Magazine Spread

As someone who will not eat or drink anything that remotely tastes like coffee, it is surprising to me that I even stopped to look at this spread, but something about it immediately caught my eye.

Perhaps the element that first captured my attention is the proportions. While the photograph extends beyond the margins of the page, the text remains small and enclosed in boxes that begin significantly further down the page.

This technique serves to emphasize the photo, but the layout still remains unified through the use of color. Black and white, as well as shades of blue and brown taken from the photo, are the only colors needed to make the design successful. The browns of the coffees make up the colors of text boxes on either side of the photo, which provides a balance, despite the fact that the column on the right is much wider than the one on the left. 

The blue of the photo's background is used as the subhead color for each of the text boxes, which serves as a subtle way to move the viewer's eye around the page. Each of the text boxes is also different shape and size and two of them even overlap the photograph. This variation keeps the layout interesting and once again helps the designer direct the eye of the viewer.

When it comes to magazine spreads, I typically like large, two-page photos with limited text, like those found in many travel magazines, or warm colors and dark backgrounds, such as those found in Taste of Home, but in this layout the brown provides a balance to the cool blue, which gives it that warm feeling that typically makes me read magazine articles. Overall, it is is a creative and attractive way to include a fairly large amount of text.