Magazine Cover Project

DESCRIPTION
Design a magazine cover that showcases a self-portrait as well as articles about yourself.

PROCESS (Programs, Tools, Skills, FOCUS principles)
As I was looking at all the different magazine covers out there, I realized that I didn’t feel I fit with many of them. So I decided to create my own magazine titled “Create”. It’s a magazine for all the visual creatives out there.

The topics I chose for the articles revolved around my interests and hobbies. For example, I love everything to do with creativity. I love taking pictures and designing a variety of things. I have also always loved dance and music and those are a major stress reliever for me in my life. I also really love cats because they are adorable, soft, loyal, and hilarious.

The process of creating my magazine cover went as followed:
1. First I sketched out on paper some possible layouts of the magazine cover.
2. Next I created a shape map in InDesign of one of my sketches. 
3. I then searched out a photo that I wanted to use as my self-portrait.
4. I opened the image in Photoshop and cut out the background so that I would be able to have the name of the magazine go behind my head.
5. Next I opened up InDesign and created a new 8.5 x 11 inch page.
6. I then placed in my PSD document.
7. I then duplicated it and put it behind the words “CREATE” so that I could have the background colors (I felt it was too boring with the white background.)
8. I then proceeded to add text boxes with all the different articles I wanted to include.
9. Once I was finished, I saved the InDesign file and then exported a JPEG at 150 ppi.

CRITIQUE PROCESS
I met with Jane Doe and John Smith for my critique via Skype and in person. These critiques were incredibly helpful because they helped me to notice things I didn’t notice since I was working on it for so long! The biggest thing that they said I needed help with was proximity in my articles. Since I had a lot of different articles it was very easy for it to be too chaotic, so I made sure to separate and use proximity more with the information. Some other advice given was to not have my head cover the words, but I personally thought it was a nice touch and made it feel more like a magazine so I decided to keep it. 

The people that I critiqued on Facebook were Sally Stars and Justin Thyme. I held a one-on-one critique season with Tyler Swift. The instructor critique video was very helpful as my instructor mentioned to pay attention to my color scheme. At first, the shades I picked of each color weren’t matching the best so I had to adjust those and now it looks a lot better.

MESSAGE
I wanted to express who I am through the articles and the overall style of the magazine.

AUDIENCE
Those who are interested in creativity and learning more about myself.

TOP THING LEARNED
The style of magazines is very different from what we are taught in terms of proper design principles.

COLOR SCHEME & COLOR NAMES
Complementary // Blue and Orange

TITLE FONT NAME & CATEGORY
Bebas Neue // Sans Serif

COPY FONT NAME & CATEGORY
Clavo // Hybrid of Oldstyle and Modern

THUMBNAILS OF ANY ORIGINAL, UNEDITED IMAGE(S) USED IN THE PROJECT

SOURCE OF EACH IMAGE (website name and hyperlink)
The image is my own.

Sample work by Nicole Nugent. To see more of her work, go here.