Magazine Cover Conventions Reflection

    In class, I learned about the conventions of a magazine by labeling a diagram and writing the definitions of each feature. We were shown different types of magazine examples and discussed each convention on it. We discussed cover images, the feature article, cover lines, puffs/plugs, box outs, strips and banners, and even simple features like the dateline and bar code. I was slightly confused and overwhelmed at the beginning of the lesson but towards the end it made sense to me. I was confused because I was very unfamiliar with magazine conventions. All the other lessons we went through, I had prior knowledge on the conventions of the genre with this one however I had very little knowledge about magazine conventions.

    My choice of magazine genre was nature. The requirements for the project stated that the cover image had to be a picture we took ourselves and not from the internet and the only pictures I have taken myself are of the sky, clouds, sunrises, and one picture I took of a river and trees I saw on the way home from school. I chose the picture of the river and trees because the green color conveyed the nature genre more than the blue in the sky pictures would. The picture I chose has a soft and almost dreamy feel to it, and that picture conveys what nature is to me.

    The magazine conventions I used were a masthead, cover image, a feature article, 3 cover lines, a puff, a strip, a dateline, and a barcode. The puff really contributed to the effectiveness of the cover because I chose to make the puff into a flower to make my magazine more aesthetically pleasing while also sticking with the nature genre of the magazine. For the masthead, I chose to name the magazine "Mother Nature Monthly" and made the font cursive to match the dreaminess and soft feeling of the cover image. The masthead and strip are an almost pastel green to still match the soft theme of the magazine and stand out from the green in the cover image.

    A challenge I faced while creating the cover was making the cover image photo vertical. A success I had thought was that the original picture I took was shot horizontally, and I had to take a screen shot of the image and change the size so that it was vertical. Another challenge I faced is that when I sized the cover image to fit the space of the screen, the image looked extremely blurry and along with the original image already being zoomed in the sizing made it worse. Another success I had was using textboxes to make the petals and center of the flower puff. To change the shape I had to create a textbox with the "T" icon on the left sidebar and then use the black mouse button and click on the textbox until the right "Properties" sidebar showed up and clicking the "Convert Shape" button and selecting "Ellipses" and resizing the text box to make a circle. I had to do this multiple times to make a flower. It was extremely difficult to make the petals look the same size, but I am very happy with how it turned out and how cute it looked. Another challenge I had was thinking of news to have as the feature article and cover lines, so I found nature focused news and included that on the cover.

    I think with what I learned I will gain a better understanding of magazines and their conventions. I also think that now that I understand the basics of making a magazine cover, I will be able to have more fun with the magazine cover in the portfolio project, and I will have more creative liberty in making the magazine. I think I will also be able to explore the tools in InDesign more because with this magazine cover, I was more focused on trying to learn how to use the basic tools.

    I think this magazine cover will give me experience and practice making a magazine cover. It is also making me more familiar with the InDesign workspace. This magazine cover assignment is the first time I have opened InDesign. I think that the next time I use InDesign I won't be as overwhelmed and confused as I was.

This is the final product of the magazine cover!