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The Essential Periodical
 Legible: visible at 20 feet, recognizable on newstands Reproducible at a variety of sizes and colours: full colour or process colour on covers, black and white for house ads and other uses, sides of buildings and spines of books Appropriate typographic and graphic style, to reflect the character of the publication Consistent size, colour and position, especially when establishing a brand identity
Cover Lines. Also called sell lines and appeals, both very revealing names: Help to sell the magazine The more of them the better, as the thing one thinks as least important could be the one that brings the reader to purchase or subscribe Always on the left hand side on newstand magazines Avoid medium toned type, go for maximum contrast: white reversed out of a dark picture, or black on a light picture. Don't be afraid to retouch or reshoot a picture in order to get the maximum amount of contrast.
Illustrations and Photographs. Photographs are real life, illustrations are made up. This is very important in considering the cover treatment. Photographs generally work better. People are better than things. Simple images are better than complicated ones. This is especially true when trying to put across an intangible or subtle idea. Attractive images are better than unattractive ones. Strong, contrasty images are better than subtle ones.
Typography. Text type is usually 9 to 10 pt with 1 or 2 points of leading, in a serif rather than sans serif font - for continuous reading - with careful use of sans for sidebars or captions and other incidental materials. Type is easiest read if there are somewhere between 39 and 60 characters per line, in a medium or book weight rather than light or bold, and simple rather than highly ideosyncratic or unusual Display type should either be the same typeface as the text, or completely contrasting, either bold with book, or sans with serif, or combination of bold and sans.
The Grid. Under the appearance of pages lies a grid, whether a magazine uses one consciously or not. Useful for planning the placement of advertising, and therefore useful in the media kit and advertising promotional materials. Important to remember that advertising comes in standard sizes and therefore the designer should measure all advertising in competing magazines to determine what the sizes likely to encounter are, and what constraints these will put on the pages. Can either be a compreshive grid or one for each of the major components of the magazine. Often for display pages - to achieve a certain effect - it's necessary to completely ignore the grid.
The Contents Page. This is the highest readership page in a magazine and therefore requires special consideration when designing it. The page should be easy to find (most publishers put it as far forward as possible), and the important stuff easy to find on the page, and it should be logical and clean. Use thin lines or leaders, and divide the sections with bold rules or space, and use small illustrations to attract and provide interest. Use the logo rather than the word "contents".
Columns and Departments. The use of 3 column format, 13 picas wide, is common for these as well as the turn pages of features in order to provide a logical home environment for partial ads. Columns are written by someone with a distinct point of view or covering a specific area of interest to the readers fo the magaizne. Departments are those parts which appear regularly in the magazines: letters, editiorial, shopping guide, directory, classifieds.
Features. This is the display area of the magazine and are usually found in what is called an editorial island. Illustrations or photographs usually appear on right hand pages. The typefaces which define the appearance of the magazine are usually used with some distinction and character in the feature openings.Okanagan Bookworks | books@booksokanagan.com | 250.870.2690
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