Research on Magazine "Artists" Covers: Graphics and Visual Designs

• Main Authors: PENG, CHIA-HUI, 彭佳慧
• Other Authors: Yang, Ching-Tien
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53a732

碩士 === 國立臺灣藝術大學 === 視覺傳達設計學系 === 103 === "Artist" magazine is a long-time art magazine in Taiwan, and its outreach and contribution to the promotion of the arts programs is well-known. However, there exists no research about the magazine, in particular for the function of the cover design elements. This study samples the cover design elements and analyzes its application features of its visual design elements. Apart from literature review, there are two specific goals: (a) analyzing the image style of magazine cover, including art mediums and the selection of topics; (b) exploring the visual elements of the magazine cover, including the usage and layout of text, color, and sign. In this study, the "content analysis" methodology is used for the overview and analysis of 451 samples. The results are as follows: (a) most of the “images” of the magazine cover are from the works of art (80.3%), in which 20types of mediums type are selected. Note that 31.8% of them are oil paintings. Others are ink, paint, ceramics, and watercolors. (b) The subjects of the cover images can be divided into seven categories (landscape, animals, plants, human figures, life, surreal, and abstract). Most of the subjects belongs to “nature” (39.8%) and “life” (38.1%) categories and only a few of the subjects belongs to "surreal" and "abstract” categories, which implies that the main subjects of artist's creations are related to things in our real life. (c) The usage and design of the visual elements. The calligraphy font “thin gold style” is used in title; the bold (63.4%), bright, and round fonts are used in caption. Most elements’ layout are in the "top" position. (d) The “digital color components analysis method” is used to analyze the color of visual elements. The “fresh colors”, “dark colors”, and “no colors” are mostly used. (e) The layout of the cover can be grouped into 12 types according to the literature and sample data. The "slash split" type, "center" type, and "vertical and horizontal" type are the three main used layout format (58.3%).