Magazine Genre Codes and Conventions: Part 1
What I am trying to do with this analysis is amalgamate a coherent design for my magazine using the codes and conventions of other science and technology magazines. I believe this will be useful long-term into my design process because it will give me a sense of what I ought to be focusing on to create meaning in my magazine. This research project will also help me understand better the why behind a magazine creator's decisions in general, perhaps so I can take what is useful and apply it towards my own goals.
The magazine I will be focusing on is Popular Science. I will be using their October 10th, 2018 issue as a reference. One thing I immediately noticed was, as is the case with many scientific magazines, this magazine mostly uses smooth, modern fonts. In this case, the fonts used on this magazine are mostly sans-serif or stylized to feel futuristic, which further add to a sense of modernity. The cover keeps to simple color scheme of 2-3 colors, which further adds to a minimalist and modern tone in a way that reminds me of IKEA furniture. I am really fond of this type of house style and so I might keep it in mind when I finally get to placing images and text in my magazine.
The cover only dedicates a rather small amount of free space for anchorage. This not only makes for clean design, but it tells me that the magazine intends on conveying meaning by focusing on objects rather than people, which is something I've noticed on many high-end magazine covers in the past.
The little anchorage on the page is in itself also very concise, with attention grabbing mere bullet-points sufficing. Two creative design elements are used here: a bio-hazard symbol and a shuriken, which immediately tell the reader what the magazine will be discussing, with no special context necessary (the bio-hazard symbol was in fact designed this way such that we immediately recognize its unique significance). Focusing on using symbols and images on my cover rather than inundating my potential reader with text and buzzwords might make for a rather unique and chic magazine cover.
In summary, these are the codes and conventions I have gathered from my chosen magazine cover:
The magazine I will be focusing on is Popular Science. I will be using their October 10th, 2018 issue as a reference. One thing I immediately noticed was, as is the case with many scientific magazines, this magazine mostly uses smooth, modern fonts. In this case, the fonts used on this magazine are mostly sans-serif or stylized to feel futuristic, which further add to a sense of modernity. The cover keeps to simple color scheme of 2-3 colors, which further adds to a minimalist and modern tone in a way that reminds me of IKEA furniture. I am really fond of this type of house style and so I might keep it in mind when I finally get to placing images and text in my magazine.
The cover only dedicates a rather small amount of free space for anchorage. This not only makes for clean design, but it tells me that the magazine intends on conveying meaning by focusing on objects rather than people, which is something I've noticed on many high-end magazine covers in the past.
The little anchorage on the page is in itself also very concise, with attention grabbing mere bullet-points sufficing. Two creative design elements are used here: a bio-hazard symbol and a shuriken, which immediately tell the reader what the magazine will be discussing, with no special context necessary (the bio-hazard symbol was in fact designed this way such that we immediately recognize its unique significance). Focusing on using symbols and images on my cover rather than inundating my potential reader with text and buzzwords might make for a rather unique and chic magazine cover.
In summary, these are the codes and conventions I have gathered from my chosen magazine cover:
- Smooth, modern fonts
- Simple color scheme, primary colors
- Minimal anchorage
- Special house design elements and symbols
- Keeping fluff and puff to a minimum
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