A picture tells a story and sells a magazine

A magazine feel to today's posts definately.

I wrote earlier about how a magazine cover can sell or not sell the magazine and the news that Cheryl Cole's appearance on the cover of Feb's Vogue has put nearly 20,000 on its circulation reiterates the point.

There is another magazine cover story that caught my eye though courtesy of CJR which comments on the cover of Fortune magazine

Sometimes it’s better just to keep it simple, and in that spirit I give Fortune credit for profiling several unemployed people and illustrating the story on its cover with a photo of a downsized training-firm executive and his wife.

It is a case of the cover selling the story

The photograph is quite arresting. The colors are all grays and browns; the husband is in sharp focus andhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif closer to the camera, with the wife a few feet behind him and slightly out of focus, a bit like a specter. Yes, the symbolism relies on traditional gender roles (she depends on him, get it?), but the point is made. The expressions more or less tell the entire story—his is a combination of determination tempered by depression and worry. She’s just worried.

You can sell a magazine on a cover photo but you can always sell it on a coverline

This cover on the front of Rolling Stone magazine was taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz just hours before the ex Beatle was shot dead in Dec 1980.

It has become one of the most iconic magazine covers of our time and formed the beginning of Mel Nichols' second presentation to Uclan magazine students yesterday

Mel reminded the audience of the words of David Hepworth that magazine covers are

about ingenuity and are the art of the possible

Covers he continued to say are the clear communication that are critical for getting the impulsive buy.

Magazines have to sell themselves for every issue and the poor cover can lose you a lot of readers.

Yet his presentation showed just how often bad covers get to the new stands and lack some of the attributes of what a cover should convey.

Most importantly they should convey the brand of the magazine.

Surprisingly it is the cover line rather than the image that Mel thinks is the most important

if you can only have one thing on a cover it is the cover line.You may sell a cover on an image but you can always sell it on a cover line

For a successful cover strategy, three crucial things are required.

1.Visibility
2.Stories and
3.Ideas.

and perhaps the most important.........deliver what it says on the tin

Mel Nichols the relationship between the editor and the art editor is the most important relationship in magazines

We were very lucky to receive a visit from Mel Nichols from Haymarket magazine yesterday at Uclan

Mel is editorial director of the magazine group responsible for the editorial direction, quality and development for all Haymarket Consumer Media magazines and websites.

He gave two talks to undergraduate and post graduate magazine students,one on magazine craft and one on the art of covers.

The first on magazine craft is a presentation that he gives to senior management across the Haymarket group.

Magazines

he reminds us

are a great format.If they weren’t around they would be invented next week

Yet one of the most important relationships on a magazine is between the design or art editor and the editor.The images and the layout are the way that the magazine is communicated to the reader.

He quipped that many designers are dyslexic.This gives them an advantage for their skills are visual and graphic.However they wont have read the story,therefore it is up to the writer to communicate his vision of the story to the designer.

He adds that the editor must learn the tricks of the trade such as lining up pictures,getting used to filling the line,sitting the content on a base line grid,allowing for the gutter,,lining up headlines,and the readability of type

One of the most difficult of tasks he maintained is the flat plan.There are certain rules to follow especially when it comes to positioning of adverts.

Put ads in places which seem logical to the reader and let them flow.But also bear in mind the advertisers reasoning that right sided adverts are more dominant.

But most of all always think visually.

One picture is worth a thousand words

To sum up according to Mel to make a good magazine you need to

1.Work together

2.think visually

3.Plan and have ideas

4,Produce thoughtful design that works and

5.think multi platform

Part 2 on cover design will follow