How is House Style Established?

Slide Share

What is house style?

House style can be established through many different things, two main examples that the majority of magazines use to establish their house style is through their chosen typography and colour schemes. It is important for magazines to establish their house styles as it allows them to become a lot more easily recognized by viewers if they use a recurring theme.

Page Furniture and Design Elements

Page Furniture:

Page furniture is made of small elements which come together to allow the page to look more interesting and creative, they are elements of design which add a lot of character to the page. As well as adding character to the page, they also work to help unify the house style for the magazine. For example, for an Indie Music Magazine, lots of small elements associated with the term 'Indie' would feature on the page. 

There are many different types of design elements that could be used on a magazine cover to help unify a house style. All of the different elements such as drop caps, embellishments, typography and clip art help to make each magazine stand out above another. These design elements make a magazine more memorable and recognizable from a viewers point of view and each small elements counts. 

Front Page Design Elements

The above front page that I have taken from NME magazine shows a variety of design elements that have been implemented onto the front cover. The artist on the front cover is Lana Del Rey and she was born in the United States, an obvious design element is that flag of the United States  has been used as the background for this magazine cover. A bright blue typeface has been used to make the main feature of the magazine stand out on the white and red background. There is an obvious colour scheme for this front cover, using the colour's blue, white and black. 

The colour from the subheading on the magazine front cover has been taken and used again down the bottom of the page to show spaces between each different music artist's name. This is a noticeable design element, and it shows that the front cover sticks to a colour scheme. 

Double Page Spread Design Elements

The above image of a double page spread article from 'Vibe' music magazine shows several design elements over the spread. The first design element that completely draws in our attention is the capital 'L' written in bright red over the double page spread article. The double page spread article is about Lady Gaga, so they have taken the first initial from her first name and used that as an element of design. Throughout the article they have also made use of two drop caps to begin paragraphs to maybe signify a subject change or to signify importance of what is written underneath. In the top right hand corner of the double page spread on the second page, the name of the artist is written to show 'lady GAGA'. The contrasts between the lower case letters and the capital letters is a design element as it catches our attention and we are drawn in.  

Font/Masthead/Typography

The Masthead:

For all magazines it is important that the masthead of their magazine is the main focus from all viewers. The role of the masthead is to stand out and be recognizable to the target audience so that they remember which magazine they are reading. After researching many magazines I have noticed that the majority of Mastheads contain some of the same characteristics such as:

• Being Bold - The majority of masthead's that are used on music magazines are all very big and bold in order to stand out on the page. It is important that the masthead instantly catches the attention of the reader and to do this the title needs to be bold. An example of a bold title would be NME magazine. 

The title is very bold and has two different colour's, white and black, outlining it. The contrast between the colour's black, white and red makes the title appear more apparent and dominant to us. 

• Bright and Block Colour's - I have noticed that all of the colour's that have been used on music magazine mastheads have always been bright and they are always block colour's instead of trying to blend multiple colour's together. This can also unify the house style of the magazine as they use one colour to dominate over the other colour's used on the page.

The mastheads for music magazine 'mixmag' often change colour, however, each colour they use is always a block colour. The examples on the left show the block colour's yellow, white and pink. As well as being block colour's they also meet the expectations of being bright. 

• Short Titles - Most magazines have short titles because they are catchy and the viewers can easily remember them if they are short. When they are short they are straight to the point and it is evident what the magazine is about. 

Typography:

More PowerPoint presentations from Emma

Understanding the Type of Shot Used

Understanding the Type of Shot Used by Slidely Slideshow

Magazine Price Research