This is a chance to showcase interesting magazines that are a good basis for learning about the possibilities of editorial design and to showcase some of my own selection of magazines.
Firstly is the cover page.
This type was purposely set to grab the readers attention. By breaking up the word Editorial, it slows down the read speed, forcing the reader to comprehend each segment as a whole. The large offset configuration is unusual and is meant to grab the readers attention through this way. The addition of the hyphen only on the IAL is meant to give play on the word editorial. As one word it clearly says editorial but the addition of the hyphen makes the 2 segments editor be more distinctive on the page because that is what an editorial designer is called. Therefore on the cover there is the word editorial and the more implicit editor.
An adjustment was made to give the cover a better visual flow.
The first spread graces Matt Willey's work. On the left page, Matt Willey is represented by his own typeface NSW01. One of the appealing characteristic of his typeface is the long and thin stems that really standout once expanded to a large scale. In the copy is a brief overview of what he is known for and his achivements. What this spread does is setup the layout of the zine. Having copy on the left and an image of the magazine. Throughout this zine, the colours and magazine images are all full bleed. This is to create a high impact visual that is aimed at grabbing the readers attention.
In the second spread is where the consistent layout of content starts to appear. From Matt Willey to Mike Meiré's page, it is clear that the page for copy is meant to reflect the personality or recognisable trait of that designer. So for example in Willey's page, what was recognisable was the use of his own font that was oversized on the page much like his poster designs.
For Mike Mieré, his name was done in the style of one of his most famous magazines, brand eins, where the masthead was clearly all lower case. The blue background was chosen because of his prevalence of using blue within brand eins covers.
Unlike Matt Willey and Mike Meiré, Elana Schlenker of Gratuitous Type represents a more fun approach to typesetting, colour scheme and page construction. On the left the irregular forms are meant to represent that and communicate to the reader the personality of the publication.
Along with Mike Meiré's 032c, Kinfolk was chosen because Charlotte Heal's successful re brand of the magazine. In this spread the page elements on the left are meant to reflect the cover of Kinfolk which has definitely replaced the old one and become a sort of icon for clean and minimal editorial design. This is also conveyed through the narrow columns of giving a slight insight on Heal did to Kinfolk.
What Mushpit represents is the complete antithesis to Kinfolk and offers a nice visual contrast between the two. In this spread, more jarring colour schemes were used to communicate Mushpits identity. Furthermore, the type of colour as well added to this. In the Kinfolk spread, it is clear that a pastel green is used. This conveys the soft, toned down nature of the publication both in content and visuals that is meant to ease the reading ecperince. In Mushpit, unconventional typefaces are used combined with unorthodox gradient combinations and high impact imagery, filled with varying colours. What this creates in terms of design is an "ugly" publication, however because its so well done and how it suits the type of content showcased inside, Mushpit provides an alternative approach to editorial design.
Finally we have Flanuer magazine. Because of how vibrant and engaging the front cover is, to have a plain page next to it gives the spread a good contrast that doesn't detract from Flaneur's visual style. They were chosen to be included in the zine because of my interest in Studio Yukiko. They represent a an alternative way to go about editorial design. Up until discovering Studio Yukiko, the magazines I knew were mostly attributed to one main person, e.g Matt Willey, Yukiko represents how that doesn't have to be the case an that as a studio, can create editorial work.
Throughout the spreads the copy is brief and doesn't go into much depth about the designer. This is to keep the tone of voice in relation to target audience. A wall of text is discouraging for the younger audience to want to read. Keeping the copy short and brief allows the reader to flip through the pages relatively quickly maintaining a level of attention that doesn't drop off halfway.
On the back of the zine is a reflection of the front.
This again to give the reader a little surprise when flipping to the back page and to keep the engagement all the way till the end. When opened up with the front cover, they read Editorial Design, which is the topic of the zine.
No comments:
Post a Comment