Design I Like

The National Geographic magazine seeks to communicate the natural beauty and awe of Earth. The most effective way of conveying this is through photography first, and then through journalism that elaborates on the nature of the photograph. National Geographic photographs are renowned for their superb quality and composition, and the magazine places a large focus on the display of their photographs. The covers of the magazines consistently hold priority for the featured photograph, which illustrates the feature story. Here is a link to view several National Geographic magazine covers

http://www.magazine-agent.com/national-geographic-magazine/covers

Every cover includes the well-known yellow rectangle that frames the page. This yellow rectangle is a symbol for the company’s other media outlets, on television and the Internet. The font used for the title “National Geographic” is Times New Roman Condensed, which is also a well -known symbol for the company. This font is a simple design that does not draw attention from the photograph on the cover, emphasizing the number one priority of the photo. The next most prominent feature of the cover, after the photograph, is the title of the featured story. This title upholds a more bold and noticeable appearance, as it is matched with the photograph. While the “National geographic” title remains in the same position month after month, the arrangement of the photo and its title is different every month. Each photograph is different in size, shape, and color, so the corresponding title must fit compatibly with the photograph. There has to be a sense of balance among the separate elements of the page. For example, this cover:

http://blogs.tamtam.nl/paulb/content/binary/natgeo1.jpg

Is set up very differently from this cover for obvious reasons of color, size, and positioning:

http://www.fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/ing/01/fotos/zoom/foto639_2.jpg

Graphic designer Robin Williams suggests that if you squint your eyes and look at the design and see more than 3-5 items on a page, then there are too many separate elements. Trying this on National Geographic magazine, I continuously see 3 separate elements (The National Geographic title, the image, and the image title story). Even though each magazine is different from the last, they all share the same functionality of the design, keeping 3 separate elements. The design of the cover also symbolizes the values that the magazine upholds and the message it is conveying. The lack of flashy and modern font types reinforces their priority of the photographs. Because oftentimes the amazement and awe of the natural world goes unnoticed, they are seeking to communicate this admiration for nature to people all over the world through a focus on photography that captures objects, animals, and nature in a way that is impossible for viewers not to be amazed by. Although there is not one single National geographic cover design for every magazine, each cover upholds the same priorities and sense of balance that revolves around the photographs.