Communication Arts

The following is an example of the type of non-design work that I am doing as a Graphic Design student at Parkland. Alex assisted as my editor (the conclusion is largely his, though).

Experience in the Making

Communication Arts is a periodical magazine that focuses on design, specifically graphic design, which is really a broad area. In each issue Communication Arts starts out with a few editorials on things like design issues or design culture. And in between there's always a few ads, mostly ads for paper companies or stock photo sites, which really aren't common in any other magazine outside the relm of design. Then you get into some articles that feature a project of some featured designer or design firm. These articles tend to be around ten pages long and display more than a few images of the project. Occasionally there will be an article not specifically geared towards a designer or design firm, but geared towards a common theme.

The editorial pages are geared towards all kinds of design, from advertising, web design, and packaging to commercials, logos and student work. The articles share insights into how the design world has evolved over the years, while explaining how current trends in society affect the needs of different clients. Currently, Communication Arts strives to be very enviromentally concious. There are usually several examples of design that promote the environmentally-friendly emphasis that is currently being promoted in many different fields. Much of the work featured for the “green campaign” are ad posters, but they also feature packaging examples and other designs that are also eco-friendly.

Reading through the editorials, a student can really get a lot of useful things out of them. Many of the articles focus on the philopsophies of design used by the writer, designer or design firm. It is important for a graphic designer to have his or her own philosophy of design, even before beginning a career as a professional designer. By reading these articles, students can pick up bits and pieces of others' philopsophies that can supplement their own. They are also able to learn about hundreds of different kinds of design firms from all around the world. They get to see some of these firms' work and can read how the firms think and run. Students can get so much inspiration from the images and from reading the articles. Communication Arts also gives students a chance to see what design styles are popular.

Communication Arts appears to be more image heavy than some magazines like ID and HOW. Their layouts also seem to be more clean and spacious than ID and HOW. It also has more of a grid structure. Every page is on some type of grid. There is very little overlapping of images or overlapping of text and images. They give more leading to the copy as well, and plenty of margin space between images. They also prefer larger images, not extremely large, but at least a quarter of the page. The other two magazines seem to be a little more random with their layouts, and ID overlaps text and images a lot. Communication Arts' layout is most similar to Lurzur's Archive, at least on the heavy image side.

As stated before, the advertising space of Communication Arts is mostly deveoted to ads for paper companies and stock photo web sites. But here are also ads for job searching and an occassional design firm. For the most part the ads are really high quality. Most are full bleed, four color and display quality images, and use creative concepts. The paper ads are usually printed on thick paper or grooved paper, showcasing actual samples. The Cougar Paper company usually uses thick paper of different weights and sheens to print their ads on. And they frequently feature a cougar in each of their ads. Most of the ads are only one page, but occassionally there is one that takes up a whole spread. Communication Arts tends to place their ads towards the front and back of the book. In the sections featuring designers, firms, or design styles, they don't put ads between articles.

Communication Arts magazine is a great reference periodical that assists in interpreting the many different applications of specific design techniques. It also serves as an excellent guide to the design world in general. I would recommend that any design student read this magazine to gather inspiration from it. Each issue is always filled with something new and different, along with the wisdom of experience.