Elisabeth Parizot - Discussion Point - Time Magazine

When it comes to printing, letterpress delivers beautiful results, no one can argue that. The sad truth, however, is that it has slowly become an obsolete technology. Though letterpress printing was the dominant method for several hundred years, it certainly had limitations when it came to visual hierarchy and document design. 

Of course, one of the main problems with letterpress is that it can be incredibly time consuming to create any sort of complex designs. There are image and font size limitations as well as color restrictions. It requires an impractical amount of time and effort to use many colors doing letterpress. This unfortunately limits the design potential of the document in question.

With the growing popularity of the digitalization of, well, everything, publication design is becoming easier. With programs like InDesign, graphic designers have more freedom to play with grids and visual hierarchy. They are no longer being held back by the limitations of letterpress printing. This also allows for publications to be more cheaply produced, whether the be in print or online.

A good example of the evolution of publication design from the printing press all the way to modern day is Time Magazine. Here is an image of the first ever Time Magazine from 1923:

As you can plainly see, there is very little design complexity to this cover. There are no colors or even headlines for that matter. Now, let me show you a Time Magazine cover from 2012:

Immediately, it is clear that this magazine has evolved, design-wise. Modern technology has allowed the designer of this cover to layer images and text in a strategic and eye-catching way. The addition of colour is also a notable change. The use of red, white, and bold text has given the designer the ability to emphasize certain words and headlines. Below, I have included an image of the Time Magazine iPad application. This is the epitomization of modern day publication design.

Here, the magazine is no longer physical. It is a digital version of itself and this allows the designer plenty of freedom to experiment with the ways in which readers engage with publications. How is reading different in the digital world versus the physical world? Technology creates a plethora of never ending design possibilities.