Research point
If you haven’t already, now is the time to collect as many newspapers, newsletters, magazines and brochures as you can. Start by going through them and dividing them into the ones that immediately look easy to read and those that don’t. Is this due to the typefaces used, the way the type is laid out – the number of words per line and the column width, or its alignment? Work out from your examples what the designers have done to make things more legible and readable. Make notes in your learning log. Then do the next exercise.s
Since I'm temporarly in Australia and it is "Covid-19" time, I dont have too many options of printed magazines or brochures with me.
But I have found online a great website for magazine PDFs.
So I have picked few magazines I liked their typefaces and some that I didn't, I will discuss them in this research post.
I also went for a stroll to find as many brochures as I could, since a lot of businesses are shut at the moment.
MAGAZINES
Magazines that I liked their typefaces and they were easy to read.
first thing that comes in my mind when I see this magazine is - neat space.
The design of the typefaces is so neat, minimalistic, and spacious that it is so easy and pleasant to read.
On the cover, it is the alignment to right and left, the spacing of words in different lines such as "DUA LIPA
IS THE
FUTURE"
I think it takes a good artist to choose which word should be on each line and it is always attracting my eyes.
In the article opning page (example 2), I like the placements of the "beauty" Aligned to the left at the top and the titles alignments to the right and left including different sizings.
I also liked the way the subtitle is on the top right and the leading is quite small which is also attracting the eye. All those different alignments and leadings finds harmony in the design and look neat but yet very appealing.
In the full article, I like the way it is all organized, the title is big enough and aligned well in the center, the subtitle as well has just the right amount of text and aligned to the center.
The text itself is not too long and organized into 2 columns and has hypernation, and the alignment is to stretch and fit the column size which gives it a very proffesional feel.
Table of content is very organized, aligned to the left and has a leading after each different paragraph.
I also like the Drop Cap that they have added, it adds to the professional feel.
If we're looking at the logo of ELLE it has a very stylish and bold Kerning that gives it a serious and strong mood.
National Geographic Traveller is a really cool magazine, not only that it's using a different style to most other magazines, it is also keeping it minimal and classic while doing so.
I love the title, they have played around with the same font but in different sizes, and weights ("why the" and "be" vs. "future" and "female")
Also, they have used here 2 different fonts which are still communicating with each other, one suns serif that is tall and slim and one that is short and wide.
They have used a big and completely separated Drop Cap which is super cool and attracting in my eyes.
Same like ELLE the text itself is not too long and organized into 1 column and has hypernation and the alignment is to stretch and fit the column size and has a tab at the beginning of a paragraph, which gives it a very professional feel.
I also liked the extra small reference column on the last example page.
This one for me was actually a surprise, I thought by the cover it will be one of the magazines I will put here as my least favorite, but onces I opened the other pages I was very surprised, the typefaces inside were so neat and easy to read and so atractting.
On the cover I didn't like so much the use of too many fonts, it is disturbing.
But the inside of the magazine, the articles are so nice to read -
The fonts are really nice and neat, they match very well, I like the fact the subtitle is above the title.
the subtitles have a good amount of leadings, and the alignments are not stretching fully but still look very orgenized. There are 2 columns and plus one for references which is very cool since its a small one in comparison to the others. I also liked the wrap around the image they have created.
Kerning is very neutral which is great for text reading and the amount of text is not too big which is easy to read.
Another interesting thing is the top of the pages where they have created some kind of a tech feeling of maybe airline computer or something that is even pretty similar to our phones top bar as the subject description.
Magazines that I didn't like their typefaces, and they were'nt easy to read.
Newspapers, in general, are intimidating in my eyes.
I'll explain -
1. I don't like this massive amount of text, it is intimidating.
2. They always have a very boring feeling, a tiring amount of small letters condensed into 6 coloumns
3. Kernings and Leadings are too small which is tiring to even try and read.
I have picked one of the newspapers which looked slightly nicer and more attractive, but it was only the images that made it so.
It is still very condensed, a massive amount of words that are just way too tiring to even try and read.
In comparison to those newspapers, which I was not growing up reading, I'm attaching an Israeli newspaper which I was growing up reading and therefore I am more used to.
The interesting part is, that now I can observe both in a design kind of eye and explain the difference between them.
First. I was not growing up reading those massive (also bigger in size in my eyes then the Israeli ones) newspapers like the ones above. Therefore I can have a more objective opinion on the design and I can say that in my eyes it is just too much. Though, since it has been the way newspapers are for centuries, it has become something most people expect, and changing it would just not work.
On the contrary, since Israel is not a very old country, the media could give the newspaper a fresh more modern look when it started.
The problem with it - it is way more manipulative.
Red and black colors are constantly a part of the design.
Big and very dramatic titles.
Big images which are there to manipulate, for example, the images of the soldier.
Typeface wise, in my eyes it is way easier to read (I want to believe I can say it in an objective way too).
- Less text - only the headlines of the main articles are featuring on the cover.
- Alignments can be going in different directions which are more sophisticated for a newspaper.
- kerning and leadings are mostly neutral
This one was interesting for me.
On one hand, I didn't like it at all, I think the use of fonts or elements are bad. But on the other hand, I had a closer look to see what was not so easy to read here and surprisingly it wasn't really the typeface.
I have had another look to see what was it that I didn't like and to be honest everything was very organized, the table of content was clear to read, and so is the main article's text. The Leading and Kerning are right and spacious, I would have probably preferred to have the text stretching to be aligned with the columns but it was still very clear.
The only thing I didn't like according to fonts was -
The table of content was not matching, why does section 4 and 5 get one kind of font as a title and section 6 gets anther? also - using all caps for script fonts usually looks weird and poor in my eyes, like it is not supposed to be that way, and therefore it makes it all very weird as well.
Lastly, why the lines of content of sections 4 and 5 not inside the box? and in section 6 it's inside?
I have found it to be a lacking in the design and probably the reason why I didn't like it at first glance.
Here I have found examples 1, 4 and 5 to be really good and appealing.
1 and 4 are more neat and minimal, while example 5 is doing a great use of multiple types of fonts that actually work well together. I think it has to do with the great alignment to left and right, with neutral kerning and leading.
On the contrary, examples 2 and 3 are very messy and are not appealing or looking easy to read.
It seems like there's a lot going on in both examples 2 and 3, but number 2 is worst in my eyes so I picked it as example to go in-depth.
I had a look inside the magazine and it has proced my first glance opinion on the typeface.
There are way too many fonts, on the cover the kerning, leading and alignments are all over the place - the top left 48 recipes section is aligned to the left, and have a small leading, while the next 2 chunks of text are aligned to the center and the bottom to the left again to the left.
All chunks of text have too many differenet fonts in too many different sizes and therefore different leadings.
inside the magazine, there are again too many different fonts, and a lot of things are happening around the page. It is definatly easier to read then the cover but still very not attracting.
BROCHURES
I went for a stroll into one of the only cafes which were open for takeaways in this time, and I looked at their cork board.
Brochures - Easy to read
The town I'm currently staying in is small, and therefore there are not too much interest in hiring a graphic designer for an ad or a brochure. Some more progressed people, who are probably also younger, use online platforms like "canva" to create thier brochures.
Here are few goos examples in my eyes.
From left to right -
"Glamp With"
First of all, the typeface is inviting, it is easy to read and stand out. The fonts are easy to read, and the Alignments are right. The title aligned left and the main text. the subtitle is Aligned to the center and stretched to the whole line, not sure if it is by coincidence (the text just matched) or that the designer set it to be so. There are separators between the words of the subtitle and the tracking of it looks great and professional.
"WHIRLWIND"
This brochure is great, I'm not a big fan of the colors chosen, but the typeface is great. Great title and subtitle all aligned to senter at the top, both subtitles aligned to stretch and the second line has a nice tracking because of the alignment. The 2 lines on top of the pictures has nice specious leading and so is the text below the picture.
"Yoga"
Nice and specious. There is a separation of a third of the page to the left, which has a logo and the location, all aligned to center, but spaced out in a nice way. On the other side (the 2/3 of the page) there's a good title, "YOGA" and underneath an explanation about it with leading and which is aligned to center of the 2/3 'coloumn' with the title Yoga. Time and price aligned to the left along with a smaller size font contact.
"Creative Leader"
This is a simple and sweet brochure in my eyes, it has the title aligned to center, the text aligned to left with nuetral kerning and leading. There is space between paragraphs that looks more like spaces by "enter". the bottom left has the contact details aligned to left, with leading between the lines. on the image theres another line of text which is a quote and therefore using script font.
Brochures - Not Easy to Read
Left to right
"WITCHCLIFF"
Let's start that from looking at it I dont understand what the brochure is for, is it an ad for the town? because the title and subtitle says the name of the town and region, which is weird. Placement wise, it is way to high in the page, while planning to put it up on corkboards... The placement of images is whierd and looks like a mess (design wise), and the text looks like it's squeezed between the images. Also, when there's a big chunk of text, it is better to align it to one side so it is easy to read (for English - left side), and this brochure is using center alignment (which is not stretched to fit) and therefore it looks like too much to read.
Wine Brochure
Too much mess. First, The title is with a very thin script font which is just too hard to read, It's aligned to the left on an image background that is just black enough behind but still very distrucing. The map's text is again a script, this time a thicker one, but it is a small size of font so it is harder to read (for example they should have used the thicker one for the title...). Then the text on the left "our tastign room" is too thin and barely can see (I had to put an effort to really read it) while the kerning and leading in this case are ok. Then the contact is again, ok, but the rest have already made it hard to even notice the contact (because who would want to contact something they haven't read)...
"Crossfit"
Too much text, aligned to center, small kerning, too hard to even read it
"Sakti"
Too much text, that the color is being almost impossible to read on top of the background, to hard to read.