Magazine Design in the Internet Age

For many years, magazines have been a popular way of disseminating information. They provide information to the general public, especially those with special interests. Its benefits are also self-evident (in some cases, it may be the only information Providers] The magazine covers a wide range of contents, such as sewing, guitar playing, decoration, politics, insects, fashion, etc., and it is virtually all-encompassing, and it has almost no competitors and occupies an absolute advantage.

However, the network has changed everything. Magazines must now compete with numerous websites. These sites provide free, time-sensitive and in-depth insights, as well as many interesting things. And, the site constructors do not have to bear the paper costs, postage and printing costs - these three major expenses are very heavy for publishers around the world.

However, the magazine industry is still prosperous. What role does the art designer play in this new era of competition with the Internet? How did art designers expand and extend their roles when the magazine rushed to set up an online version? How does the web change their magazine design ideas and information representation? With these issues, we discussed with three top designers. They face various challenges from the Internet. Some of them are very surprising.

LAURA MORRIS, Art designer, Business 2.0 Magazine When LAURA was told to design a new magazine about the Internet, she met with an opportunity and a challenge - designing a magazine to reflect the editor's interest in networking But also to maintain the sensitivity of business magazines.

In August 1998, when "Business 2.0" was founded, "Wired" magazine was very popular, but LAURA did not use "Wired" magazine's unusual use of colors, fonts, and patterns. If you just look at the page edited by "Business 2.0" magazine, you will think that you are reading a very traditional business magazine such as "Fortune" magazine or "Happiness" magazine. There is nothing strange about this illusion.

LAURA said: "Our design is very simple. There is a reason. Business people are in a hurry. We hope to give them a simple reading." This does not mean LAURA is not creative. She said: "We try to use non- Text and pictures make the form lively and diverse, placing text in a separate place.”

LAURA has also added some web design elements. For example, the magazine's catalog is attached to the cover as a folding insert. She said: "We want our readers to be able to enter magazines immediately, just like on the Internet, rather than first To read a bunch of ads."

LAURA also explicitly set a vertical navigation bar at the far right of the page. She said: "It tells readers which section of the magazine is being read. The content of the articles read is about what. This is somewhat like the URL in the network."
Of course, the magazine also has its own website (). Although LAURA does not administer the website, she still has to focus on identifying the content of the magazine so that network managers can easily adapt it to the network. She said: "We often use one A simple platform builds the image content, making the file size smaller, so that it is suitable for transmission on the web.” When LAURA creates large and complex graphics or drawings, she often makes some processing to make it as simple as possible for the website. .

However, the use of magazine design for the web is not the main reason for magazine design. LAURA said: "I have never resisted doing something for magazines because they are not translated into the languages ​​used by the Internet. They are two completely different things."

LAURA is gradually involved in the network. She is an internal committee member who oversees the redesign of the website. She said: “I have to keep the style of the logo. I tell them which fonts to use, which palettes to use, and when and where to use the logo. We must ensure that the appearance of the magazine is the same as on the Internet.”

The work of LAURA and its employees has obviously been very successful. The "Business 2.0" magazine has a total of 448 pages and will soon be issued at a rate of two times a month.

ROBERT KANES, designer, “PC World” Magazine The computer industry itself is so influenced by the Internet that no industry can match it. Computer enthusiasts are the pioneers of the network revolution. They need depth and breadth of information, and they are always in great need. And because the development speed of the computer industry is called “supersonic”, new products are “baked” every day. The contents of traditional three-month magazines in the computer world are just like every other day. However, "PC World" magazine is still prosperous, this seems to be a great bar to the proud network.

The success of PC World magazine was because the management staff spent a lot of energy to ensure that the company's websites and magazines complement each other and achieved better results than competing relationships.

ROBERT is the editor-in-chief of PC World magazine and the director of production of the website. He said: "Every medium has strengths and weaknesses. On the Internet, aging is a big problem. People use the Internet to search and browse information. But also People reading magazines may be for better analysis and entertainment."

The difference between web and print helps ROBERT and others decide what kind of material suits which media. ROBERT said: "On the Internet, in addition to news and commentary, there are also things like methodologies, checklists, links to retailers and toolbars that are not suitable for magazines."

However, the network is not very flexible when it comes to designing, but it is limited to what ROBERT can do from a design perspective. He said: "Many materials in the network are very rigid, so it can not properly describe the story vividly, but print can. That is to say, there are many constraints that prevent you from doing what you want to do." Therefore, ROBERT is keen to take the lead Rich artistic vision is used to make magazine pages. He said: "You can use more open space, bolder art, more complicated graphics, and design patterns to help us talk about news."

One of the bigger challenges that ROBERT faces is the inability to reconcile between the network and magazine deadlines. Essentially, a report can always be posted on the Internet as soon as it is completed, and it can only be published for a few months. ROBERT usually lives in magazines in order to be able to pay close attention to time.

ROBERT also established a so-called "reverse work flow" to make up for the delay. He said: "Once our report is completed, we can publish it on the Internet soon, and then we will post it in the magazine. We will also attach related content, its importance and background next to him."

ROBERT believes that it is very important for a creative designer to manage websites and print jobs at the same time so that one person can supervise multiple tasks. It is meaningful to maintain both the visual and the feeling. "From the point of view of a demanding manager, it will help you because you can do it in person or in person," said ROBERT.

LUKE HAYMAN, the designer, and "Squid" magazine "Squid" magazine advertised himself as "a special voice in the information age." Its content was slow to enlightenment, fierce rhetoric, and analysis of the mass communication tools themselves and their The role of life, including the Internet. LUKE HAYMAN is a designer who designed pages for "Squid" magazine.

Hayman also has a certain view of the Internet, Hayman said: "I think the Internet has not changed my opinion on magazine design, thinking, whenever it is. Apple has changed some design ideas, but the network does not. ”

When you read the contents of the magazine "Squid", you will find that Hayman is a person with unique insights. You can't find a lot of ideas for complying with book entries or some design elements that are referenced from the web. Instead, you will find a bold, autonomous, serious eye that expresses the language of design. Hayman said: "I think using a good word to describe the effect of the magazine is "strong." We try to avoid "gorgeous," "superficial," "smooth."

The biggest challenges for Haymen are those that are drawn from mass media such as television. He said: "We often have to use the screen to grab some TV shows. We decided to break some restrictions. For example, we would say that an image is enlarged to make the characteristics of rough particles more obvious, rather than trying to hide it."

But Haymen is also a web enthusiast who is keen on the Internet. The Internet will provide some information to creative designers like him. He said: "I think the Internet allows you to deal with topics and information in a loose way, such as the ability to play sound or video. One of my favorite technical uses is the "market map" of SmartMoney.com, which outputs data in a powerful way that is not available in print."

Haymen is trying to make squid websites and magazines more closely integrated. Although he also stayed on network products, he still decided to publish a monthly magazine to make it more like a magazine.

From the above revelation:
Although television was born, authorities predicted the demise of broadcasting. But this is not a fact after all. This also applies to today's magazine industry. As long as the art designers don't design like children drawing, magazines with beautiful illustrations and smooth papers still have a place.