TOC Mock ups and Final Cover
Introduction
In my previous post, I went over the information I am going to include in my table of contents. In this post, I will be creating two mock ups and deciding which one I will use as a part of my final product. Please note that these designs will change as I continue to go through this process. In my mock-ups, I am much more conventional in my designs in comparison to my table of contents because I have learned that to be the most effective, my design must be only a bit not unconventional, not completely as it can take the audience aback.
Mock-up One
For this mock up, I took my first sketch from my second to last post and inserted the information and images I had dealt with in my last post. I did end up changing a few things from the sketch in order to increase the effectiveness of my design. The first thing I did was increase the space between each article when I inserted the information, the page looked a bit overcrowded. The next thing I did was change my featured articles. The reason I did this was because after further research, I realized that not all of the cover lines on the cover result in featured articles. For this reason, I chose only to have the main cover line as a featured article and the rest of the coverlines as supporting content. Another thing I did was increase the size of the red sections on each side of the page. This is because the articles listed in them started becoming clustered as I added more information, decreasing the effectiveness of the design. Also, I added page numbers for the articles in the featured section as I realized that I had completely forgotten about them.
After making all of these changes, I proceeded to create my mockup. My mockup starts at the top of the page. Here, I first have the masthead of the magazine, identical to the one on my cover, in a smaller font. The reason I chose to include my masthead as a part of my table of contents is because throughout my research, I have learned that it is conventional for current affairs magazines to include their masthead at the top of their table of contents. Next, comes the date which is directly underneath the masthead. I chose to use the same font for the date as I did on the cover because it would help create a sense of uniformity between the two pieces. I decided to include a date underneath the masthead for two reasons. The first being that due to the content of this genre, it is imperative for people to know what the date the issue is correlated with so that they can receive the most up to date information regarding the happenings of the world. The second reason I decided to include a date said position is because it is convention for news magazines to display the date that the issue correlates with underneath the masthead. Underneath the masthead and date, is a line which was included to create a bit of separation between the content of the page and the top fourth.
Beneath this is the one image I decided to include in this mockup. I decided to utilize the image I edited in the previous blog for three reasons. The first reason is that it fits with the color scheme of the magazine, which is black, red, and white. The next two reasons being that it fits with the main, featured article of the issue, matching the conventions of my genre, and it creates a focal point in the page, which catches the eye. Directly underneath the image is my features section. I have positioned the featured section in such a location because it is conventional in my genre to have the featured articles be listed somewhere in the middle third of the page. For the label of the section, I used a small font in all capital letters. I made this choice due to the fact that not only does it help spotlight the articles itself, but it imitates Time magazine, which was one of my goals in this spread. I made sure that it was in all capital letters so that even though the label was small, it would still be easily visible to the reader.
On the left and right thirds of the page are two sections, one labeled The Outlook and the other labeled The Social Scene. The reason I used such names for my sections is because I was inspired a bit by Time magazine. I decided to imitate their sections and position them in a similar manner. So, I have the section entitled The Outlook on the left and the section entitled the Social Scene on the right. These two sections are created by the two sections of red, one on each side of the page. Time magazine tends to have a white page and uses lines to separate sections. I decided that in order to utilize my color scheme more, it would be interesting to subvert the conventions of my genre and use two red sections in order to separate the content. The specific shade of red used was pulled straight from my cover in order to maintain a sense of uniformity throughout the project. The section entitled The Outlook lists articles that are related to current events both nationally and globally. The section titled The Social Scene has articles regarding culture listed under it including things such as music and T.V. The reason I separated the articles in such a way was so that the flow of the magazine is logical. Articles regarding culture are more leisurely while news articles are what a reader is looking for. So, it makes the most sense to have what the reader is looking for initially since it will make sure that the audience actually reads the magazine in its entirety. I did have to create one more article title as I had anticipated that I would edit my sketch and only include six article titles in the outermost sections.
The format for each article is one that is simple. On the top is the page number on the left with the label of the article on the right. Underneath this, is the title of the article which is a bit longer as there is no subtitle included that elaborates on top of the title of the article. The reason I decided to have my page number to the left is because it is a conventional find in the genre of news magazines. I then include a label next to the page number because that is a convention of my genre, one that magazines tend not to subvert. For the label itself, I tried to use a word or short phrase as it keeps with the conventions of my genre. For the fonts, I decided to use a sans serif font for the label because after doing some further research, I realized that the labels of the articles tend to be in a sans serif font while the article titles themselves tend to be in a serif font. This convention primarily applies to articles which are not featured. Thus, I did not follow this convention in my features section. For the article titles, I tried to address a variety of different current topics and events including gun violence, COVID 19, Lin Manuel Miranda with Encanto, and the trucking crisis in Canada. The reason I did this was because this is a convention of news magazines that every single publication that is part of the genre follows as having such content is the reason that this genre exists.
For the fonts in general, regardless of whether the font was serif or sans serif, I used the same typeface throughout the entire page. The reasoning behind this was because even though there were different fonts used, I still wanted to maintain cohesiveness throughout the spread. I did use a different font family for the page numbers because I wanted them to be sans serif and bold so that they would match the conventions of my genre. The page numbers for the first and last section had about two to four pages between them as they were not the featured articles. For the featured pieces, I had gaps of ten to twelve pages because I noticed that it was a convention of my genre in my research. I used the color black for my writing to not only follow conventions but as it was the mast easy to read. For the wording of my information, I decided to use formal language in order to convey to the reader that this source is both serious and reliable. I only included one image because it allowed me to create a focal point in the design without breaking conventions or taking away from other aspects. This mock up, ended up being inspired by Time with some touches from other magazines, something that I had not quite expected. Before I decide whether to use this mock up as my final cover, I must also review my second mock up so that I make an informed decision.
Mock-up Two
First comes the masthead and date. The font used and the sizing is identical to that used in my first mock up. I kept these the same in order to keep with the conventions of my genre. For a more detailed explanation regarding this choice, see paragraph two of the section entitled Mock-up one. I did however decide to position the masthead and date in a different place, aligning them to the left instead of the center. The reason I did this is because I wanted to continue imitating Newsweek and Bloomberg Businessweek, leading to my choice. Underneath the masthead and the date, is the content of the page. The reason I placed all of the content beneath the masthead and date is because it helps section out and separate the two aspects but it also follows the conventions of my genre.
In the center of the spread, near the top of the page is a section entitled features. This label is identical to the one used in the previous mockup and was primarily utilized due to its conventionality. For more details regarding this, please see paragraph three of the section Mock-up One, which is located above. I decided to follow a design used by Newsweek, creating a box around the featured section. This box led to me positioning the section near the top of the page, in the center. The content inside the box is identical to the content in the featured section of my previous mockup. I decided to have such content as part of my featured section because of its conventionality. The details of this explanation can be found in paragraph four of the section entitled Mock-up One. The layout of each article is the same except for the fact that I have placed the page number to the left of the titles of the articles in the featured section. I did this in order to create uniformity throughout the page and since I was able to incorporate the page number in such a way without disrupting the design. If you would like a further more detailed explanation regarding the layout of each article, please see paragraph 4 of the section Mock-up One.
Using a box in the center of the spread created a separation between the two sides of the spread. Similar to what I did in my first mock up, I utilized the same articles in the same format and placed them in the two rows. Regarding the format of the articles, the only thing that is different from mock up one would be that the page numbers for all of the articles are red instead of black. The reason I did this is because one tip I found throughout my research is that I need to create contrast and a pop of color is the perfect way to do so. The titles and labels of the articles throughout the spread are all the same except for the fact I had to add an extra article title in addition to the one I added during mock up one. The reason I used the article titles I did was to follow the conventions of my genre. For more information, regarding font choice, word choice, and more, please see the section entitled Mock-up one. For the label of my two sections, I utilized the same titles as I did in mock up one in order to make the flow of the page more logical. For more elaboration, see the section called Mock-up one. For the positioning of the articles, I did something different in comparison to the first mock up. In the left third of the page, I had three article titles, in the right third of the page I had four article titles, and in the middle, I had two article titles underneath the features section. The reason I had the article titles positioned in such a manner is because I had black space to fill and I was including multiple images.
One of the largest differences between mock up one and two is that mock up two includes three images. The first image was one that I edited in my last blog post, which was connected to my main cover line. I included this image because it connected with one of my articles, matching the conventions of my genre. I placed this image above the section title which states, "The Outlook". I did this because I saw this technique used by Newsweek and thought that it would be interesting to experiment with. My second image is one that I was considering for my cover. I decided to include this image because it fit the conventions of my genre, connecting to the article regarding Eastern Europe. I did edit the picture before inserting it, making it black and white so that it would better fit with my color scheme. This image was placed in the bottom left corner because I was imitating a layout from Newsweek which had an image in a similar location. Finally, I included the image of the viola which I edited in my last post. The reason I included this image is because it connects to my article regarding the impacts of classical music, following the conventions of my genre. I did remove the background of the image before inserting it because it was a technique I noticed that both Time and Newsweek utilized. I found it intriguing and felt the need to experiment with it. I placed this image in the bottom right corner because not only was it right underneath the article that it corresponded with but I noticed that images with their backgrounds removed tend to be placed in this location. Including three images followed the conventions of my genre as magazines can have around one to three images or no images at all.
For the color of the page, I decided to follow conventions and stick with a white background because I wanted to accent the content of the page. The rest of my mock-up is identical to that of mock-up one in both the decisions made and the reasoning behind. If you are interested in finding out why my font choices are the way they are or why my page numbers are separated in a certain manner, please see the section above which has the title, "Mock-up One". Now that I have gone through each mock up, it is time that I chose my final table of contents.
My Decision and Conclusion
After deliberating, I have decided to use mock-up one for my final table of contents. The main reason for this is that mock up one is a much clearer and sleek design. It is more realistic in comparison to mock up two. Mock up one is much easier to follow in comparison to mock up two and it has a creative twist. Using red as a part of the background sections out the articles in a unique way incorporates my color scheme well. The red in the background, as I learned while writing my post regarding color theory, projects power and confidence, making the design even more effective. Everything else about mock up one and two is the same, except for these few factors that have led me to believe the mock up one is my best option. As always, this is not my final design as I will continue to edit my table of contents as I receive more feedback. In my next post, I will be reviewing the feedback I receive and will be editing my design accordingly.
Works Cited
All my previous research and blogs
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