Literary Journal Covers [WIP]

Spoiler

YES, I know it says 'Cadwell'. That was a mistake, which can and will be remedied...as soon as I have time.







Whaddya think? I could probably do something much better, but I'm pressed for time right now.

EDIT:

Alright, the deadline is a few hours away. These are my final entries! Wish me luck!











I still have these in .XCF format, so I can still edit anything out if need be.

I'm all for the third. : ) The first just looks like a picture slapped on a cover. Don't take offense to that, it's a cool picture. The second one is interesting, but not as visually catching as the third. I think you could add a few more elements however to make them more eye catching, however, you're off to a great start! : D

1. I like the old books and the dark background which gives it a more professional look than some of the others I've seen, but I think it's somewhat boring as a cover and doesn't give much away about who we are; it doesn't reflect that we're a young writers society or show any of our fun attitude.

2. This is too computerised for my liking. The shade of green is really nice and it stands out beautifully but it puts me in mind of some sort of internet manual and it just doesn't really push the right buttons for me.

3. Of the three I think this is probably your best, though the colour scheme may be better as shades of blue, green and purple as that would match the past journals better and fits in with the site's colour schemes. I like the pattern though and the choice of font, though again you may want to change the colour there. I think white or black would stand out better or at least a darker shade of the red.

Altogether, some nice entries and I wish you the best of luck!

Heather xxx

Thanks, Vapor! I'll admit the third one was my favorite too. I think I'll be putting my money on it, but I may need to make a few changes...

Thanks for the tips! I didn't see the covers for the past books, Kitty, so I wouldn't know.

Jen,
I have to say, these are pretty good. I think that the first one is the most representative of YWS because of our obvious writership. But because I am nitpickedy, I have to say that I'm a wee bit disappointed in the font. It just doesn't look right for the particular background. I think that you should have a mor aged/official type font to cover the older weathered look of the books. One of the closer fonts that I'm positive is everywhere is Times New Roman. Another more ideal option is FELIX TITLING.
~Brook

JENNY! ('S been long since I used that)

Anyhoopity, onward to my comments:

#1. Second best! Now, where have I seen that photo? I like the 'pro' look it gives, but, I'm not a fan of italicized titles. For me, it seems like an unnecessary way to emphasize. I'm fine with it for the 'Edited by' part though. I think you could spruce it up by editing the colours so that it is brighter? Well, not brighter per se, but work with Levels and make it a little more 'in-your-eye'-ish. And maybe try a different font as Brooklyn said.

#two (since my two button doesn't work): I like it but um... it's something I wouldn't associate with YWS. It's cool and interesting but I dunno. Also;how'd you make fadey pointy ends?

#3. OHYEAH! Love the font, love the play of colours and the inherent fun-ness of it. Nitpicky: The 'W' needs to be capitalized. Add a shadow to the title? It doesn't *have* to be black, just something to emphasize it. Also; as Kitty said, try changing the colours? Not sure on GIMP, but it is fairly easy with PS.

G'luck! (I wish I was home; I could've worked on something.)
~Lava

Hai Jenth dear,

I think the first one has a nice depth to it that the others don't have. I like the tattered, old books, it gives us kind of a connection with what's inside? It's kind of warm with a bit of mysteriousness to it? The other's look a bit less professional then this one. What I'm saying is; the first one has captured my heart.

The only thing is, I only like the background. I thought the actual writing, font and size made it look, dare I say, tacky? I know it's not because well... its you but I think to add the real look that YWS needs to get more publicity then we need something stunning, eye catching and well... professional. Maybe, a more interesting font would do the trick? Part of my job is to actually work with photoshop, I'm still in the learning process but I know a couple of the tricks. I'd say, brightene up the backroung a little so it doesn't look as dark and gloomy? After all, it's supposed to be something you want to pick up. Back to the font, I think something simple but classy will really lift up the whole thing and give the Literary Journal the boost it needs.

The other two covers, I'm not really fond of. The second one, to me, looks like the cover of a maths book with all the lines and reference to geometry. The third, I think is too plain and boring, too red and common.

So overall, the first one is it for me. With a good bit of tweaking and editing here and there I think YWS will have found there jounal cover.

You always do a great job so I know you can improve.
Keep trying!
Kagi

Thanks for the comments and advice, you've given me one more idea I want to try.

Brook - Yeah, I've always ben really iffy with Fonts, Y'no? Darn hard things.

Lavs - I figured the luck of one contest would rub off onto this one. The ' fadey-pointy ends' were made by making a selection (I used the circular selection and then bordered it, then added line selections) and feathering it, and then coloring it with a low-hardness brush. I didn't color the whole selection, and wherever I stopped, it left that nice fadey end.

Kagi - I'll admit I just threw out any font for the first one. >_< I wasn't really thinking it was a good cover anyways, I'll try to reedit it.

Eh... I don't think either of these three are particularly striking. The first one, the font for the cover is just boring and the journals don't really give the hint that this is a young writers group, the second one seems to be really random (radar screen, really?) and doesn't really fit the whole idea of the literary journal, whereas the third one doesn't really have any connection with the site, other than it being fun and funky.

I think you can pull something else out and it would be soooo much better. Play around with your ideas a bit more! And don't use boring fonts.

Thanks Snoink, I was waffling a bit, since the deadline is so close, but maybe I could find something better.
Also, "I don't think either of these three..." should be "I don't think any of these three" >O<

Oh, shush you.

Alright, here are the second versions:


This is the orange one, slightly different. Not much.


This is a different color theme for the orange one.


This is a (much!) better version of the book one.

Hi Jenthura (again!) And YAY! You've been playing around with fonts and the like! Very good. I approve.

I still think the book one is a bit too old looking, lol. That may just be me though, but I like a fresher feeling for the Young writers society literary journal. But, we do have a bunch of people who love the smell of old books... still, I think we should put my Kindle there, just to give it a fresher feeling.

The blue one is a bit too... weird. I don't like the random splotches of color because it seems more disorganized than not and the colors aren't evenly distributed.

The orange one is the best one still, so far. It has nice colors and is vibrant. Plus, you actually spelled Nate's name right! Brownie points, right?

Anyway, good luck in the contest!

Thanks, Snoink! You might notice that I left the names of the books on in this one. I'm not sure of the copyright technicalities of all this, I took them out in the first version.

Hmm... they look so old that they're probably okay. Copyrights don't last forever, after all! The biggest copyright concern would be if you took that picture from someone else without their permission though... that would be the main concern. But if you're good in that department, it should be all right, I think! Ask Nate if you have any questions about that... he's really good at those sorts of copyright concerns!

I just think it's misleading to have a picture of these tomes of books and then to have a journal of young writer's writings.