Magazine Design

Carol Holstead

Magazines have personalities. Like people, they can be edgy, colorful, organized, friendly, authoritative, or elegant. A magazine expresses its personality through its editorial slant—the kinds of stories it runs, the actual words these stories use—and also through its design—its use of typefaces, art, photos, colors, space, paper, and even its binding. Vanity Fair , with artful celebrity photos running across spreads, art deco cover type, and use of red borders, says it's sophisticated but willing to take risks. Esquire magazine's design says it's masculine and stylish. People magazine's design says it's friendly and newsy. Even magazines covering the same general subject—sports, for example—have differing personalities: ESPN , with its larger-than-typical size, bold type, and strong cover portraits, says it's a sports magazine with an attitude. Sports Illustrated , with its smaller format and mostly action-shot covers, says it's about news. These distinctions are important because magazines want to occupy unique ...

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