Editorial Design
Cath Caldwell & Yolanda Zappaterra
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As Mark Porter, former creative director at The Guardian, explains: 'Many papers are now less concerned with simply reporting and more with providing background, perspective and interpretation. Rather than just telling readers what happened, these papers now have to help them understand the significance of events, and encourage them to think. Design has to respond to this in a number of ways. As stories get longer and more complex, rational and readable page layouts and typography become increasingly important. And visual journalism – intelligent use of photography, infographics and layout – has also become an essential tool for editors
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'Design is at the forefront of establishing a relationship with the reader. It telegraphs the content, spirit and forward-thinking qualities of the publication and gives the reader an instant relationship with the spirit of the magazine.' Janet Froelich, Creative Director, Real Simple
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These dual needs mean that much more is expected of a designer in customer publishing, maintains Jeremy Leslie, creative consultant at magCulture: 'There is little difference in terms of design skills, but much in terms of strategy, thinking and broader creativity. Consumer magazines need to stand out on the shelf, but cannot risk alienating their existing audience as they seek to attract new readers. Customer magazines are interested in standing out in every and any way they can. They have to demand the attention of the reader in an appropriate way for the brand or service they are promoting. So there is far more emphasis on ideas and conceptual thinking – what can a magazine be?'
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Mastering objective visualization This is a complex skill that involves the ability to select, reject, emphasize, arrange and combine essential elements in order not only to design a layout but also to develop a vision for a whole publication that is completely attuned to its subject matter or raison d'être and the readership.
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Roger Black's ten rules of design(But remember, rules, once learnt, are there to be broken!) 1Put content on every page. Design shouldn't be mere decoration; it must convey information. Or entertainment. Content should come to the surface on every level. Corollary: nobody reads anything – at least not everything. The only person who will read every word of what you've written is your mother. All other people skim and surf. So make sure there's content on every page. 2, 3, 4 The first colour is white. The second colour is black. The third colour is red. Calligraphers and early printers grasped this over 500 years ago, and experience has proved them exactly right. White for background, black for text, red for accent and excitement. These three colours are the best. Be very careful with all other colours. 5Don't be blown around by fashion like a hot-dog wrapper in the wind. 6Never set a lot of text type in all caps. After a while, it's just too hard to read. 7A cover should be a poster. A single image of a human will sell more copies than multiple images or all type. Always has, always will. Think about why. 8Use only one or two typefaces. Italian design is the model: a strong sense of a few things that work together. Avoid a free-for-all of multiple fonts/colours. 9Make everything as big as possible. Type looks great in big font sizes. A bad picture always looks better bigger. 10Get lumpy! The trouble with most design is it has no surprise. If you want normal people to pay attention, you have to change pace in your presentation. Monotonous rhythms of picture, headline, picture, text, ad, headline, picture, ad, etc., is like a pudding without raisins – a stew without lumps.