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AFA: The Magazine! (Vol.10 Iss.1)


SmackNCheese

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Introducing AFA Weekly: Your Official Source for All Things AFA-Related! This is an approved offshoot of @Veras's "History of a Fictional Football League" which most of us have read (if you haven't, you really should: http://boards.sportslogos.net/topic/98092-history-of-a-fictional-football-league-1980-offseason/ ) in witch I publish magazine covers headlining the recent big events in the AFA and featuring popular AFA athletes, coaches, owners, and fans. The publication was founded in 1971 by Orange Grove Publishing, and was titled AFA Magazine until 1978, when it got bought out by the much larger East Shore Media Company and was renamed to AFA Weekly, although it's still referred to as AFA Magazine by many. The release format is 1 volume a year, each volume consisting of 30-32 issues, published once a week during the regular season and playoffs with a few issues interspersed throughout the offseason. This is the first issue of Volume 10, hope you enjoy! 

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Also, magazines usually didn't have an issue number on the front (that is that big), instead back then, there was a box for the UPC code. Sometimes that box would be left blank or have an illustration in it when printed not for resale (comic books did that for direct sales). The date and price would also be on the cover most likely below the magazine title. The Volume/Issue number would be on the spine and inside with the publishing information.

st__louis_aces_player_sig___tom_davis_by_verasthebrujah-d9w1l6u.jpg

new_orleans_krewe_player_sig___qb_donny_minor_by_verasthebrujah-dbd786h.jpg.04fb6ee08e3d6de5abf371b4fd8bf0bf.jpgmiami_suns_sig_by_verasthebrujah-da7emd5.jpg

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1 hour ago, eick74 said:

Also, magazines usually didn't have an issue number on the front (that is that big), instead back then, there was a box for the UPC code. Sometimes that box would be left blank or have an illustration in it when printed not for resale (comic books did that for direct sales). The date and price would also be on the cover most likely below the magazine title. The Volume/Issue number would be on the spine and inside with the publishing information.

UPC code is on back with this current template, issue number, volume number (forgot to add on this one) featured largely on the front as opposed to date because this magazine is focused on the AFA season, which isn't the length of a year. It's supposed to be a better measuring stick as to where the season is at (ex: offesason-1~3/4, regular season 4/5~X, postseason X~30/32). The year isn't really important for the cover because people know what year it is when they buy it and looking back there would be extensive in-text mentions of what year/season it was written in. As for the bottom-placement for the logo and stripe, it's just a unique look that provides better visibility to the subject featured on the cover. And hey, it's only 1980, and this magazine will surely have multiple redesigns as its parent company merges with another or is bought out, etc., but my goal was to create something different from the generic type of cover that still brings back memories of the classic Sports Illustrated or Sporting News covers. Many features will probably fade away with the eventual redesigns, but a few will stick as identifying "quirks" that the magazine would become known for.

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Reason I bought up the logo placement, even though it might be a unique look, growing up in the 80s, nobody tried it because magazine racks were (and probably still are) a primary form of magazine sales. In the US, magazines are displayed in the waterfall format where only the top third of most magazines. Putting the logo on the bottom would hide the logo if it was not a front row magazine and that would likely make it easy for competitors to steal sales away as well as looking like a magazine that had it's front cover ripped off. You could put the logo in the upper left corner and not effect visibility of the subject. The logo can go behind the cover subject just like you did with the top line of the cover.

 

Plus, is the magazine published weekly all year? It might be better to use AFA: The Magazine as the title of the magazine so it can have a flexible publishing schedule. Weekly during the season, bi-weekly during the pre-season, and monthly during the off season.

st__louis_aces_player_sig___tom_davis_by_verasthebrujah-d9w1l6u.jpg

new_orleans_krewe_player_sig___qb_donny_minor_by_verasthebrujah-dbd786h.jpg.04fb6ee08e3d6de5abf371b4fd8bf0bf.jpgmiami_suns_sig_by_verasthebrujah-da7emd5.jpg

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