From my experience the front cover is a very important piece of the puzzle as it is like the face of a beautiful women. When an attractive women walks into a space everybody turns round to have a look. We as humans like good looking things and the same thing applies to magazines sitting in magazine stands or lying on a coffee table.
It is a little different with the window film magazine as it is a paid for media and most readers want to read it to see what's new in the industry and what information they can get out of it to help improve their skills and business. So I guess it is different when it comes to the front cover of the window film magazine. The concept is to make it as interesting as possible and to indicate what is going on inside on the front cover to get the interest flowing. Window film distributors, installers and even manufactures, enjoy the window film magazine as it opens their eyes to what is going on in the industry and it has been around a long time and has regular readers.
The name and type face should always be the same as it becomes the corporate look and will always be recognized by it's visual appearance. Before we venture into the magazine it is important to understand that all publishers have long term goals for their magazine products, the bottom line being making as much money as possible from their publishing ventures. The name of the game is to increase the paid customer base and readership. Also the thicker the magazine gets the more interesting it becomes and the more advertisers will come on board increasing the income on both paid subscription and advertising revenue.
The next important factor is the quality and value of the editorial to the readers and how much information and knowledge the readers can get from the articles. In my opinion the content needs to be to the point and not long winded. The editors need to have experience in their industry to offer the best advice and information. The participants in content can also be experienced window film business people who can relate their experiences first hand by having their ears to the ground.
The quality of photographs is a most important aspect and the layout artist needs to have a good eye in choosing very interesting and quality shots with the right subject matter that will catch the readers eye.
The actual layout of each page must have some continuity and lots of grey or white areas with crisp pics using some deep edging and other graphic techniques to add the finishing touches to any page.
The quality of the advertising needs to be of a high standard to ensure the magazine remains high in quality and look. Some publishers reserve the right to reject ads if they feel the quality will damage the premium look.
Obviously there is more to the publishing of a top quality magazine and I can go on and on but I need to address the main subject of the article “The Window Film Magazine”.
When studying the magazine in question I noticed the main top ten window film manufactures are all advertising. It makes sense for them to promote their brands as this is the official industry mouthpiece.
I personally find a lack of valuable content and lots of room for improvement. The quality of photographs is not top notch and needs to be improved.
Besides that I enjoy reading and paging through this magazine on line and look forward to more interesting articles.
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