Final Cover Revisions and Edits

FINAL COVER CONTENT CHOICES                                                           02/08/2022

In this post I will be finalizing my cover for my specific sports magazine. Throughout the blog you will find all of my content choices and my reasoning behind each of them. Furthermore, I will also be explaining the colors, fonts, and placements of each particular aspect of my magazine cover as well as my desired outcome for the magazine cover along with how my cover relates to the conventions of my specific genre. Once again I want to let everyone know that I used the editing software Canva for all of my covers, including this one.  

Desired Outcome for Cover:

I, for one, want my sports magazine cover and main image to combine in a way that is captivating and energetic as well as cool and sophisticated. At the same time, my cover needs to give the readers insight to what will be mentioned inside the magazine itself so that the main image should also have a strong connection to the overall content of the magazine. I also want to have a main image that is conventional and consists of an athlete with either a slightly blurred background or a completely neutral one so that the focus falls almost completely on the subject of the main image itself. Another aspect that I think is very common in sports magazines is the fact that the main image sits slightly on top of the masthead, thus I need an image that would work well when placed over the masthead. Lastly, I want a main image that contains a good amount of color without being too overwhelming so that the color has more meaning and power that can connect to the desired tone. Of course, I would also like to be distinct and unique so I need an image that bends the conventions slightly in an effective manner. Another key aspect of the cover is the text which should vary in font and size so that the cover does not appear boring, yet there still should be some uniformity regarding the fact that all coverlines should be the same, all descriptions should be the same, etc. This allows for the magazine to be sophisticated and fun simultaneously. Lastly, I want warm colors that give the magazine life and convey the feeling that you get when playing sports under the sun with energy and enthusiasm.

Final Cover:

I chose one of the 2 mockups I did in post #6 as that was the one that I worked the hardest on, therefore I believe that it is the best one. You may notice that I repeat some of the same information that I did in post #6 with little additions here and there based on any changes that might have occurred since I originally posted blog #6 and with some more in depth analysis and observations.

I will now be exploring all of the specific cover components in depth and explaining my decisions behind each and every detail.

Main Image:

The image I chose is one of an athlete that was taken during an actual match, so by showing that the photo was taken live it automatically becomes more interesting and untraditional since most main images with athletes are usually stationary in a photo shoot. It is also framed in a full shot so that the viewer gets a life-like perspective of the main image and can more easily relate to it. Another noticeable thing about the main image is that it is very thin so it should work quite well in a more detailed cover and the subject would fit very nicely on top of the masthead which is another big detail that I want to place an emphasis on. Obviously, this image relates directly to sports since it was taken during an actual match, therefore this image develops a strong connection between the magazine, its viewers, and the sports. The subject's costume also utilizes warm colors like red and yellow very well and is overall very conventional as the costume includes a jersey and cleats making the magazine more realistic. In addition, the fact that the subject has a serious face is also a very conventional aspect of the main image as I learned in my very first blog when I was researching the conventions of sports magazines. Even though the main image is usually placed in the middle of the cover, by having it at the rule of thirds this allows for the image to be bigger and feel more free, thus giving it more attention and making the image more visually appealing. I also learned in blog #4 that the most important areas of the magazine are the edges so by placing it closer to the edges, the main image is more easily visible. The last important thing about the main image that is highly conventional is that it is framed in an aqua blue gradient background which allows the focus to be on the main image while setting a calm and sophisticated tone.

Masthead:

For the title of the magazine I decided on the name Global Football Informer for a number of different reasons. First of all, it clearly communicates to the audience what this magazine talks about and by adding the word informer a more professional and informational tone is set right away. Then the word global along with the use of the color red and the line under the masthead all combine to convey the importance and power of the magazine to the audience and lets them know how passionate the magazine is about the subject. To further prove the formal tone, the masthead is in Oswald font which is the most similar font that I could find to the Impact font that I researched and selected in blog #2 as my go to font for anything regarding sophistication. This is due to the fact that the font is completely straight and has long letters that appear more modern and progressive than other fonts which is similar to how sports in general tend to move with the times. The font is also bolded, not only to convey strength, but to also help the audience understand what's the most important parts of the magazine. The masthead is placed in the center of the top third in order to assert its dominance over the rest of the cover and visually symbolize how it's one of, if not, the most important part of the cover and that everyone should be looking at it. Before I forget, I also wanted to mention how most mastheads in sports magazines are not underlined, thus making our magazine more distinct and stylistic than other magazines. Though the fact that it is covered by the main image is very conventional, especially in sports magazines. Last but not least I wanted to mention how the masthead is also very easily abbreviated into GFI which in my opinion is very easy to remember and is pretty unique.

Selling Line: 

Although the selling line is at times considered to be a part of the masthead itself, I have decided to dedicate an entire section to it so that I can better explain its role in the cover. If you didn't know, the selling line is basically the identity of the magazine brand so it's quite important for the audience to better understand the magazine as a whole which is why it goes hand in hand with the masthead and literally just explains the masthead in a little bit more detail. Surprisingly, I found out in blog #1 that most sports magazine do not include a selling line so by me having one I am already making myself stand out from the competition in positive way as I am showing how my magazine is more detailed than the rest in everything it does, especially in our "World-Class Football News and Analysis" that the selling line so explicitly states. Also many selling lines, such as mine, inform the audience how old the brand is by saying since ___. I put the selling line underneath the masthead to signify how they are deeply connected but the masthead is still above the selling line both literally and metaphorically. To further show that connection I used the same font for the selling line but not bolded and in a smaller size, once again illustrating how it is less important, and in a white font that I stated in blog #3 signifies how the magazine's identity is pure and good. Lastly, I wanted to appeal to all generations of football fans so by breaking the tradition of more modern magazines and adding a selling line I can relate more to the older audiences while still keeping in mind the younger ones through the use of warm colors in the rest of the cover and of certain fonts like Oswald that show modernity.

Coverlines:

For the coverlines, all of them were in the knewave, AKA Rockster Casual as seen in blog #2, font with a yellow color and were all placed in the edges of the cover, some more close to the rule of thirds, but all of them were in easily visible and aesthetically pleasing locations. This ensured that the stories all appeared fun and happy because no one wants to read sad stories, at least I don't think they do when it comes to sports. The only difference between each of them are the size of each. For example, the main coverline is the biggest coverline and the actual content is just the name of the subject of the main image, in this case Daniel Rodriguez. It is then supported by a pull quote that I will explain in the next section and placed across from the main image in a way that they connect at the center showing their relationship with one another. The supporting coverline is in a slightly smaller size and as the name suggests adds on to the main coverline by stating, Inside the Mind of Football's Future Star, who can be inferred to be Daniel Rodriguez. This one on the other hand is followed by a normal, conventional description of what the coverline really means. Both of these coverlines are conventional as most sports magazines focus on one primary athlete whose name is the main coverline and appears at least in other supporting coverline. The coverlines also imply that the magazine will talk about Daniel's season and how he works on and off the field which is a very interesting topic that falls under the news and analysis section of the selling line because the personal life aspect of the story is news while anything about his season is considered analysis. The last coverlines are all minor ones and are placed all along the top edge of the cover in smaller font and in a very non-traditional manner. This is due to them being placed in a way that creates a sort of mini TOC. I did this not only to appear unique but to also follow a tip from post #4 about emphasizing the TOC. This follows the tip as I am giving it more importance by simply putting part of the TOC on the front cover. Consequently, this helps the audience browse the magazine more easily and helps connect the cover to the TOC and the rest of the magazine in a more satisfying way. All of these minor coverlines are supported by a page number instead of a pull quote or a description so that it really does look like an actual TOC. The content itself is mostly short news-related articles like records being broken, upcoming matches, or even reviews of the season so far which actually falls more under the analysis section of the magazine. Overall, the variation of sizes guides the audience in comprehending what content is more important. They also are all from 2-5 word coverlines which in reality are actually kind of long compared to most sports magazines further cementing the desire of the magazine to be detailed.

Descriptions, Page Numbers, and Pull Quotes:

This section goes hand in hand with the section above as all of the aspects mentioned here directly support the coverlines that I talked about before and are all placed below the coverlines themselves. This magazine is a lot more diverse on the ways of how it supports it coverlines as it not only uses the conventional descriptions but it also utilizes pull quotes and page numbers to improve the audience's understanding and to better tease the audience. Let's start with the traditional descriptions as they are the most simple of the 3. For the descriptions I used the font Oswald so that it contrasted with knewave font that the coverlines had. This countered the relaxed effect of the knewave and allowed for the content to become more serious without forgetting the fun part of the story and the sport in general. It went into more detail about what exactly the article will talk about and even gave examples which is not a common characteristic of sports magazine descriptions which usually keep it shorter but I believe that the description was as short as possible and to the point. The description was only used once, for the supporting coverline to be exact, which made sure that the magazine cover did not appear to analytical since I also applied Oswald for the page numbers under the minor coverlines in the same exact size as well. Once again I go back to the feeling of unison that this implies due to the selling line also being in the same kind of font and size. The page numbers help the audience follow the content correctly so it needs to be in a proper, easy to read font which means that Oswald is perfect. The last part I want to talk about is the pull quote underneath the main coverline. This component was only used once and is becoming more popular just like how selling lines are becoming less popular so I'll classify this as unconventional for the time being. Here, I used Alfa Slab One which was the only Slab Bold Serif I could find so that my plan from blog #2 could be fulfilled. This then showed how the statement that the athlete made was intense and important. The text itself was in a medium size to show that the audience should acknowledge it but not focus too heavily on it. It is also italicized to visually symbolize how this is a quote.

Miscellaneous:

To rephrase the heading, this includes the barcode and any issue information. In my case I used the basic barcode with a white background instead of having one that blended into the background. This was so that the barcode stood out since it includes the price, therefore being essential for the customer to actually purchase the magazine. Typically, it can be found in the bottom right hand corner but when you take into account the rest of the cover that would have cut out part of my main image which is not ideal so I placed it in the bottom left hand corner out of the way of everything. This also meant that it was one of the last things that the customer would see when you consider how people read. The last main aspect of the cover is the issue information which includes the date, issue number, and website of the specific magazine. Most, if not all, magazines include this and it is commonly located somewhere around the masthead since at times it is even considered part of the masthead along with the selling line. This is due to it representing the basic information regarding the magazine. However, I decided to place the issue information next to the barcode on its direct right so that all of the legal information is in the same spot and can be easily spotted. The actual text is in Oswald to prove how it deals completely with all of the legal parts of the magazine brand. At the same time, I chose to make it the smallest text on the cover since it is usually small so that it does not attract any attention because the information is not really relevant to the overall sports content of the magazine and is simply there for those customers who are curious about the brand and want to understand its history, mission, etc.

Overall Color Scheme:

As mentioned above, I used an analogous color scheme containing red, orange, and yellow/gold for this cover as well as an aqua gradient background. This background was able to implement the skill "harness contrasts" that I discovered in blog #4 very well with the color scheme itself and allows for all of the colors in addition to the main image to stand out and appear clearer than they would have without it. I used the color red for the masthead in order to show the power and passion that the magazine has for sports. Red was used only once which was for the masthead and by doing so it made the masthead more unique and placed a higher importance on it. Next, I used orange for the border of the magazine cover to show the positive side of sports and of the magazine itself. The color orange was also very helpful in trying to appeal to a younger audience. The opposite can be said of the color yellow that conveys the theme that sports are for all ages, especially the older ones. The rest of the text was all in white including the pull quote, the description, the selling line, the magazine information, and the page numbers. Along with the lack of black, except for a little bit of the background, this made the cover more lighthearted in general. The white also symbolizes how the magazine has the purest intentions in everything they do and so does the main image whose quote is in white as well. Finally, the aqua background develops a feeling of balance and a connection to nature that is quite subtle but still evident and further improves the entire cover. Speaking of connections, the color I chose were, for the most part, present in the costume of the subject in the main image so it helped create a sense of unison between the entire cover. Most of the time warm colors are found on sports magazine covers because they symbolize the feeling of playing sports outside with friends in the warm sun and bring an all in all positive vibe to any magazine.

Overall Font Choices:

I only used 3 fonts. I used Alfa Slab One only once, for my pull quote. I did this to symbolize the boldness and strength of what the statement actually meant and of the magazine as a whole. As aforementioned in blog #2, this font works best when used on medium sized words so that's exactly what I did so that it is very easy to read. To rephrase it, Alfa Slab One would take up too much space and be a bit overwhelming if I used it for big text, while if I used it on small text, it would be very hard to read due to the thickness of the letters. I then used Oswald for the masthead and all of the smaller information like the descriptions, the page numbers, the magazine information, and of course the selling line. Through the common use of Oswald, a more modern and formal tone is set as the letters are perfectly straight and it is a pretty basic yet effective font. It also develops uniformity throughout the cover thanks to it being shown so much. The last font, knewave, only appeared in the coverlines. The fact that it looks like handwriting and that it is slanted counters the effect from Oswald and Alfa Slab One to create a mixture of sophistication and friendliness that is very attractive for the viewer. I especially applied this font for the coverlines in order to provide the reader with a more enjoyable and fun perspective on the stories while simultaneously reminding them of the level of formality that the magazine itself presents. Now that I talked about the basic font I also wanted to slightly touch on the weight and size of certain pieces of text. For instance, Alfa Slab One is naturally bolded and like I said is meant for medium size text such as pull quotes so that's why I chose to use it. The opposite can be said for knewave as it is naturally slanted like handwriting so by using it on the medium to small text pieces it becomes easy to read and understand. Lastly, Oswald can be read in any size since it is a very versatile and modern text which is why I applied it in the descriptions, issue information, selling line, and masthead. For Oswald in particular the letters are automatically straight, thin, and perfect so I bolded the font only in the masthead to emphasize its superiority over everything else. This relates to the conventions of sports magazines as Oswald was used by Sports Illustrated among other sports magazine brands to appear modern while Alfa Slab One is very similar to fonts that you find in sports magazines that are used for things like pull quotes and other important content that you want to make stand out. In contrast, knewave is not that popular in sports magazines since it appears slightly informal and childish at times though in my eyes it is just what my magazine needed to keep the balance between fun and formal.

Revisions Based on Feedback:

After showing my final cover to my fellow classmates, I was able to receive some very informative pieces of constructive criticism on what I should improve about my cover in general. Overall, the main piece of feedback that I was receiving was that my cover was too overwhelming due to there being so many different fonts and colors on it. They suggested limiting the amount of fonts and continuing to try to implement colors from my main image in a way that also decreased the amount of colors and made the cover more united. As a result, I changed my background gradient to blue instead of aqua and the outline to red instead of orange in order to mimic the main image's costume more than before. It also created a very nice contrast against the text which made it more readable. It obviously also added more power and energy to the cover. Another more specific piece of feedback that I agreed completely with was that the knewave font made the cover look more childish and cheap so I eliminated and made all of the coverlines be in a yellow Alfa Slab One font. This made the cover more professional and brought more attention to each and every coverline while still keeping in mind which coverlines are more important by manipulating their size and placement. For instance I moved the main coverline more into the middle so as to make it the center of attention and connect it more to the main image as they are both deeply related. In addition, I changed the pull quote, page numbers, selling line, and description to the exact same font of bolded Oswald. They also all had the same size except for the pull quote since I wanted to make it stand out more. The last thing I changed was a very minor detail involving the barcode. One of my peers mentioned that there was a bit too much white space around it so I cropped the white space out to make the design look more clean and smaller, thus making the attention go more towards the rest of the cover. In total, the new design in my opinion is a lot more satisfying, especially thanks to the sense of unison between the cover and the main image itself.

Conclusion:

In total, the magazine as a whole is very balanced on how it relates to conventions since it breaks many conventions while simultaneously staying true to tradition in many cases as well. Take the main image that is conventional by wearing a jersey and by being serious while at the same time being unconventional due to being photographed live and having been placed at the rule of thirds instead of in the center. This helps attract viewers who enjoy tradition like the elderly as well as those who are more progressive and modern like the youth of society. Yet they are all united like my cover by the love for sports, in my case football. In the end, I am trying to make my magazine stand out among the wide range of sports magazines available to people worldwide so that means that in some cases I have to be unique and bend certain conventions while in other cases it is best to play it safe and remain inside the conventions of my genre. Also for your information I took great inspiration from the following two magazine covers from Sports Illustrated and World Soccer respectively that I have been using and encoporating certain aspects of their cover into mine ever since I found them while doing research for post #1: 

Tools and Resources Utilized:

• https://www.canva.com/.
• Rodriguez, Daniel. Daniel Rodriguez - AICE Media Studies, Blogger, 27 Jan. 2022, https://danielrodriguez111106.blogspot.com/.