Magazine Design in the 1980s: Bold and Vibrant Visual Culture

Magazine Design in the 1980s: Boldness and Vibrancy in Fashion and Music

The late twentieth century until modern times has brought extensive transformations to magazine design, which show both advancements in graphic design together with cultural modifications and technological developments. Each decade of magazine development shows unique characteristics because of the historical events, along with technological advancements and audience requirements. The following article examines what magazines throughout the 1980s looked like.

Today, magazine design can be almost anything. At the same time, tools have appeared that simplify design development. For example Magazine Mockup allows designers to study possible trends and quickly develop a beautiful cover using templates. Thanks to such technologies, modern and trendy magazines are created that reflect the era. Now let's figure out how we came to this, starting from the 80s.

1980s: The Emergence of Bold and Vibrant Graphic Solutions

Magazine design during the 1980s used bright colors alongside bold geometric shapes with complete integration of photographic content. New types of fonts emerged as magazines became prominent for their visual design focus during this period. Vogue implemented bright glamorous photography on its pages to showcase during the 1980s period. The use of conflicting decorative typography combined with atypical fonts allowed fashion publications to interest active audience members better.

Design operations during that time experienced substantial limitations because of available printing technologies and manual production methods. The modern-level quality images and graphic elements that exist today remained unreachable to printing presses because both computers and graphic programs were minimally advanced at that time. Visual standards were developed at this time for future widespread use throughout multiple decades.

How Vogue Changed the Perception of Magazines in the 90s

In the 1980s, Vogue magazine became a true icon in the world of fashion and design. If you ask any expert who set the trends in both clothing and the design of periodicals, they will tell you that it was Vogue. They always used the boldest solutions, and were the first to use bright colors not only inside but also on the covers. Vogue magazine especially loved to use contrasting geometric shapes and large photographs on its covers.

It was Vogue that first introduced the fashion for glamour. Glamorous photography became the calling card of the magazine, and all other magazines began to adhere to this style. And thus, Vogue became a model of style and a symbol of the visual culture of the 1980s.

In the 1980s, Vogue actively experimented with typography. They decided to conduct an experiment and began to use large, expressive fonts. This gave the covers a dramatic feel and captured the attention of people passing by the magazine windows. For example, the 1988 Vogue cover featuring model Christy Turlington, in which she was captured in black and white contrast with bright text, became one of the most memorable.

But everyone especially remembers the famous shoot of Linda Evangelista for Vogue in 1989, where she was depicted in luxurious outfits against a background of bright flowers and in close-up. Thus, the magazine introduced the fashion for glamorous portraits, which are actively used today. Pop art also became fashionable at that time.

Rolling Stone in the 1980s: Bright Covers and Cultural Icons of Rock and Roll

The second cult magazine of the 1980s was Rolling Stone. It should be mentioned that initially it was not a style magazine, but exclusively a source of information about music, culture, and politics. But during this period, the magazine began to actively use bright and contrasting colors. Cover designers decided that the best way to attract attention would be large photographs of famous musicians such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Bruce Springsteen. One of the most iconic covers of that time was a photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono - the photo was taken in 1980, a few hours before the tragic death of the musician. And the second trend in photography was documentary photography.

The typography on the covers became bolder and experimental, as with many other magazines (such as the aforementioned Vogue), but in the case of Rolling Stone, such fonts were used to emphasize the rock and roll character of the publication. Both large and small fonts were found on the covers. At the same time, the fonts visually contrasted with each other and in color with the photographs - it looked very bold and memorable.

Conclusion

In summary, the 1980s marked a turning point in the development of magazine design. As a testament to how societal changes and technology breakthroughs influenced the media landscape, the visual trends developed during this period, particularly by icons like Vogue and Rolling Stone, continue to have an impact on magazine design today.