions of my genre as I find it easier to get my message across by doing so. Though this is nowhere near what I initially imagined, I have come to find that this design is powerful, yet clean and sophisticated, meeting my goal. 

Works Cited

All Previous Research (Can be found at the bottom of each blog post)