"Final Cover Edits"

 For this Final cover, I am going to take my newly edited pictures and match them with the same content as the other magazine drafts and maybe make some tweaks along the way. The photos are made with Adobe Photoshop express, while I use the actual magazine development in Canva entirely. I made the background more vibrant and appealing to the reader as I increased the contrast and tone. I decided to keep the rest of the font of the words white so that it is still visible because when I tried to change the font of the coverlines and hints to black, the words weren't very visible and was hard to read, so I decided not to do the change. I also changed the image angle, which went from a normal angle to a dutch angle, which is slanted a bit to give more space to write. This might not match the conventions of my genre entirely, but it did not break it either so I decided to keep it since it gave more space to write because of the unified color.

Final Draft:

Masthead: For this masthead, I included the genre of my magazine to make it explicit to my readers what my magazine is about. I named it "Spark Science" so that it can "spark" people's minds about science and its new breakthroughs, giving it an appropriate stance in this cover. I kept the font as "CS Gordon Serif" which as the name indicated, is a serif font. The serifs on these are curved and barely visible, which gives a somewhat formal look to the magazine itself. The masthead is big and welcoming, causing the reader to think that all knowledge groups might understand what might be going on in the magazine inside. I also made sure that every color of my font was white so that it would look aesthetically pleasing to the viewer. I also made sure that the word "science was bigger than the word spark because that is a part of science magazine conventions; to make the topic clear so that the viewer does not mistake the genre of the magazine for anything else.

Coverlines: For the covelines, I kept the range of topics diverse so that audiences from all kinds of scientific areas might enjoy reading them. I also added page numbers so that the reader might have easier access to finding the topic in the magazine itself, which is typical in science magazines. There is also a small pointer at the weed in the background to make the main topic of the image clear. I show that even though this environment we live in now is superior to weeds, weeds can come up and destroy vegetation without surveillance. I also show interesting topics like Netflix into the coverlines and show how Netflix may presumably hurt the environment and how people should take note of that since that platform is so widely used.

Main Image: The main image in this cover is a lush backyard looking like it's teeming with life until the weed comes into focus. This shows that even though the background is great, it might no the main idea and center of attention. In this case, that is true. Another convention of science magazines is to keep the main point of the image clearly visible, which is why I kept the weed in the middle so that no further background knowledge is needed. The image is specifically taken at a dutch angle so that there is more diversity in the picture and that it is not an everyday normal picture, and that there is some actual taught taken into them. I also took this angle because it would allow more space to write coverlines, as the previous images' coverliens kept looking untidy in front of the bush, since the image was straight, and had no other editing element into it. This image is also edited thoroughly and has effects, in contrast, vibrance, tone, and size. The size was cropped to the regular magazine size using Adobe Photoshop Express. There is also a small infographic that shows that the inside of the magazine might not be all pictures, and might contain some animated images. That infographic includes a picture relevant to the information on its left.

Sell line: This magazine does indeed include a sell line because again, that is another convention of science magazines. The sell line is relevant to the main image and is a question that the reader can keep pondering about throughout the reading of the magazine. It reads "Will this lush environment last for long" which can relate to the magazine's main image because the main image also shows how the lush background is going well, but how weeds, however small, may get the better of vegetation one day. I kept the font of the sell line small and sans-serif, only so that it looks inferior to the actual masthead itself. That is also why it is not bolded.

Miscellaneous: Not many miscellaneous items were added because that is part of the conventions of science magazine. I still added a barcode which is what most science magazines have, which takes the reader to the information of the date price and other information via electronic means. The barcode is not a means to attract attention, but more of a means for viewers to see the professionalism infused to make this as legitimate as possible. The white background of the barcode is added, since the background of the cover is dark brown, and black would most likely not be seen.

Color scheme: The color scheme of the cover is simple and still abides by the science magazine conventions. The simple look makes the cover more modern and professional, while still not simple enough to be looked at as childish. I kept white as the uniform color because it was not overseen or covered by any color in the background. I did keep some light-brown highlights on the masthead so that there wouldn't be only one color. The masthead before was originally black, but the color did not match and made the cover seem awkward, showcasing the rest of the cover's font white, so I decided to make the masthead white too.

Conclusion: The edits in this cover were made to the best of my ability and the limitations of the science magazine genre. The masthead's font and the color match with the rest of the text, which makes it aesthetically pleasing to the viewer and more inviting in general. The masthead font was different from the rest of the text and bigger to give a superior view to the rest of the text, which was small and inferior. The images were edited to the desired effect to give not only a sense of realness but also a sense of freshness. The barcode is also included giving information when scanned and does not add onto or remove anything from the aesthetic look itself. Thank you.