In Design: Magazine Layouts & Double Page Spreads

I have been keeping an eye out lately for examples of good magazine layouts to help inspire my magazine about Max for the Indesign brief. I started out by scanning in pages from different magazines that I read, but decided to look on the internet as well for more inspiring pieces, as the layouts used in the female magazines I read aren't really what I want to create for my article about Max.

Scans

Cosmopolitan

 

Vice

Look Magazine

Examples shown to us in Visual Language

Here are some examples of double page spreads we were shown in Visual Language. I have included some of the spreads that I liked the best.

The shape of layout and type used reflects the modern car. 

This shows how image can actually take up more of the spread than text.

The text above the title is an interesting feature of this simple, clean layout. It looks professional but there seems to be a lot of text that I don't think I'd be drawn to reading.

By not just using rectangle text boxes this spread is exciting.

The busy page is a good contrast next to the simple page which is laid out diagonally.

Internet

Oh comely

The pages of this magazine are gorgeous, and the images are very important in these layouts. 

Kevin Woodland

Climax magazine

I like how this magazine contains image, text and a powerful heading, but still doesn't look too much, because of the use of negative space, but mainly because of the limited use of colour.

Katie Schmitt

417 magazine

I particularly like how the text is shaped to mimic the flower, however, I think it is quite a busy piece.

What is Graphic Design For? (Type and Image)

Brief: Identify at least 10 examples of work that uses image and type and critically analyse and evaluate the success of the appropriateness of the work in relation to the problem it is trying to solve, the function that it is trying to perform, and/or the context in which it is intended to be received.

What is graphic design for? What function does it perform or what problem is it trying to solve?

Who is graphic design for? Who is the potential audience? Who is meant to 'get it' and who isn't?

Where is graphic design found? Where is it meant to be seen? In what situation or at what scale? How is the audience supposed to receive it and are they meant to interact with it?

Graphic design is for creating an identity. Teacake Design created an identity, stationery and packaging for a traditional tailors. The problem that this re-design of a business is trying to solve I assume is lack of costumers, and the new identity is trying to advertise and bring in new costumers, by presenting what the tailors is all about through the design. The target audience is a modern and sophisticated male audience, but what is being communicated is a traditional tailors, so this mix and old and new is shown in the design. The image and typeface are traditional, but the luxury printing and simple layout are very modern. This identity can found on many items, from business cards and letterheads to the website. The limited colour scheme and simple design makes it easier for the image and type to be transferred on to different items. 

Graphic design is for publications. This beautiful catalogue, for the luckyrice festival, has the function of being a guide to the event. It is trying to solve the problem of there being so much information for this food festival that it needs to all be kept together, and so the answer was this catalogue, which is definitely eye catching and looks like an exciting read. I like the natural looking colour scheme and how good it looks on the coloured stock, rather than being printed on to white. This catalogue is for people attending the festival, and even contains a pull out and keep postcard, so people visiting the festival can boast about it. I think having this well designed catalogue will ensure more visitors to the festival next time, as they would keep this catalogue that stands out so much more than catalogues to other events, and they would be reminded of it, and also want to show it to friends.

Graphic design is for making people happy. This is from a book about how graphic design can be used to create gifts and cards and messages of goodwill to celebrate different occasions all over the world. (Celebration graphics sourcebook). I'm a big fan of Rob Ryan's paper cuts, and like how this piece is a bit different, as it isn't available to everybody. Graphic design is usual mass produced, but this is limited edition, screenprinted and signed, making it exclusive and special. The function of this card is to make the one who recieves it feel special, as the problem is that most valentines day cards are quite tacky and not well-designed or unique. It is just meant to be appreciated by the viewer.

Graphic design is for campaigns. Attention can be created for different campaigns, whether these be silly, jokey campaigns or ones for charities or promoting good health. This valentines campaign had the function of being a viral which encouraged everyone in the city (in Canada) where they were placed to 'spread love'. While the posters may not be amazing examples of graphic design, they did work as a campaign, gaining a lot of media attention. I don't think everyone would have taken notice of these designs, although they were posted all over the city. I think they are more appealing to romantic people or to creative types.

Graphic design is for memories. In this book there are lots of different examples of wedding invites. The function of these invites is to convey the required information about the wedding as well as to represent the couple's personalities through the designs. They seem much more special than any other invites you could buy at a store, as they have a personal touch, as there is only one specific audience, the friends and family. The invites are in a way mail shots as they are designed with interesting envelopes to capture the attention and make sure that this particular invite is remembered by all who receive it.

Graphic Design is for progress. This article from the YCN student annual 2010/11 is giving advice to graphic design students. I like how everything has been considered in this design to make what could've just been a bulk of a text an interesting read. The problem in the article is that students may not want to collaborate with other designers, and the advice in the article is solving this, with a well designed article which makes the text easier to read because of the way it is lay out, and seems more exciting and understandable because of the visual presented with it. There is a good mix of negative space and text and image. To make text easier to read, columns are used. The paper stock is good quality paper with texture, and feels and looks much better than normal snow white paper. The target audience is students, who will appreciate the layout and illustrations more. It is found in a book and the audience are meant to read and learn and hopefully this information can have a positive outcome on their career. 

I think it is good to look at different levels of skills of graphic designers rather than just to see the best of the best and that is why I looked at competition answers from students in the YCN student annual 2010/11. This answer to a live competition brief is trying to solve the problem of people not giving much to help beat poverty. So, graphic design is for a good cause. The mail shot is not the most amazing piece of graphic design but I like how vibrant and colourful it is, representing what the message is that it is trying to communicate, this being that you will feel good giving to charity. The audience could be anyone but I think this design would appeal to younger people, such as students who might not usually give. I would open this mail shot if I received it because of the bright inviting colours and also the use of different stock to what mail shots are usually printed on. 

Graphic design is not just for a small scale, but for big things, such as this design which is answering a competition brief from H.Samuel where they wish to appeal to a younger audience. The artist has created these images of people looking out the back of the bus, which look quite real. Something this big is meant to be seen by a lot of people, as the size makes it quite attention grabbing. The placement of the design is important, as it is different from usual bus adverts to grab attention.

Graphic design is for displaying numbers in an interesting way. The problem is how to get information which may be seen as boring over to an audience in an exciting design. This examples of info graphics contains a mix of type and image to get across the number of entrants to the 2009 Output awards. Simple images and use of colour seem to work the best in info graphics to keep the designs easier to read and 

not over crowded.

Graphic design is for history. This alphabet has been clevery put together by fragments of visuals from the Mitchell State Library, forming a legibile alphabet with each letter containing a different part of the library's history. The alphabets function was to celebrate the library's 100th birthday, and was also used for signage in library. Also, there is the idea that the alphabet will bring out the collections to the local community, interesting them in the library. It is meant for everyone who visits the library to enjoy, as it contains well known images from the library as well as bringing to light lesser known ones. The audience are meant to appreciate the alphabet, and be interested in the different images that have been used to put it together, maybe spurring them on to find out more about a particular subject. I think this is a really exciting, ornate alphabet.

Graphic design is for symbolism. There are lots of examples of clever logo design on boredpanda, but I decided to show this one as its probably the most famous. It may look like this logo is more type than image, but the arrow image is a really important part of this logo, so therefore I think both the image and type are responsible for what is being communicated. I've seen this logo so many times and not really paid any attention to it each time I've looked at it, but now I understand what it means. The function of this logo is to tell the customer that on amazon, they have everything 'from a to z', as shown with the arrow. The shape of the arrow also forms a smile, telling the customer that shopping on amazon will make them happy, as its so easy. All of this is understood subconsciously, helping to add to amazon's popularity. Its definitely a successful logo as so many people will recognise this as amazon is well used over the world. Therefore the potential audience is anyone, as this is part of what they want to convey, that amazon has so much theres something for everyone. The audience is meant to remember this and then bare amazon in mind as the place to go every time they need something.

What is Graphic Design For? (Image Driven Work)

Brief: Identify at least 10 examples of image driven work and critically analyse and evaluate the success of the appropriateness of the work in relation to the problem it is trying to solve, the function that it is trying to perform, and/or the context in which it is intended to be received.

What is graphic design for? What function does it perform or what problem is it trying to solve?

Who is graphic design for? Who is the potential audience? Who is meant to 'get it' and who isn't?

Where is graphic design found? Where is it meant to be seen? In what situation or at what scale? How is the audience supposed to receive it and are they meant to interact with it?

mydesignshop / Bitique

These tote bags have been designed by various artists (including Si Scott) and the purpose of these bags is to raise money for different charities, as 100% of the proceeds go to charity. The designs on the bags, which are mainly illustrations, are not supposed to be just pretty images but are relevant to the charity, to get people thinking about this charity, and it may lead the person on to finding out more. As the bags are available on the website mydesignshop, I think the target audience will mainly be other graphic designers, but anyone could buy and use one of these tote bags. 

This is an info graphics piece from the book 'Visual Aid: You can never know enough stuff'. Instructions to make an origami game are made with only images, presented in a stylish way compared to other more boring ways you may find. The function of this piece is to teach you a new skill, in a simple, fun way. It is more of a jokey fun gift book with lots of random facts and instructions, rather than a book trying to solve problems, therefore, this piece is for anyone. It can be used for its purpose, and the audience can interact by making the piece, or just appreciated for the design element. 

Graphic Design is for education. This answer to a live brief competition challenge (found in the YCN student annual 2010/11) shows that graphic design answers to problems can be unbiased, as its not all about advertising. These pop-up paper crafts are a really beautiful way of advising web users about the different browser choices available to them. If a user was to receive an information booklet which is well crafted and designed they are far more likely to pay attention than a standard printed booklet. I like how the stock is plain, there is only a spot colour and the emphasis is on the shape. It has a much more special quality than other answers to the brief.  

 

Graphic design is for promotion. This is a competition answer (again found in the YCN student annual 2010/11), which is promoting a new company of healthy 'Feel Good' drinks. This is really interesting idea for an outcome to the brief, although I think it could have been presented in a more sophisticated manner to reflect the type of drink that is being advertised. I imagine the drink would be a bit more expensive than normal fruit juice and would be competing against other drinks like innocent smoothies. However, this is still a good idea, dressing people up as fruit, and I think this little fruit march would be a good publicity stunt for the company. This answer shows graphic design is not all about posters like some may expect it to be.

Graphic design is for celebration. This poster is the response to a design competition, its function is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the font helvetica. At the same time as sharing this anniversary, the poster could also be promoting the success of the font. I think this poster is mainly for Swiss people, to feel proud that both the Swiss knife and the font helvetica are a part of their history. On the other hand it could be used in other countries to boast the success of Swiss modernism. You can't design for everybody, and obviously this poster is for people who are interested in typography, otherwise I don't think they would really understand it. I think this is quite a clever poster and is put together in a visually pleasing way.

 

Graphic design is for products. The problem here is that thanksgiving festival in the US doesn't really have a visual aspect as many focus just on the food side. This company wanted to create a product to celebrate thanksgiving, which doubles up as a calendar. This is a promotional product for a printing company, which works as an aesthetically pleasing and useful design as well as advertising the company. I like this design as its cute and fun, and especially as it comes as a flat pack. I think if you received it you would definitely want to make it.

Graphic design is for organising. The DA&D student of the year award was presented for this design which colour codes all of Ikea's furniture. It is in answer to a live competition brief where the problem is that customers in store have an immediate reaction to colour. The solution to this problem, a poster which is target at existing Ikea customers but may also attract new ones, shows the endless possibilities which can be created with Ikea's huge range of products. It could be found on billboards, at tube stations etc.. It has the potential to be huge.

Graphic design is for selling stuff. I remember seeing this advertisement for Calvin Klein underwear by liinc in magazines a few years ago, and was always drawn to it because of the beautiful illustrations, and the mix of shading and bursts of girly colours. The drawings are of beautiful women, so the function of this advert is to portray to the viewer that they will be a beautiful women if they buy the advertised underwear. The potential audience is young, teenage girls, who may be very easily convinced by such advertising. This advert was found in young girls magazines in about 2007, such as cosmogirl. I think to an extent this advert is successful, because I do remember it after about four years, however, I was never tempted to buy the expensive underwear.

Graphic design is for retail. The function of these designs by graphicthoughtfacility used in store environments is to make Marks and Spencers, a shop which may be thought of as being for an older person, and quite expensive but untrendy, is to change peoples opinions on the store. Although these store designs are very different, they both have the same purpose, to persuade the customer that Marks and Spencers is a cool and trendy place, that stocks good quality, stylish home ware items. Through word of mouth about the store, this would then attract more visitors. I think these sort of designs appeal to a younger audience, which is good, because Marks and Spencers already have a lot of loyal older customers, but they need to bring in the younger audience. I really like both of the store environments, and can't choose which one I prefer. I think I would be drawn to shop at the one with the illustrations on the wall, as this is the style of illustration that I like. However, they are both modern, young and appealing. These designs are obviously seen at a large scale, on the walls of the store. You can see how big they are by looking at the size of the cabinets in the photographs.

Graphic design is for making a good first impression. This is a really clever interactive business card, found on boredpanda, advertising a fitness trainer. The image of an overweight man is perforated, so when it is ripped off, the image could be of quite a healthy, fit man. This is such a clever idea, that I think it would persuade someone looking for a fitness trainer that this person is the one for them, or even to persuade someone who hasn't been looking for one that it would be a good idea to get fit. It is trying to solve the problem of getting the fitness trainer more custom. While anyone can appreciate how clever but simple this idea is, the target audience is overweight men, as pictured in the image. When the audience receives this business card, they respond with it by ripping it, and by doing this action, I think they are more likely to remember this card than others.

What is Graphic Design For? (Type Driven Work)

Brief: Identify at least 10 examples of type driven work and critically analyse and evaluate the success of the appropriateness of the work in relation to the problem it is trying to solve, the function that it is trying to perform, and/or the context in which it is intended to be received.

What is graphic design for? What function does it perform or what problem is it trying to solve?

Who is graphic design for? Who is the potential audience? Who is meant to 'get it' and who isn't?

Where is graphic design found? Where is it meant to be seen? In what situation or at what scale? How is the audience supposed to receive it and are they meant to interact with it?

This is an info graphics piece from the book 'Visual Aid: You can never know enough stuff'. A world map is made up using only text, this text being the web suffixes and dialling codes for each country. I like how this is small (each page is a6), but useful, containing a lot of information. This piece is in a book full or random information and instructions displayed in a visually pleasing way. I think this is a much more interesting way of displaying information and so the viewer is more likely to take notice and remember things, because of the easy to understand way it is set out. The book is more of a jokey gift book which is nice to look at rather than an information book, so I think anybody could be the potential audience for this piece of graphic design, and I think that the way the audience interact with this book will be just appreciating the designs and finding humour in the random facts.

Graphic design is for changing opinions. This answer is for a competition brief for H. Samuel, where a campaign to challenge the perception of them as a traditional retailer and to encourage younger customers was needed. This answer plays with that challenge by using vintage style traditional letterpress typography, and being similar to early graphic design posters, but at the same time, looks modern. This is due to the choice of colours and phrases and that this style of vintage text is now quite cool, so I think they would appeal to a younger audience as intended.

 Graphic design is for promotion. These very modern type focused designs are to promote a traditional village green festival. The problem is that an event needs advertising but the organisers and designers wanted the promotion to be environmentally friendly in fitting with the event. To solve this problem, the designers used 100% recycled materials, including the t-shirts, which are old T's with the new logo printed over them. The potential audience are those in Southend-on-sea, but the new modern design of bold typography and simple imagery representing bunting will also draw in younger crowds as they are 'cool' designs. The audience will interact with the pieces by using them, visiting the event and then re-cycling the designs.

Graphic design is for projects. This project, dailydropcap, by Jessica Hische, is a website, where every day, the designer adds another drop cap letter. Visitors can check back at the website everyday, and they are allowed to use the drop cap for on their own blogs, for non-commercial use. The only problem it is trying to solve was a personal one for the designer, to keep her motivated in between clients. I think this is a really good idea having personal aims that you don't have to have, but help your work improve. The type has worked in regard to its function of keeping the designer motivated, and even better, she has gained a lot of fans and attention from it. The potential audience is bloggers and web users who may search around design blogs to find this kind of thing, like myself. The letters are found on the internet, and the audience react with it by using them as a gift to decorate their blogs. 

Graphic design is for stating the obvious. These designs by MASH collective can be found in the designmuseumshop. The function of these designs is to label obvious products, which look good and have a purpose, to make items that customers will want to buy. There are lots of different objects available to buy, from pens to USB sticks. They have been influenced by the international typographical style, and seem quite simple. I think its quite a good idea and they do look quite stylish and cool, but I personally wouldn't buy these products because the design looks so simple I could have done it myself, so I'm not that impressed. The target audience, as stated by the designers, are type and design lovers. However, in regards to how much the design works in terms of the function, I am not sure how many designers would buy these products as they don't contain breath-taking examples of typography.

Graphic design is for research. The function of these posters, found on behance, are to display the result of information gathered after a poll asking designers to vote which font was their favourite. No surprise, the 'love affair' of designers was with Helvetica. This piece of graphic design's potential audience was graphic designers, in particular, typographers. Others wouldn't have understood this design, or the sense of humour behind the phrases, or even what is going on. This project was found on the internet, as users voted on a website, choosing between fonts such as universe, helvetica and gotham. I think that this design does work as it is supposed to, it informs the viewer which fonts are the general favourite, as well as entertaining the viewer with the humour, with lines such as "the type that makes us moist."

Graphic design is for motivation. We looked at a series of these posters for inspiration for our 'communication is a virus' brief, and were really inspired by these designs, which lead on to us creating our own. The function of this poster is a quote to motivate and inspire the person who reads it. It is designed to be hung in a frame on the wall, so that the viewer can be reminded of the message every time they look at it. There is a limit to how much a poster can actually motivate you to do something, so it could be argued that this poster does not fully work. Because it is aesthetically pleasing, this simple quote could actually be more motivating than a load of written information which could get over looked. If this poster was placed in a frame, or screen printed, or even digitally printed at a high quality, it has a 'special' quality, which makes people want to display it.

Graphic design is for humour. The function of this print, found on ilovetypography, is just to make someone smile I think. I was drawn to this piece because its how I feel a lot of the time! I think the bold, large typography, with all uppercase letters, makes this statement a confident, stubborn one, as if it is not to be argued with. The red also relates to this boldness, and really catches your attention. I think the potential audience could be a busy, stressed person who would appreciate this and laugh a bit. It is meant to be seen in the form of a print, so it has more of an aesthetic quality than actually having a purpose.

Graphic design is for beauty. Once again, not all pieces of graphic design have to have a purpose, other than being aesthetically pleasing and maybe making the person who sees it impressed. I think this is a beautiful piece of typography found on ilovetypography, and if you look close, the type is actually made up of lots of stars, relating to the quote. The design is meant to be seen as a print, as then the gold foil that is used for the text can be seen a lot better than it can be on screen. This is just a nice print to have, so the audience only really respond to it by being impressed with it. It may also have another purpose, to inspire the audience if they are interested in typography, as it does for me, to try out some designs containing beautiful typography and quotes.

Graphic design is for admiring. This is another piece of beautiful typography by Cameron Moll. This poster, of Salt Lake temple, was made with a letterpress with handcrafted characters. This piece really takes your breath away as you imagine how difficult it must have been to design this. It is not trying to solve a problem, it is just trying to look good. A function for this piece could be to prove that pieces of graphic design can be appreciated as beautiful and special, in the way that fine art can be. Graphic design can be seen as quite throw-away as pieces are mass-produced, but this design is actually a limited edition poster, making it special and exclusive. So this piece could be for anyone, but I think those interested in typography would be most impressed.

 

Graphic design is for collaborations. This image was created by graphicthoughtfacility to advertise an exhibition called Wonderful: Visions of the near future which was an exhibition containing collaborations between artists and scientists. The signage therefore needs to appeal to both those interested in art and those interested in science, to get as many people as possible to visit the exhibition. The typeface that has been created relates to theme of science, (it reminds me of constellations in the sky), and I think it looks really beautiful in the dark with the lights shining through. And, this would attract an artist I think as they want to see more of the designs inside. This sign is found outside of the exhibition, to draw people in,  and the way it is meant to be seen, at night, with the lights shining through definitely makes this design stand out a lot more than the printed version, used in promotional material for the exhibition does. 

Graphic designs is for honesty. This is an internet viral, found on logodesignlove.com. It reminds me of ad spoofs I have seen on adbusters. It is making a joke out of youtube, by changing their logo to 'cat videos', as this seems to be what it is used for a lot of the time, funny videos of animals, particularly cats. I think this is true and this logo design change certainly made me laugh. That is the function of it, just to make people laugh and think that its true, there isn't actually a purpose. It shows the power of a logo, as everyone recognises that this is the youtube logo, due to the font and colours used. The target audience is people who use youtube, as only they would understand that a lot of what is on there is videos of funny cats. This spoof logo is meant to be seen on the internet, it is a viral so may be passed around on blogs, emails and such, along with other logo spoofs.

A4 from Handmadefont on Vimeo.

Graphic design is for entertainment. This videos function is to entertain and impress the viewer; it is part of a project of a few animated font videos. However, there is another purpose of the project, and that is to get people to go to the handmadefont website, and buy one of their fonts, to be used in animations, for commercials or videos, inspired by the example videos already available. While anyone can watch these videos, the potential audience is actually experienced professional designers, who have a knowledge of software such as after effect, and so would be able to create their own video. This video can be found on the website, or design blogs, to spread the message and to get people interested in their project. I found a link to this video from behance.