David Carson's magazine designs

 

 

 



David Carson is best known for his magazine designs along with his experimental typography. His magazines designs challenge traditional ideas of magazine cover designs through his choice of main image and the way he organises and presents the text. In the two examples above we can see that David Carson's designs differentiate from the stereotypical magazine cover; the use of the clear font in the first example with random bold letters and the way some of the words continue on to the next line is unseen in other magazines. The second example of David Carson's design coveys his individuality through the lack of text, which passes all of the attention onto the main image. The main image challenges traditional ideas through the use of flipping the artist's image; this image isn't very clear, it has the effect of a painted or drawn image which isn't usually seen within other music magazine cover designs. The contrast of colour also emphasises David Carson's individuality within his designs. David Carson also moves the barcode of the magazine from the usual space of the bottom right corner to meet his design style.

 

David Carson reinforces his individuality through these two magazine covers; by having the main image of the magazine inverted he represents how he moves away from traditional designs. He further represents this in the second example as the design has the look of a stamp or scrapbook which is not usually seen. This creates a personal feel to this magazine cover and is an inventive way to portray the magazines main article titles and featured artist.

 

Overall the inventive and unique style of David Carson's magazine design is something I would like to attempt within my work to help my magazine design stand out and show some creativity.

Examples of different music magazines

 'Top of the Pops' is a generic music magazine with the target audience of young girls. They appeal to this target audience through the choice of the colour pink. Pink is seen as a feminine colour and so can be seen to be used throughout the majority of issues of 'Top of the Pops'. Further more the use of the boy-band featured stories are also used to appeal to the younger target audience of around 12-16+ of whom would be themselves the fans of these popular/mainstream groups.

'The Source' is a popular hip-hop magazine. Their target audience are usually from urban inner cities, over the age of 25+, with the majority of them being male. 'The Source' appeals to their target audience through the use of masculine colours, such as the reds and grey. The suggested violence within the main image also appeals to those who like rap as violence is incorporated within this type of music genre.

 

NME is a music magazine associated with rock, alternative and indie music; as well as then later in the magazines life, punk rock. This magazine appeals to individuals of  25 years+ and mainly male. The magazine cover, featuring Nirvana, appeals to this target audience through the simplistic image which contrasts the rock stereotype but complies with the indie genre. Therefore, this specific edition of NME appeals to those who prefer indie music; this is due to the black and white image along with the bold yellow font that stands out. By having a bold colour and simplistic, large font it would appeal to the target audience as it is captivating. 

 

Magazine Cover and Contents anaylsis

 

 

Front Cover: This magazine cover by billboard is quite minimalist in the amount of text. It is quite simplistic and traditional in its basic colour scheme of greys, whites and black.

Convey Genre:  Billboard magazine covers a wide range of music. Here the magazine itself, does not convey the genre of music through any of the text or the main image unless you know who the musician is. Usually in a music magazine the text or main image represent what genre is the main feature of the edition but there are no signs on this magazine cover.

Own Magazine:  I like the bold white text of the artist's name and the title of the article about him, this is captivating and so would attract the purchaser. I would use similar techniques in the use of text of my magazine as it is very simplistic yet eye-catching and appealing. The positive main image is also appealing through the artist smiling/laughing, which is something I would also like to represent in my music magazine. The lack of colour works well for this edition but in my magazine I would prefer some depth through my range of colours.



 

The contents page once again does not convey the genre as Billboard conveys multiple genres of music within editions of their magazines. Although it conveys the range of genres through the different images of the musicians and the colours used are not conventional for any specific genre. This contents page functions well due to the main featured stories being written in a bold blue text and the other articles being placed on the left; this then makes it easier for the reader to focus on the main articles. Further more from this organisation the contents page is quite simplistic and uncrowded which would appeal to readers.

 

 

Feautures for a magazine cover

Essential features for a good magazine cover

• Eye-catching main image
• Continuity/repetitive themes
• Title-clear & bold
• Colour
• Pull quotes- captivating
• Clear genre
• Mode of address- how it speaks to the reader

Social Constructionism and Music Magazines

Social Constructionism and Music Magazines

• Magazines and their readers and both partaking of a socially constructed reality. Hegemony.
• The relationship is one of mutual dependence or symbiosis (co-exist).
•  The magazine's ideology is encoded in all aspects of layout and mode of address (both written and visual).

Music Genres

Final Contents page

Contents page progress

My final school magazine cover

The second/final attempt at my school magazine.

First attempt at the school magazine

My first attempt at the school magazine.

School Magazine plan

Grids

 

 

Grids provide the structural framework for a layout of a magazine article or blog post. Grids should not limit the design of the post or affect the creative aspects within the post. Using grids are very important in the success of the documents design, especially for documents containing both text and graphics. Through always starting your design project with a grid layout it will be easier to have a consistent look through the magazine or blog post thus creating visual harmony. Without a grid to start graphic elements will not work well together.   

Types of Grids

Two-column grids:
These are mainly used in books, newsletters and narrow publications where the width of the column is limited. This type of grid works well with a simple layout. Although in a wider publication the use of a two-column grid can make it uncomfortable for reading.

Three-column grids:
This type of grid works best for a majority of layouts including wide publications. When using this grid, it works best in publications which don't have a complex arrangement of the text and images.
Three-column grids are a lot more flexible than the two-column grids as the text and images can be spread over all the columns or less. This grid also has an alternative in the three-row grid which is good in use for tri-fold brochures.

Manuscript grids:
Also known as a block grid or single column grid.
This is the simplest grid structure which consists of a large rectangular area that takes up a lot of space in the publication itself. This would be used well with extensive and continuous blocks of text. It is mainly seen in books or large essays, as this grid isn't limited to text space and if there is space images can be used to fill it.

The Gutter:
This is the blank space between the two facing pages in magazines or newspapers. The use of this extra space is to accommodate the binding in publications.

The 2 main types of layouts in publications are portrait or landscape.
The 2 main types of grids are even number of columns grids or odd number of columns grids.

When choosing a grid you need to consider whether or not the document is mostly images or text.
With lots of text and few images, the use of a simple two or three-column grid is advised.
So when there are lots of images it is advised to use a four or more column grid.
Use a grid with a sidebar column when the publication includes a lot of notes, pull quotes or other information or if there is a lot of headings and subheadings within the document.
With a more complex document which may be a mix of both text and graphics, it would be better to use grids with more columns or rows but be careful not to make the publication look too complex.
If the document is a newsletter is would be better to use simple column based layouts due to the amount of text. Although with more sophisticated publications such as illustrated books more columns would be needed.

The Four F's of Magazine Design

 

 

 

1. FORMAT

Choices in the design of the magazine that is continuous in every issue. These design choices define the overall look and feel of the magazine; these consist of the logo, cover lines, size of the magazine itself, department headers and other features that must be consistent in looking the same in each issue of the magazine.

 

2. FORMULA

The formula of a magazine is known as the editorial content or what is in the magazine. this consists of the types of article, the length, and the departments in the front and the back of the book (parts of the magazine that are consistent in each issue).

 

3.  FRAME

The size of the frames for the outer page margins and gutters. Magazines can use the same margin size throughout their magazines; although magazines can vary their width, for example, using tall top margins for features to set apart the well. If these margins are used, the magazine must stay consistent throughout issues as a rule.

 

4. FUNCTION

The message the magazine is trying to send to the audience and the goals which the magazines are trying to achieve.

 

CONSISTENCY

A magazine must have consistency in having the same or a familiar look in each issue.

 

UNITY

A united feel to the magazine in its content through its issues.

 

Magazine Terminology





Textual

Banner - The headline.
Masthead - The title of a magazine on the first or editorial page.
Subhead - A short explanation of the headline.
Kicker - A short phrase found set above the headline.
Deck - A short article summary that accompanies a head line; it is a phrase or a sentence or two.
Byline - Date and name or writer of the article.
Body copy & copy fitting - Adjusting font size, letter spacing, word spacing or line spacing.
Initial/drop caps - A large capital letter at the beginning of a paragraph which either indents the paragraph or sits on top.
Pull quote- A display element that is used to attract the reader and break up long blocks of text, usually made larger and bolder in the article.
Hard return - To include related links/information/terms.
Kerning - Adjusting the spacing between two letters.


Visual

Bullets - Bullet points
Moire patterns - The visual perception that occurs when viewing a set of lines or dots, these sets differ in relative size, angle or spacing.

School Magazine denotation

Task:

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation programme, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the program.
Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine (if done as a group task, each member of the group to produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style). Maximum four members to a group. All images and text used must be original, produced by the candidate(s), minimum of FOUR images per candidate.