Thoughts on Designing a Great Magazine Cover
June 18, 2008
Fonts
I like to use bold fonts to deliver a sense of confidence and authority. A narrow font could appear wimpy. I also like to play with the size of the main headline on the cover. I usually like to see it really small and then blow it up really big to see what direction to go.
Juxtaposing the image and the banner
If you have a person on the cover, it's important to play with the size and crop. Sometimes you have to figure out how much of the banner you can cover up and still be able to read it. With national titles, that's not so important. Time or Sports Illustrated could cover most of the banner and still have an effective, instantly recognizable cover, but with our custom magazines and our clients, seeing the banner clearly is more important.
The role of the banner
A lot of our banners stay the same color from issue to issue. If they do change, finding the right color for that is very important. Sometimes, I like for the banner to blend in more with the image so that the focus is on the person. I don't want the color of the banner to overpower the image in any way.
Color
You also need to be careful choosing colors for other text blocks on the cover. You don't want it to look like a Crayola box. I usually keep the colors choices to about two or three colors, with white or black being the main choice.
Finding the right person and shot
When a person is on the cover, their expression has to be engaging. You just know when you see a cover expression. Something about the eyes making a connection or the tilt of the head or the body posture.
Ciao, bella!
May 5, 2008
Kerri Davis, our illustrious art director, is enjoying a well-deserved vacation in Italy. Over the weekend she sent us a few photos of her adventures in Venice and Florence. Our favorites are the one where she's posing with a mask in Venice and another where she's sporting her Hammock T in front of the Piazza San Marco. (We're Pantone 3308 with envy!)
About Kerri
November 26, 2007
As Hammock’s art director extraordinaire, Kerri Davis has an uncanny ability to whip together a knock-your-socks-off layout before the end of the first song on one of her (many) iTunes playlists. Kerri joined Hammock 13 years (and several hairstyles) ago, which means she can always participate in the “do you remember when…” conversations around the office.
A former cheerleader and graduate of Mississippi State University, Kerri worked at lots of crummy jobs--including a three-hour stint at the Gap--before joining Hammock. While her role has evolved over the years, designing stuff has always been her invaluable strength. Most days she’s fussing over fonts, art directing photo shoots, tracking down freelance photographers across the country and creating gorgeous layouts--all at breakneck speed.
Like most of us at Hammock, Kerri loves magazines. Her desk is like a newsstand--if you’re looking for the latest issue of your favorite title, you’ll probably find it there. Domino is her current favorite, because she likes interior design. (We sent her to choose paint and fabric when we renovated our office a couple of years ago.)
When she’s not buried in an Adobe InDesign document, Kerri is with her family--husband Carlton, daughters Sloan and Kate, and puppy dog Mae. She spends her free time combing Nashville for a good deal on high heels, her wardrobe obsession. She’s also the coolest person we know who drives a minivan.
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