Designing Magazine Covers that Sell

In the world of magazine publishing, your magazine cover must be the same every month--and it must be different every month. It must be clearly, visibly, and continuously your brand; and at the same time it must be clearly, visibly, and continuously different from your previous issue.

To reach this goal you must design a template for your publication, clearly articulating what is to be the same and what is to be different each month. For example you might choose to always have six cover lines, a banner across the top, an image of a person looking out, and your logo in a box.

Your lead cover line might always be the same size and the same font, and your secondary cover lines likewise. It sounds like a lot of same, doesn't it?

But within this template, you might have different color backgrounds, different color banners, typefaces, and logo font. Your person might be male or female, sitting or standing, smiling or sober.

Should you always use people on your cover? There is a school of thought that says nothing draws a person in like a person on the cover. This truism is often, however, wrong. A person will work for a beauty title, a fitness title, a celebrity title, a general interest title. it will not work for many of the hundreds of specialty publications out there.

What makes a person pick up a cat magazine is a picture of a cat; what makes a person pick up a car magazine is the car. What you want on your cover is a picture of your product or field of interest. For a travel magazine it will be the destination--with or without a person in it. For a computer magazine, it's the computer.

Within the template, allow room for cover lines. These have been repeatedly found to be more important than image for drawing in the reader, whether a newsstand browser or a committed subscriber. They call out is inside the publication, tempting the reader to open it to find more.

Your cover lines should be clear, instantly legible, high contrast, and benefit oriented. If you know your readers well, you know what they want: stories of heroism, or celebrity profiles, or tips on taming their hair. Identify a handful of their most passionate interests and make sure they are mentioned somewhere on each and every cover.

Use the words that will interest your readers: new, hot, exclusive, bonus, guide. Be practical, and appeal to their practical interests: how-to, tips, tactics, where to find, best of. Use numbers (seven secrets to a successful marriage); their specifity creates credibility and adds interest.

Your magazine cover is the best sales person you can have for your publication. Using these tips will optimize its value for you and your readers