First and foremost, after reading Professor Strong’s feedback on my previous field note assignments, it has come to my attention that I have been analyzing the wrong magazine. For the sake of consistency, I am going to continue analyzing the New York magazine since I have become familiar with it but I do apologize for this mix-up!
Moreover, the New York magazine utilizes a variety of typefaces, mostly consisting of serifs.
- Egyptienne: When displaying the magazine’s most prominent headline on the front cover, as well as the 3-5 stories that run along the top of the cover, it uses Egyptienne. In order to draw more attention to a specific story, it increases the size of the typeface. This works as the headline typeface because it is bold and demands attention – it immediately catches the reader’s eye. Egyptienne is also used for the story titles in the table of contents. I noticed that this typeface is primarily found in the front of the magazine, while the end of the magazine incorporates a few different typefaces that are not used as frequently. For example, the first six stories (which are all a part of the “Intelligencer” department) used Egyptienne as their headline typeface. The next 2 or 3 stories use a different typeface for the headline but subtly incorporate Egyptienne into their block quotes. It feels as though there is a transition happening within the magazine – by gradually using this typeface less, they eventually remove it altogether from the magazine and bring in different typefaces.
- Miller Display: This is first seen on the cover to give a short description of the prominent story within the issue. It is then consistently used throughout the magazine as the display text below each headline. Towards the second half of the magazine, it is also used as the headline typeface. This conveys a feeling of minimalist sophistication because it is simple and straight to the point. It leaves a lot of room for white space and offers easy readability for readers. I had trouble finding out what typeface is used for body copy; however, after closely comparing Miller Display on fonts.adobe.com with the New York magazine, I can conclude that it is not the typeface used.
- Cooper STD: The “Culture Pages” begin to incorporate this heavy, block typeface into their quotes and infographics within this specific department and this specific department only. It cannot be found anywhere else in the magazine, but clearly there was a thoughtful designation to use it in this section.
When comparing my two copies of the magazine, I noticed that it uses hierarchal, typographic design within the main story of each issue. In the January 6-19 issue, the magazine uses a condensed form of Egyptienne (known formally as “Ballast”) to fill up an entire page introducing the main cover story. In the January 20-February 2 issue, it uses a typeface that I am unable to identify – a funky serif with curved lines. This typographic design takes up two full pages of the month’s cover story and is used to display block quotes throughout the story.
