The Why and How to of Magazine Spreads

Karly BrunelleTMD 427

Portfolio Presentation II

Let’s start with the magazine cover..

Why does this work?

First of all the thing that stands out the most is the contrast in colors. For the title and captions in the foreground, the creator chose two different shades of a blue, both very vivid. It stands out against the model in the background who we all know to be Mary-Kate Olsen. It catches your eye without being too flashy.

Secondly, reading the captions they are all there to entice the reader. It’s “THE TREND ISSUE,” any girl interested in fashion and current fads is going to wonder what the particular magazine depicts as “trendy.” Two of the captions are even acting as guides. The “SPRING BEAUTY” and “WHAT’S COOL NOW” sections are based on fashion forecasts people in the industry have been working on for you the reader learn how to accomplish. It takes a keen sense of fashion to be able to make predictions like these, seasons in advance.

The cover is also reaching out to various types of fashion magazine consumers. They are not just focusing on garments or accessories, but entertainment and travel options as well and not to mention factual biographical material on two celebrities, Mary-Kate Olsen (as pictures) and British Singer Lilly Allen.

In magazines like this one, you will often find event advertisements. And in the April 2008 edition of Fashion Magazine there is an ad for the Buy Design for Windfall Fundraiser. This ad is particularly eye catching because of the color scheme. The entire photographic portion of the ad is in black and white as well as some of the description. Then in bold turquoise, magenta, and orange we see the “BUY DESIGN” as well as the date and location and the host. This is very unique to what we would normal see.

Usually it is the clothing and accessories that is being showed up in a full spectrum of color but instead the designer really wanted you to notice to event. It could even be predicted as an underlying meaning: “come for the charity of the event”, “buy because it will be helping out others”. And if the message isn’t enough of a reason, it is also very appealing to the eye.

In no way does the black and white effect make the ad look eerie or dark. This is partially because none of the models look eerie or dark and the designer makes up for the lack of color in the few colorful accents.

And then of course, the famous “for your body” portion of the magazine..

This J-14 Magazine spread exhibits exactly what every fashion magazine knows how to do: relate the consumer (typically a non celebrity) to a celebrity with similar features. It makes the reader feel like they are not alone and especially at the young age the usual J-14 reader is, it builds confidence in young boyish, curvy, and apple bodied girls.

Physically the spread also flows. The colors of the bathing suits all seem to flow together. There is a shade of yellow in each category as well as blue and purple or dark blue. The designer also demonstrated multiple styles of bathing suits, giving readers with different styles options.

Although this magazine’s particular spread in attempting to show readers affordable and trendy styles of watches and sunglasses, the spread design simply does not work.

It is a good idea to show different styles and different colors for the various styles of each reader, but there is no flow or cohesiveness within each category of merchandise and it actually looks quite messy. The designer should have linked some of the watches together and set them up schematically to form a shape rather than a clutter.