Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

designbc · Apr 23, 2003, 11:04 AM

I'm desperately looking for good books on magazine design. Not just those books that show nice spreads, but the ones with some theory and explanations. Suggestions please?

j45degrees · Apr 30, 2003, 07:20 PM

I studied commercial art many years ago and the thing that most of us did was clip pages from magazines or ads that we liked and stored them as reference. You get a great file of reference material after awhile.

There probably are good books but designs are worth studying yourself. Decide what you like and really study how the space is used.

You'll go a long way with this kind of approach.

I once had to reproduce the look and feel of a national magazine for an ad and I contacted the art director of the magazine and engaged him in some dialog about his design. He wouldn't give me all the details on his format but he was helpful and flattered that I called him.

dadder · May 1, 2003, 01:46 AM

Originally posted by j45degrees:
There probably are good books but designs are worth studying yourself. Decide what you like and really study how the space is used.

You got it! This is the best way to learn what is good and what works and why you like it. I would also recommend buying magazines that you would never normally buy... whether it's Madamoiselle, Surf, Architect Today, whatever. This will give you many levels of taste and layout for particular markets.

j45degrees · May 1, 2003, 08:26 AM

Originally posted by dadder:
You got it! This is the best way to learn what is good and what works and why you like it. I would also recommend buying magazines that you would never normally buy... whether it's Madamoiselle, Surf, Architect Today, whatever. This will give you many levels of taste and layout for particular markets.

You may have some adversity to buying magazines like Madamoiselle of course.

Be sure you have a camera ready to capture that "oh yah, right..." look on their faces when you tell them you're doing design research.

designbc · May 1, 2003, 09:01 AM

Originally posted by j45degrees:
You may have some adversity to buying magazines like Madamoiselle of course.

Be sure you have a camera ready to capture that "oh yah, right..." look on their faces when you tell them you're doing design research.

LOL

I've been doing that, but I'd really want to read some info written by respected people on the field. I don't mind if it is just the basics, I always go back to the basics from time to time.