Magazine Cover for college brief.

[jamcoupe]

Hey I am working on a college brief that has asked me to design a front cover for a trendy new creative magazine called "Razor"

I am quite happy with my results and I know most will have a problem with the masthead logo as its to bold and hard to read but in my opinion most covers has a big models head in front of there logo!

Whats your thoughts my this cover?

[greeneye]

I think the over all design is great
I would say to put more space between the lines of words. It gets too squished on top of each other and hard to read.

[cyurk]

I also like the overall design, no clutter, clean, and professional. I think that maybe giving the main logo a glossier feel would be a nice touch and as greeneye said the words under magazine should be a bit more spaced.

[pinksta]

I think its spot on for the type of magazine it is. I like the colour combination and overall layout.

The only thing I would say is that the placement of the words above the masthead seem to be jarring visually - I can see that you've spaced them out evenly but in some cases its caused them to be in strange positions in relation to the letters of the masthead. Have you tried any other solutions for those words?

Also what does it look like with a plain white background and not a shadowed edge?

I disagree with the people above about about increasing the leading between the lines. In a small dose like this i think it's perfectly acceptable and I can read it without too much trouble. Obviously you wouldn't set large blocks of type like that, but you don't need me to tell you that

I just noticed the white marks in the top left and bottom right corners - what are they?

[PrintDriver]

That stacking of text is the newest trend.
It only really works well for a large bold headline and a slightly smaller font weight tag. You start going to multiple lines and it looks squished.
I'm not too keen on the mixing of standard and italic fonts when doing it either. This is the first time I've seen that trick and it doesn't really work.

Otherwise, not bad.

[jamcoupe]

I have taken your criticism into account and changed the following:
Taken away the italic lettering
Leading is less tight (still a bit tight but a bit more legible).
Taken away the gray boarder.
Added a glossy look to the masthead.

What do you think? I didn't find another solution to the lettering above the masthead as i feel its fine because its all evenly spaced.

Also is Vectorize and Rasterize real words?

[Audentia]

Originally Posted by jamcoupe

Also is Vectorize and Rasterize real words?

Also "are" Vectorize and Rasterize real words?

The answer is nope not as far as I know.

You're right about your masthead... took me more than two seconds to figure out what it said.

I think the web address on the masthead is too small and in a very odd place...
I also find the blue to be almost radioactive looking on my screen... could just be me. I also have eyes that bug out at stuff easily... so bright colours on white are sometimes hard for me.
It's set-up though overall is alright.

[PrintDriver]

While not necessarily words in Webster's dictionary, the terms Vectorize and Rasterize have very specific meanings when it comes to design.
Although your article title seems to indicate you might not know they aren't really interchangeable.

Also, you can say Vectors & Bitmaps
or
you can say Vector & Bitmap Images.
All three can't be plural.

Were you supposed to make this an "All Things Creative" magazine?
Music, Art&Design, Film, Performance, Fashion could all be magazines unto themselves. If your focus is too wide, you won't have enough content for any one of those 5 disciplines to be interested enough to buy your magazine.

[Roth]

It's good recreation of a clean, modern style. I do wonder about the image. Has it any relevance to anything or is it just a pretty image you liked. The added smoke (PhS tutorial?) doesn't gel with what looks like a water/liquid image. Agree on the above masthead words. Could you move the words to the bottom? The white space would make them stand out, and the image leads the eye down there aswell. It would also declutter the masthead.

[jamcoupe]

I didn't use a tutorial to add smoke.

I used the google "define:" tool on the words vectorize and rasterize and they are fine (I have to create two double page spreads after the cover that will feature in the magazine, one of which is basically an essay on vectors and bitmaps. The second of which is to interview one of my class students). Also the brief states "This magainse will feature articles covering a range of diciplines withing the creative inducties including: music, art, film, performance, fashion and design". Hence why I used the words.

I have edited my cover:
I have moved the text that was at the top to the bottom (I now feel it looks better)
I have taken away the smoke in the masthead (I now feel it lacks something, what do you think?)



edit: also the image doesn't have real relevance but I feel its my kind of style and i doubt the cover would look better without it.