Layout/Content Ideas

While doing my cover I realized how important it is to know your content, for it is reflected on the first page of your magazine. This is making me jump a little back and forth in my schedule because now I have to focus more on what's going to be inside, taking me to the 2-page spread, and back to the title... I'm getting overwhelmed!!

I've started to look more into what I will be writing about and how. I don't know what I want my main story to be about... or anything else in the content, really. This has me pretty stuck because without an idea of this, I can't proceed to start my headlines. Here are some ideas I have so far:

• A poll 
• Options: Favorite island, Favorite type of vacation (surfing, skiing, sight-seeing, etc.) 

• A testimony
• I'm thinking this would be the main story, as well as a monthly feature. It is something the audience looks forward to. This one would include a lot of visuals and the written story as well, of course. 

While looking at other travel articles and their layouts, I picked out somethings I like and don't:

❌

This one, for example, is one that I don't like. First of all, the pictures don't match. It looks messy and not simple to understand at all. The pictures are so close together and so crowded, and the captions under just maximize that cramped feeling. I would not want to read this, nor do I think that my audience would. I want something simple & enticing. 

❌

This layout is a little better, yet still not what I'm looking for. In this one, the images work well together, as well as the font and image colors... the one thing that throws me off, though, is the positioning of the writing and the images. Yes, they both look clean and organized but they are too separate for my liking. I'd prefer the images to be more embedded in the story and spread throughout rather than completely separate from the content itself. This looks more like a book to me... so this layout is discarded as well. 

✅

Now here's a little something I do like. This story is pretty much how I imagine mine being.. the color scheme works beautifully & the images are spread throughout the story with good sized captions. The content itself is easy to follow, the headlines are short & grab attention but aren't too cheesy. 2 thumbs up for this layout! :) Definitely what I will be using as my guideline.