subject: Your Magazine Cover: Stay Simple [print this page] Your Magazine Cover Image: Some Tips Your Magazine Cover Image: Some Tips
1. Keep the Image Simple. Don't make your newsstand reader work to figure out what your image is trying to say. Let it tell its story at a glance.
2. Keep the Background Simple. A busy background confuses the eye, detracts from the central image, and makes the cover lines difficult to read. On the other side of the equation, there is virtually no benefit to a busy background. Why use it?
3. Choose a Photo Over an Illustration. There may be exceptions to this rulefor your political or opinion magazine, for example, you may find an illustration or even a cartoon to be more effective; for your videogaming magazine you are likely to find that a character from a popular game works better than a photo of anything at all. Unless you are in such a special category, however, you will find that your newsstand response is better with a photograph.
4. Use a Full Bleed Over a Frame. Again you might find your
category contains exceptionsfor example, the auto category
contains successful titles that use frames; qnd in any category
you can create an exceptional space for your title. But why not
use the tools at your disposal? A full bleed indicates that you are
offering a consumer publication; a framed picture says "journal"
to the average reader. Perhaps you want to convey that sense
of authority to your readers, and a frame is a tool you choose to
use. But test after test has confirmed that overwhelmingly the
newsstand reader prefers the look of a full bleed cover.
For more tips, visit: http://www.singlecopysales.com/covers/
