The winner of BULETiN November-December 2012 edition on Inhouse Magazine Award (InMA) 2012 is no coincidence. Since 2011, the internal media produced by BINUS UNIVERSITY has been changing their whole design to provide better information and improve their readers’ interest.

The magazine content is constantly being added to improve the diversity of interesting information within the magazine. One of the most important things is the cover. Cover is the first thing people see from a printed media.

The central Newspaper Publishers Union (SPS) has its own logical reason to choose the cover as a specific category. Here are the details:

First, the cover of any printed media (newspaper, tabloid, magazine) is the “window” or “display” for consumers. The cover is also the main promotional tool for printed media. A good cover will stimulate buyers.

Second, judging the cover is not as complicated as judging the content. There are a number of tangible variables are quite explicit such as photograph/illustration, font, logo, headline text, overall design and communicative message. Meanwhile, if one is judging content, elements like basic journalism principles (5W+1H), agenda setting, journalism ethics and many others must also be considered.

Third, a cover has “marketing” and “public relations” elements (for internal magazines). Therefore, we need significant taste of marketing and public relations. Of course, this should be applied without ignoring artistic elements, branding, journalism, photography and design.

A cover for a printed media represents the whole product. A good cover will provide a major boost for product sales. A cover is a collective result from a solid team, filled with artistic, creative and political considerations.

Before Indonesia Print Media Award (IPMA), the cover for printed media had been appreciated only by consumers or readers. IPMA and InMA show a qualitative appreciation from a team of judges which are assigned specifically. This shows a qualitative achievement for creative work of printed media publishers. (YD)