Magazine+Cover+Assignment


 * 1. Magazine covers from Life and Vogue**

These two magazine covers are similar in many ways. The banners, placed at the top of the covers, are big, clear, and shown in capital letters. However, they are both placed behind the subjects of the covers, which are women for both magazines. There are brief descriptions of what the magazine is about for both covers; the more significant words are also shown in capital letters.
 * 2. What do both of the covers have in common?**

The main story of the Vogue Magazine is the issues faced by women of different ages since there is a big, eye-catching title that says "THE AGE ISSUE". There should also be some story on fashions, once again, relating to the age issue. The story for the Life Magazine is about the female star of Avatar, Zoe Saldana. There should be behind the scenes photos of the movie Avatar, and stories on the production of the movie.
 * 3. What is the main story in that issue and how does it relate to the image on the cover?**

Element relationship is a design principle demonstrated in the Vogue Magazine cover; the three women are posing in a way that shows interacting between them. The dress worn by the outer two women frames the middle one as the darker colours contrast with the white dress. There is also the use of simplicity since there are no background or other objects in the cover. For the Life Magazine, they used a portrait of Zoe Saldana. There is a colour balance between the subject and the magazine cover; the vivid colour of red, contrasting with the white background, creates a sense of focus for the cover.
 * 4. What design principles are evident in the cover image?**

Early magazine covers did not look like the magazines we have now. In fact, there wasn't any covers for them originally, but a title and a table of contents; some magazines even started an article on the cover, like a newspaper. Later, covers emerges, and they mimic the designs of books. There were only title and publication date; cover lines or pictures did not exist. Then cover lines became popular in the late 1800s, and with the emergence of poster covers, these two elements became the standard design of magazines.
 * 5. What were some characteristics of early magazine covers?**

The early poster covers got their ideas from the artistic posters of the Art Nouveau Movement. Most poster covers didn't relate to the stories inside the magazines, rather, they reflected the general mood of the society. Also some art were symbolic, and this will invite the readers into the magazine. The poster covers from before were oversized by today's standards. Generally, poster covers used art to attract the readers as it was the main focus of the cover.
 * 6. What are some characteristics of the poster cover?**

The main purpose of the cover lines is to draw the attention of those readers who are not influenced by the poster cover.
 * 7. What is the purpose of cover lines?**

When cover lines are integrated within the poster cover, we have an integrated cover. The art and the text strengthens one another thus, creating a strong magazine cover that will grasp many people's attention.
 * 8. What is an "integrated" cover?**

The placement of cover lines help create a sense of depth and a layering effect for the cover. This makes the cover more 3-D, which could be considered as a design principle that is used to attract more people's attention.
 * 9. How can the placement of cover lines effect the overall design of a cover?**


 * Answers to questions 5-9 were from http://longleaf.net/coverlines/**


 * 10. Describe the following styles of cover lines:**
 * Outside the box: For this design, the text, title and illustrations are all separated. Each of them are places in their own individual box. This keep the design simple and clear, and reader can clearly identify each element.
 * Inside the box: This design also uses boxes to separate cover lines from the illustrations. However, it puts the boxes inside an image, and the cover lines will be placed within the box.
 * Columns: Some magazines use columns to separate the cover lines from the illustration to emphasize them. Usually the columns are places on the left or the right border.
 * Zones: For this design, the logo, illustration and cover lines are placed in separated areas; the magazine cover is divided into different zone. Generally, there will be a zone for all the cover lines, and another zone for the illustrations.
 * Banners and Corners: For this design, the banner is placed on an angle near the corner. The banners are usually wide with big text; this grabs the attention of the readers.
 * Unplanned and Planned Spaces: For designs that place text in unplanned spaces, the cover lines might cover the illustrations on the cover. This is the easiest way to fit the cover lines into the cover These cover lines may be placed on top of an illustration or in spaces that are accidentally left blank. Illustrators who want to put text in planned spaces may create illustrations that have spaces for cover lines. They would design the illustration and the space for the cover lines at the same time.