Contemporary Covers
By Tiffany Hoffman
Kids enjoy a cover that tells a story. "They like to use their imaginations to make up a story about an image," says Highlights® Art Director Cynthia Faber Smith.
When kids look at the cover of the December issue of Highlights, some may tell a story about the cat in the window or the gingerbread cookies on the f loor. Others might talk about the crafts the kids are making.
"Beginning with the August issue, we've enriched this aspect of our covers," Smith says. "Now we ask illustrators to focus on the illustration’s story and carry that story thread from the front cover to the back cover. Children will pore over an interesting illustration."
When the Highlights redesign committee started its evolutionary redesign of the magazine, they noted that the Highlights cover had not been redesigned for many years.
They tested cover designs with focus groups and learned that kids view the cover as an activity that could also suggest a story.
Along with the new approach to cover illustrations, the redesign committee decided other changes were needed.
A vertical rhomboid now gives teasers for what's inside, the Highlights name with the "Happy H" is three-dimensional, and the back cover is a silly sequel to the front. And, every subscriber now receives a magazine that says "Especially for: [subscriber's name]" in the top left corner of the back cover.
"It emphasizes their ownership of Highlights and guarantees that the child's name is somewhere on the magazine," Smith says. "Every child thinks of the magazine as his or her own, and this design element reflects how important we know that is for child."
So far, the evolutionary changes have received positive feedback. In a recent online reader survey, 78 percent of responding readers said they like the cover with a preview of what's inside.
"Every change the redesign committee has made has been exclusively for the benefit of our readers," Smith says. "It's more contemporary and more inviting, but it's still Highlights."