The making of a DSD cover

Our No. 1 goal when putting together a DiscoverSD magazine cover each week is to make sure it’s eye-catching. Since we don’t have subscriptions or include the magazine in any home delivery, we have to make the magazine appealing for readers to pick up from newsstands or from stacks at local coffee shops, cafes and bodegas around the county.

With this being our 100th publication, we thought we’d give readers a little insight to the work that goes into making the cover each week.

Generally, we start thinking about a cover three to four weeks in advance of publication. We try to tie our covers to big events happening in town, “best of” lists or other buzz worthy topics that might be big at the time. Once we have an idea, we figure out if we need to hire a model, identify a location for the photo shoot, shop for any props or wardrobe items and identify a photographer.

Choosing the right photo is often the hardest part of the cover process. Usually photographers will pare down their selection and send no more than 10 to 12 options for us to review. Once we narrow it down to two or three finalists, it then becomes the job of our great design staff to put the finishing touches on the cover by adding a headline and trying different color variations on the font.

Sometimes the final choice isn’t easy. When that’s the case, we often take an informal poll around the office to help decide which cover is going to make it on newsstands. We sure hope you’ve enjoyed the results and we can’t wait to bring you more.

Source: DiscoverSD