Typography

Typography is the art of arranging letters and numbers on a page depending of the type of text you are writing. Typography can be the reason why a piece of text is successful or not because people are drawn to the text to tell them the themes of the text.
The text would have to coordinate with the layout, colour scheme and design theme of the magazine to make it more relavant and flow more with the rest of the magazine.

The basic concepts of typography are:

Size - The size of the text is important as it needs to be readable and the most important information on the page is usually bigger than the rest of the text. On a magazine front cover there are a variety of text sizes to make certain text on the page stand out. Contents pages usually don't have as many different size texts on the page because they want the initial attention to be drawn to the masthead and then the rest of the information is normally of the same importance as it is what is in the magazine. In a double page spread the font size would differ, however the masthead will always be bigger than the rest of the text on the page.

Leading - Leading is the line spacing between the text, this varies because you need to be able to see the text clearly on the page. On the front cover of a magazine the line spacing will differ as there may be some parts on the page that need greater emphasis so have bigger line spacingto make them appear bigger. Cover lines usually don't have as big of a line spacing as they usually follow on from eachother. Contents pages usually have all the same line spacing between the information. There isn't a very big gap between the lines on the page as a lot needs to fit on it. A double page spread would usually have similar, if not the same line spacing between the lines as it is an article. However any additonal informationor the masthead would have different line spacing.

Tracking / Kerning - Tracking is the gap between the letters, this is used to space out words and make them spread wider on the page than normal if needed. On the front cover, the masthead may have tracking on it to make it span over the whole of the magazine to make it appear bigger and draw attention to it. The front cover may have different size gaps between the letters depending on the theme of the magazine. Contents pages don't usually have very big gaps between the letters, apart from if the masthead is copied from the front cover on to the contents pages as well, to make it flow better. A double page spread doesn't normally have very big spacing between the letters, however if the editor wanted to make the masthead appear bigger and different they may choose to make the spacing between the letters bigger.

Hierarchy and scale - The hierarchy and scale is the design of the page and how it is set out to make the most important pieces on the page stand out more. On the front cover of magazines the hierarchy and scale play a massive part in the selling of any magazine. There is usually bigger and bolder text for the more important information on the magazine cover e.g. the masthead, and smaller, less eye-catching text for the less important information e.g. the price of the magazine. Contents pages usually carry through the same colour scheme and writing as the front cover to make the magazine flow more. Every magazine has a specific style to make them unique to the reader. A double page spread usually sticks to one colour scheme to make it eye-catching. Everything has its own position on the pages to make it appear as one page.

The 'Sans-serif' is used on the front cover of magazines as it is clearer and simpler to read at a distance and close up. 'Serif' uses a flick affect for the letters which makes it seem more formal and professional when writting in this font.

Some text is written in the style of the magazine, for example, if it is a gory or horror based magazine the masthead may have blood dripping from it or have a spooky element to the text being written in the magazine.