Cover Mockups and Genre Choices
Introduction. In my previous post "Travel Magazine Cover Drafts and Plans," I sketched five different covers for my genre. In this post, I will take Draft #3 and Draft #4 and use them as templates for mockup covers. By the time I am done, I will have two original covers for my travel magazine and the process that I used to make them will be documented in this post.
Technology Used to Make Mockups
General Process
To make my mock ups, I first went to Canva and went to "Recent designs." Then I made a copy of the draft I wanted to use as my template for the mock up. I went to Google Drive and downloaded the photo I wanted to use for the magazine cover. Then I went back to Canva and uploaded it onto my paper. After adjusting it how I wanted to, I clicked "Edit image." I then changed it until the result was what I wanted. I then moved onto the fonts used for the text on the cover. I kept them all the same from the draft, so I changed the colors depending on the image I used and what would work best for each cover. Finally, I moved the text to different positions based on the images I used because in some places the words were not visible, as they were on the drafts.
Draft #1
Mock Up #1
Editing Main Image
After selecting the image, I clicked "Edit image." For this picture, I changed the "Saturation" to 100 because it heightened the colors in the image and made them brighter. Then I change the "Contrast" to 30 to make the sharpness of the picture more visible. It also helped keep it from looking dull. Finally, I added a filter to the image. The filter I chose, "Eldar," made the gold of the arch more prominent where before it was more like a bright yellow. All of these changes also increased the sharpness of the glare of the sun on the image, making it more eye-catching.
Main Image Choice and Placement
Once I uploaded my picture onto the paper, I made it bigger to fit the entire space, and not leave any of the template showing. I chose not to stretch it out too much as that would have made the arch very big, and it would not have looked good and would be ill-fitting on the paper. It would also look very obviously cut-off which would have diminished the professional look of the magazine cover overall. If the image was made bigger, it would have looked like the arch was hanging in the sky instead of standing on the ground with trees and life around it, and that would have looked unrealistic and lessened the credibility of my cover, and therefore, my magazine.
Colors Used
The colors in this image are white, blue, green, gold, and some brown. Since there are multiple colors at the top where the masthead goes, I could not use blue, green, or brown as that would not have looked good with some of the background, if not all of that area. I did not use gold since the arch is already that color, and the text would have blended in with the image. To solve this problem, I used white to make it visible against the image, and since white is an abundant color in nature, it does not look out of place. The main coverline and supporting coverlines are also white to contrast brightly against the background while being simple and efficient.
Fonts Used
For the fonts in this mock up, I chose to keep the ones I used in the draft that I used as a template to base this cover off of. For the masthead, I used Cinzel Decorative because, as a decorative font, it is inherently unique and that theme matches the image I used. I have seen a few travel magazine covers that have arches on them, but this is the only one whose arch is not curved and looks more like a rectangle. The main coverline is in Kaushan Script because script fonts symbolize fun which is how I want to advertise this location. The supporting coverlines, selling line, and issue information are all in Open Sauce Light to give the readers a feeling of comfort and encourage them to look inside the magazine to read the spread. For this mock up, I bolded the text that is in Open Sauce Light because even though it was also used in the draft, it was not very visible against the image in this cover. To make them legible, I bolded the words.
Layout/Format Choices
The masthead is in the same place in the draft and mock up as it was visible in both covers. I brought the main coverline up a little on the page because it was blending into the gold of the arch in its original position. Because of this, I had to push the selling line and issue information to the right instead of the left because with the main coverline up more, it looked too crowded. Some of the first supporting coverline was not visible against the gold of the background so I had to move it to the left which made it look different from the draft. Once I realized that the other supporting coverline also had the same problem, I moved that slightly left too though not as much as the first. It is now in the bottom-middle of the page. Since the format of this cover is slightly different from the template, there was now space on the bottom left of the page to put the barcode. Lastly, I added a partial border to the page, which is not entirely against the conventions seen in travel magazines as TIME magazine consistently uses a red border. My border is only at the corners, and even then, not all of them. Since it looks drawn by pencil, it creates a sense of familiarity and comfort and makes people curious to read further since this border is different from what is usually seen.
Draft #2
Mock Up #2
Editing Main Image
After selecting the image, I clicked "Edit image." For this picture, I changed the "Saturation" to 100 because it heightened the colors in the image and made them brighter. Then I change the "Contrast" to 18 to make the difference between the shadows and highlights in the picture more obvious. It also helped keep it from looking dull. Finally, I turned the brightness to -14. This made the picture a little darker, but since the saturation was so high and the contrast is more than the default, it did not make the image look too dark. All of these changes also increased the sharpness of the steps on the foreground of the image and made their shape clearer.
Main Image Choice and Placement
Since the image was in a landscape layout (rectangle on its side), I had to stretch it out and then pull the sides more to make it fit on the paper without looking disproportionately stretched. Once I managed to do that, I positioned it so that most of the building was showing and some of the buildings in the background were still on the paper too. Making most of the picture just the stairs made it seem as if the building or location is bigger than it seems, which will make the readers more curious about the destination.
Colors Used
I utilized the design technique of putting dark on light by making the masthead a very dark grey to contrast against the sky in the background, (Blog Post #4, "Magazines Design and Layout Tips/Guide). It is also a color in the image which helps tie the whole cover together and make it look unified. I made the rest of the text white so it is visible against the picture. The issue information on the bottom of the page is a little hard to see, so I might change the placement of the text, or change its color.
Fonts Used
For the fonts in this mock up, I chose to keep the ones I used in the draft that I used as a template to base this cover off of. For the masthead, I used Open Sans Extra Bold because sans serif fonts symbolize openness which emphasizes the amount of space the building takes up and how big the building is. It helps encourage readers to want to go to the location and explore the vast area. The main coverline is in Open Sans which is a thinner version of the font used for the masthead. This is to help distinguish the masthead from the main coverline. The supporting coverlines are also in Open Sans, but they are smaller so that it is clear that they are not supposed to be the main focus. The selling line and issue information are all in Open Sans Light to give the readers a feeling of comfort and encourage them to look inside the magazine to read the spread. For this mock up, I bolded the text that is in Open Sans Light because even though it was also used in the draft, it was not very visible against the image in this cover. To make them legible, I bolded the words.
Layout/Format Choices
The masthead is in the same place in the draft and mock up as it was visible in both covers. The selling line is also kept in the same place as there was enough space for it to be seen clearly. Even though the main coverline and supporting coverlines are on the right side of the page on the draft, I moved them all to the left on the mock up. This is because if I kept them on the right, the words would obscure the buildings in the background of the image and cover too much of the foreground. Moving everything to the left allowed the main part of the image to be seen (main building). I moved the issue information to the bottom of the page next to the barcode because keeping it under the selling line was making the top of the page look cluttered and too busy. I also rotated the barcode from a vertical position to a horizontal position so it did cover as much of the stairs and looked good with the issue information.
Wrap Up
After making my mock ups and going over everything I had to do to make them, I have come to some conclusions. First, I am getting better at editing images and placing them onto templates. Second, I like my first mock up the best. Though it does not fit into the template exactly, everything I changed fit its theme. I like how the green, blue, brown and gold complement each other and make it seem as if the picture is very natural while also drawing attention to the archway. The font seems sophisticated but not too harsh to draw readers in. I like the border because the style is unique and entirely my own idea, and I have not seen it on any travel magazine cover so far. My favorite part of the cover is the gold shine on the archway from the sun which was made even brighter by the editing.
Works Cited
- “Travel Magazine Codes and Conventions.” Prezi.com, https://prezi.com/p/p__p013k5erz/travel-magazine-codes-and-conventions/.
- Gert Svaiko Gert is a professional copywriter. “Font Psychology: Here's Everything You Need to Know about Fonts.” Designmodo, 22 June 2021, https://designmodo.com/font-psychology/#serif.
- Vallaure, Christine. “Ultimate Guide to Color in UX/Ui Design.” Medium, UX Planet, 1 July 2021, https://uxplanet.org/ultimate-guide-to-color-in-ux-ui-design-de8eb104b5d3.
- Bigman, Alex. “This Is How You Rock a Magazine Cover Design.” 99designs, 99designs, 24 Jan. 2018, https://99designs.com/blog/tips/how-you-rock-a-magazine-cover-design/.
- Fussell, Grace. “10 Tips for Designing High-Impact Magazines.” Design & Illustration Envato Tuts+, Envato Tuts, 15 June 2020, https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/10-tips-for-designing-high-impact-magazines--cms-25956.
Comments
Post a Comment