Introduction
In a world where we see scroll through hundreds of different photos and articles in our feed daily, good use of typography and photography isn’t optional – it’s vital. Failing to utilize them will result in an awkward article mish-mashed with various text and images.
To illustrate how powerful it can be to utilize them effectively, we’re going to examine an article from People Magazine’s 2019 special edition issue on Frozen, specifically highlighting the one and only Princess of Arendelle, Kristen Bell who plays Anna.
Typefaces:
Let’s start with the title. On the left page, the title reads “Kristen Bell as ANNA”. The font is a Slab Serif kind of font, and the “as” is italicized and slightly a smaller font size. Those two things make it very different from the top and bottom text. “ANNA” is written in caps and is larger as well than the other 2 lines of text. Where “Kristen Bell” was written in bigger text than “ANNA,” the latter is even larger to make the eye drawn to it first.
The title is also using center alignment and thus is placed in the middle of that column. I think it’s not a bad choice to align the text in the middle. The text below it, however, also is center aligned and admittedly, while this example in all other aspects shows good use of typography, this choice of alignment for that paragraph is a little weaker. Because it is center alignment, the lines on each side of the text are a little choppy.
The text of the paragraph, however, is using a sans-serif font is much lighter than the bolded, serif-ed title. The contrast is lovely because they are very different from each other.
Turning to the right page, we first off see a giant “W” letter which does include serifs and appears to be a slab serif font as well. The paragraph below it also has the same kind of font. This paragraph is a little larger than the rest of the page because it’s a quote that has been emphasized. It’s a soft grey-blue.
The paragraph below is in an interview format and uses 2 fonts that are also very good at illustrating contrast. The first font is sans-serif and a baby blue color; the second is an Old Style font that is the standard black.
Photography
There are two photos in this particular magazine article. The first utilizes the depth of field and centers the subject (Kristin Bell) in the middle of the photo. The background is not in focus and is faded. She is the only thing the camera is focused on.
The second photo (well, it’s actually a drawing) features Anna and it does use the of thirds which is why I wanted to mention it. Anna is placed in the right-hand third of the image.
Some example photos to substitute the originals:
This photo could replace The Anna drawing because Mandy is also in the right-hand corner and uses the rule of thirds.
Kermit is not super relevant but imagine if he was voicing anna. that would be amazing. he could replace Kristin bell’s photo because of the center alignment.
now if I was playing anna that would be a dream. out of all the princesses, I think we are the most alike. however, this photo is similar to Kristin bell’s (which is the point of this caption) also because of the center alignment.
Typography and photography bring magic and spark to an article just like Anna’s cute personality brought magic to another little Disney princess – makes it different and unique. Now as you go “into the unknown,” don’t forget these tips when making your own article sparkle. 🙂
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