AICE Media Studies Blog 2019

For this research assignment, I was asked to analyze the covers, tables of contents, and selected spreads of 3 issues of Popular Science magazine. In doing this, I learned a lot about the house style of Popular Science: more specifically, why it is as such and how it is used to create a certain futuristic and modern feeling. The magazine's mission statement is to - with "clarity", "insight", and "relevance" - present "the future now" to an audience of science enthusiasts. Therefore, it is key that puff, and fluff is minimized, unnecessary anchorage and clutter is reduced, and readability and conciseness is emphasized. Although I found this in the way the tables of contents and spreads were laid out, this was made most evident in the covers of each of my issues. They all had very little anchorage, instead focusing on interesting design elements and pictures to convey meaning. The magazine also has a cartoonish element to it, not to the same d...

Target audience :  Popular Science's readership is much older than I thought. 40% of readers are over 50 years old and 55% are 25 - 54 years old. The median reader age is surprisingly 45 years old, much older than I expected in my last blog post.  Readers tend to be more educated, with 72% having attended college and making a median $74,361 household income.  It turns out my expectations were wrong. Popular Science is successful in getting both young and old people who are interested in science and engineering. This was perhaps because of my assumptions of what older people like in magazines and writing. Mission : To present the future with clarity, insight, and relevance. Futurism and an optimistic hope for the best out of new developments. Popular Science's approach towards making articles allows it to excite people with predictions and possibilities. This excitement gets readers and subscribers. History : Founded in May, 1872 to spread scientific kno...

As I have come to learn from my research, Popular Science is a colorful magazine defined by a futuristic and modern aesthetic with some cartoonish elements. There is an emphasis on clean and readable design, which manifests itself in a light and spacious cover, table of contents, and general page text layout. Issues discussed in the magazine either relate to new discoveries in science and engineering or controversial issues with emergent technologies, which may make the magazine appealing to many ages. However, the cartoonish design elements, pictures, and graphics used throughout the magazine are reminiscent of retro video games and Saturday morning cartoons, which are things mostly familiar to younger people and millennials. Although the topics discussed in the magazine I can imagine are interesting to all ages, I do not believe older people who are unfamiliar with the magazine's design will be attracted to its stylistic funkiness and novelty. This is why I believe Popular Sc...

The magazine now switches to serif fonts for the article text and title, with sans-serif fonts for quotes. Quotes highlighting relevant and interesting statements made by article subjects which spark reader's interest. 2nd page of spread entirely dedicated to profile image of article subject Sociopolitical issues represented indeed have to do with technology, discovery, and medicine. In this case, these spreads pertain to specific individuals at the center of such issues. House style design elements: shapes, arrows, and block quote symbols. Image credits at bottom of first or second page, along with issue month and page number. Gray lines manage flow and order of the page for easier readability and a futuristic aesthetic. Flashy titles grab the reader's attention. We see here the use of special elements such as a block quote symbol, a red triangle at the corner of the page, and some video game characters. The profile image takes up the entirety of t...

The whole magazine is anywhere from 90 to 120 pages long. The table of contents is always 2 pages long, where the second page usually contains the image credits on the bottom. There is always at least one infographic which fits the clean, material design of the magazine. The fonts used are similar to those used on the cover (sans-serif). Some of the pictures used were designed to look like cartoons rather than photographs. Not much wordage is dedicated to each article, mostly names and subjects. Links for magazine issues analysed in this and following blog posts:  October 10th, 2018 April 1st, 2018 January 1st, 2018