Featured: Editorial Design Challenge

I’ve been studying the media for two years and have been magazine enthusiast for as long as I can remember.

Since commencing my degree, I have been attempting to perfect my writing, have learnt about print cycles and the way newsrooms work and how advertising makes the media world go ’round. One thing, however, which has remains annoyingly untouched is that of editorial design and how it contributes to making magazines and newspapers what they are.

I don’t really understand the reason behind this lack of coverage. Having taken matters into my own hands, it seems that layout designs are infinitely important both aesthetically AND economically.

Mia Freedman, former editor of Australian Cosmopolitan magazine and blogger over @ Mamamia.com.au wrote in her memoir that

“The most important part of an editor’s job is choosing the cover. Nothing has a bigger impact on sales. So oddly, there is suprisingly little research about what works. it’s a frustratingly inexact science although every editor has her theories. Generally, if an issue sells well, the cover takes the credit. If it’s a flop, the cover is blamed”

- p. 101, Mama Mia: A Memoir of Mistakes, Magazines and Motherhood.

Editorial design does, admittedly, go far beyond just the cover of a publication. However, the assertion that design has a direct impact on sales appears undeniable.

So, in an attempt to learn about the dos and don’ts of the editorial design, I shall investigate the design of various publications, compare their layouts to those textbooks describe as ‘good’ and try to weed out the good and bad from a sea of editorial. I’ve never wanted this blog to be about me telling you what I think about the world, I want to learn and share these learning experiences with you all, so this will not merely be a series of good vs. bad, but instead a critical look at what makes print publications successful in terms of design.

So, who’s with me??

But first, an introduction to some basic principles is probably in order:

Yolanda Zappaterra writes in her book, and my new bible, Editorial Design that -

“a simple way of defining editorial design is as visual journalism, and it is this that most easily distinguishes it from other graphic design-design processes such as marketing or packaging design, which tend to be about promoting a single point of view or product”

and

“The design of editorial matter has many different functions, such as giving expression and personality to the content, attracting and retaining readers, and structuring the material clearly”

page 6 – Editorial Design. (Buy Editorial Design (Portfolio Series).)

This text uses insights from various editorial designers about the ‘rules’ of design, the way magazine layouts work on the same basic principles of grids, the most appealing styles of typography and basically every single worthwhile factoid about editorial design. I feel comforted embarking on this journey of discovery with this text open on my lap.

Icons, captions, picture credits, boxes and sidebars – oh my! So much to cover and so much to learn. Thus, here’s how it’s going to work – for every issue I pick apart, I’ll attempt to explore a few of the topics of importance raised by ol’ Yolanda and any other experts I happen to snag!

First up: the latest issue of Frankie. Stay tuned.