DEVIANCE Magazine August 2009

First, congratulations for the finished mini issue! This Deviance zine has been one of the source of my knowledge about deviantArt and it's community since it's first edition! So far, I think this edition is the best because of the simplicity in design and a quite compact content. For the cover, it's quite nice since the titles are readable. What's more, the Deviance name is quite integrated into the artwork which is displayed, good job! The font's size compared with the pages is very different in this edition, much bigger. Personally I love this more, it's easier to read and the text doesn't seem too crowded. The third issue is actually a massive improvement from the past editions in design but still, I can feel a few big clashes in design per article. It feels like every single article have it's own theme and rule. Actually it's fine to be creative and make different designs for every section but doing it without standard at all can make the reader confused and tired in reading the articles. In this edition I didn't find the design too diverse, overall not too sriking with each other (except the Photo Basic's section which is white and clean all alone) and not too many pictures or text, overall the column is one only, neat! However, I do want to point out a few minus: The pages and margins are not in one standard and in PearlEden's section and Script to Flick's section, the font's color (which is black) sometimes blended into the background, thus making it hard to read. And it seems like the margin in the Script to Flick's section is too minim (if there's any at all) Personally, I think a good magazine doesn't have to cover all of the scoop it can make, but rather have a standard which keep their readers knows what they're waiting for the next issue, that is standardization (in release time, in content rule, in design) informative and easy to digest. I suggest that you don't have to push in all section or information you have gathered in time per edition, you can make the section appear in substitution with each other. And give standards on the sections design. Ex. two columns and clean designs for regular articles or interviews, black ala cinema for film section (I noticed that the film section's design is quite similar per edition, this is good since because of that I can distinguish them quite easily) and purely random in features corner. You don't have to show all of the artist's masterpieces in the interviews section, choose a few best only or the ones mentioned in the article, I'm sure the reader can check out the awesome gallery themselves <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Smile)" /> So, in the end, maybe the hybrid between third edition and this mini edition is the best in my opinion! Hope this input helps, you always have made a great improvement in each edition, so I'm pretty sure the next edition can be even more awesome!