A Study of Layout and Design on Magazine Cover : Using Female Independent Magazine as an Example

• Main Authors: CHENG, CHIA-YANG, 城嘉陽
• Other Authors: HUNG, MING-HUNG
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/8r6b9n

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 視覺設計學系 === 106 === In the society of today that is so developed, people have achieved a satisfactory degree of materialistic enjoyment. Furthermore, they would like to pursue spiritual enhancement in their inner minds and souls, and would want to cultivate a lifestyle that solely adheres to the styles of an individual and is different from other people’s. Nowadays, mainstream magazines are no longer attractive to the general public, but those “independent magazines” with their contents, subject matters, layouts and designs featuring uniquely individualistic styles are quite in vogue in different countries all over the world, and also in Taiwan. Since the issue of independent magazine is seldom mentioned in the related studies, the author would explore this topic, and the purposes of the study are: (1) Through the samples of Taiwan’s, China’s and Japan’s female independent magazines, comparison of them are made, and the author further explores the similarities and differences of the forms and elements over the layout and design on the covers amongst these local and foreign female independent magazines. (2) It is hoped that in the future academic circle, industries and the related domains, the research results of the paper can be used for teaching purpose, or can be served as the reference for case studies for the publishers and the art editors and designers of magazines. The paper selects three female independent magazines published in three regions, namely Taiwan’s Dreamy, China’s Little thing and Japan’s &premium, as the research targets. Through textual analysis, the paper deconstructs one by one the elements, contents and styles presented in these three magazines. Through synthetic comparative analysis composed by the words, images, colors and layout, the paper explores the layout and design styles of female independent magazines. In accordance with the above descriptions, the paper has drawn out conclusions as follows: (1) Based on the analyzed results of data, the paper finds that all these three kinds of female independent magazines have the characteristic of possessing the elements of a magazine cover. But after the comparison of these samples, similarities and differences are found. (2) In accordance with the analytic results of the elements of female independent magazine cover, the paper can integrate that in the layout and design among the various elements of the magazines, Taiwan’s Dreamy and China’s Little thing have more similarities in between; and in the aspect of overall design of the cover, these two kinds of magazines are also very layered and diverse. As to the cover of Japan’s &premium, its design belongs to a fixed and general type, so that in terms of identification, this kind of magazine is in relatively more advantageous position when compared with the other two kinds of magazines. (3) For the covers of these three kinds of female independent magazines, the contents presented from the cover images can generally correspond to the theme of that volume, and are expressed in photographs or illustrations. As to the form of subject matter, these three magazines select amateur female models to bring the magazines and their readers closer.