Research into Typography

Though you may not think it, the font of the text is one of the main, most important things to think about when constructing a magazine. It paints a picture in the readers mind about what the genre of the magazine could be, what it would be about, the type of artists they would have in there etc.

What is Typography?

Typography is the art of arranging type, designing type, and modifying type glyphs. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, line spacing (leading), adjustment of space between groups of letters (tracking) and adjustment of space between pairs of letters (kerning).

Basic Type Anatomy

I have taken the time to look at some different titles of music magazines to not only differentiate between them, but to also explain what i believe they denote:

From this typeface, I can tell that the magazine will be edgy, grungy and heavy rock. 'Kerrang' denotes a particular sound of an electric guitar which is generally used in this genre of music. The font looks messy and the colour scheme represents this too with the use of black and white.

This typeface gives off a rock 'n' roll, 80s vibe as the font is flowing and sans serif. The colours of red and white give a vintage, british view of the magazine. The name Rolling Stone came from an old song which again proves that the magazine would have coverage of epic, legendary artists.

Besides the name being a big give away to the genre of the magazine, the font of the text is an even bigger give away. Recent studies show that the people tend to look at the font first, before they read the text. This font has a graffiti effect which is what most people associate the type of people who enjoy hip-hop music with. 

Integrate type with other design elements and develop the composition as a whole.

Type communicates on several levels:

• Content: the word’s written meaning
• Visual impact: use of type as a design element
• Context: the content and visual impact of text in relationship with entire composition

No matter how fashionable or clever the design, if copy that is meant to be read is difficult to read -it is badly designed.