PERIODICALS
The typography and the make-up of periodicals in the century last past were sedate and uninteresting to most Americans. As a consequence there came a change, and publishers endeavored to make their publications more attractive to readers. The letterer and the decorator were permitted to let their fancies run free over the magazine pages, and assuming that their readers had poor taste and weak eyesight the publishers of trade journals splattered their pages with ugly black circus poster type.
So long as there is poor printing (we read in the Good Book: “For ye have the poor always with you”) there will be periodicals typographically poor. Yet, thanks to those who have trained themselves as typographic advisors, many American periodicals are now good to look at and at the same time easy to read.
EXAMPLE 410
Dignity in make-up and type treatment. By Walter Gilliss
We will consider the dimensions of the publication, the front cover, number of columns, the margins, type-faces for the text and for the headings, make-up of the illustrations, arrangement of headings, the captions, the editorial pages, features, and the advertisements.
The Dimensions.—Whim has much to do with the selection of sizes for periodicals, and precedent, or what the other fellow is using, has some influence also. Assembled and stood on end, several dozen periodicals gathered at random present the appearance of a platoon of “rookie” soldiers before they have been ranged according to hight.
Sixty-six business and technical publications were recently measured by the writer, and the dimensions of about half of them approximated 9 × 12 inches. The other half varied from 6 × 9 to 10 × 15 inches.