This assignment was to be an in-depth analysis on the design and layout of a magazine of our choice. Our goal was to recreate a version of our own issue with all new topics, imagery, pagnation and more. What we had to stay true to was all the layout elements such as grids, guides, pagnation, typography, and more.
The beginning of my research journey into the New Yorker first required an understanding of the layout elements inside a magazine. More specifically, the definition, purpose, and means of identification. This portion proved to be challenging, as I was not familiar with magazine layout design and can vary in looks depending on the magazine. In this section, I took pieces of tracing paper tried my hand at labeling the name of each layout element.
With the understanding of the layout elements set in place, I then had to design a replica for my final magazine design. I contributed my designs into a moodboard. This consisted of a list of the typefaces used, the layout of a possible story, their official colour palette and examples of imagery that may be used.
The rough sketches in this section represent the page-spread advertisement and the layout of the front cover for my final design. The New Yorker is a trendy lifestyle magazine, so I had to follow accordingly for the design of these elements. For the advertisement, I included a famous celebrity with multiple call-to-actions, and the cover image portrayed a painted art piece, along with the regular text format that you would expect from a usual cover from The New Yorker.
The image shown is an example of a finished feature in my magazine rendition. It showcases an interview with Greta Gerwig about her hit movie Barbie, since that was the recent coverage upon the timing of my design. The New Yorker is very visual, but also has a big story to tell in their publishings. Therefore, you should expect to see alot of body text. This meant that the formatting of my body text was crucial.
My biggest challenge had to be in the beginning of my project when I was collecting all of my research. Before pursuing this design, I had little to no experience on magazine layout design. So, having to get a grasp of the terminology and rules felt like a setback in my progress, but ultimately set me up for success at the end of my production.
Previously, I had learnt about book layout design in a previous class, and even with the general knowledge of text formatting I did not realize how in-depth the layout of a magazine actually was and what had to be considered. I was introduced to a separate side to print design, and gained extensive knowledge that will support my designs in the future.
