title: The Effect of Technology on the Development of Magazine Visual Design Style
Creators: name: Cleveland, Paul
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2004
Subjects: subject: Magazine design
subject: stylistic change
subject: fashion
subject: visual grammar

description: This thesis is concerned with studying the factors which influence stylistic change in magazine design. Of particular interest is the role computer technology plays in the formulation of design style change. This relates to the rate of style change and the application of inscription characteristics into the visual imagery to create distinct visual grammars. The introduction of the computer during the late 1980’s as a design tool revolutionised the practice of graphic design. Anecdotal evidence suggests computers changed the restrictive practices previously imposed by typesetters, film houses and printers (Patterson, 2004). The purpose of this study is to investigate the period prior to and after the introduction of the computer as a design tool to discover what direct and indirect influences computer technology had on the development of visual grammar associated with print based publications, specifically the graphic design style of selected magazines over this period. The influence of technology within a creative society is a complex process in which interacts with sub cultures and market economics. The intent was to discover if there was a way to quantify style change in magazines and evaluate the usefulness of such information in terms of keeping the visual content vital and interesting to different market audiences. Many magazine editors do not appreciate the relevance of the visual grammar they use in maintaining readership interest. The readership figures and the advertising environment ascertained by market research from companies such as Roy Morgan Research and McNair-Anderson indicate how “healthy” a magazine is in the marketplace. These figures tend to fluctuate and it is common to see re-vamps of a magazine’s style to give the flagging image a boost without any survey of readers’ preferences in visual grammar. The re-focusing of content and appearance often tries to bring the magazine into a more contemporary design space which is often a reflection on what competitors are doing. The research problem was restricted to two magazine titles whose readership markets were at the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of demographics and their appreciation of visual grammar. Two magazines were studied, The Face and The Australian Women’s Weekly (TAWW). It was shown that each had developed individual visual grammars from the influence of technology using differing approaches. The Face used the inscriptions of digital imagery to create novelty in design. The Australian Women’s Weekly on the other hand, tended to use the attributes of software programs to create novelty. Readership spread was shown to have an influence on the type of visual power used. By knowing the readership spread, an appropriate visual power could be implemented. The findings showed that the computer does not have a neutral influence on the workplace, so it would be expected that change over time between the technology and the The Effect of Technology on the Development of Magazine Visual Design Style formation of visual material would be evident. The study showed that the rate of style change can be mapped and predictions can be made from the data. The visual grammar used by different magazine publications can be ascribed differing levels of visual power. Visual power is the degree of visual stimulus emanating from a given design, the higher the stimulus the greater the degree for attracting attention. First described by Baird (1993), it was used as a method for attributing degrees of design aesthetic in print materials. It was shown that magazines with homogeneous age group readerships or subcultures tend to use greater values of visual power than those with wider age group readerships. It also indicated that there was a connection between readership spread and the amount of visual power employed in the design and layouts; the wider the spread the lower the visual power value. There are two implications which arise from these findings. The first is that Baird’s original model describing readership of non-focused print material requiring larger amounts of visual power is reversed. The second feature is that possible experimentation with visual grammar is more possible in narrow readership spreads without alienating the readership. Cross media influences from computer games and the Internet are now common features of these magazines. The findings also showed that The Face and TAWW have variations in arousal potential, hedonic tone, and primary cognition which are cyclical in nature. Understanding the audiences’ habituation cycle is an important factor in determining changes to the application of visual power within visual grammar. Predictions can be made on when an audience is tiring of a particular application of visual power to a grammar. Steps can then be made to adjust the visual grammar so as to maintain arousal potential. The knowledge gained from these findings would be beneficial to magazine publishers as a method of gauging reader satisfaction. Further research could be undertaken to see if there are similar influences at work in digital media such as the internet. Perhaps the greatest potential of these findings is in the development of generative algorithms which would aid in the construction of stylistic designs aimed toward specific sub cultures.