House
Style
house style
noun
noun
- All the characteristics,
conventions and use of colour and language of a company, institution,
website etc that serves to make it distinct from others.
How can you look
at a page from Kerrang and identify the magazine it’s from?
What makes a Q
article so very ‘Q’?
Introduction:
When
designing your magazine, you need to consider how your individual pieces (front
cover, contents page and feature) are linked through style. This can be through
font, colour, visual features, layout and language. Ultimately, it has to be
apparent from your finished product that they belong to the same magazine.
Research:
Look
carefully through at least 2 magazines
and identify as many features of their house style as you can- these could be
lots of small things such as predominance of a certain colour or font, or even
the presence of the magazine name beside the page number.
Planning
your house style:
For you
coursework magazine:
·
Font: will there be a house font you will
use for ‘body copy’ (main text of articles) and for other features like the
‘slug’ to maintain consistency? Consider various fonts before making decisions.
·
Colours: what will be the predominant colours
of your house style? Three main colours are recommended; how will you use
these? You may decide to go for a border or frame around each page, or even
consistency of the ‘slug’ design on each page. The design of your masthead will
be key in this aspect of your planning.
·
Visual features: What visual features of your magazine
will achieve consistency/house style? Some ideas could be to include your magazine’s
website on every page; some kind of visual symbol of your magazine (perhaps
based on your masthead) appearing on every page; consistency of layout e.g.
number of text columns on a page or size of feature article titles; a shadowing
or bordering around all images used etc.
Your House
Style is completely down to you, but for your coursework you need to be able to
explain the features of your house style in detail and justify your decisions,
particularly in relation to your target audience.
