FORMAT
TIME Magazine is a news magazine that publishes in both print and digital/tablet formats weekly. It reaches about 16,300,000 people in the United States each week, and its dimensions are 7 7/8 inches by 10 ¾ inches. The average page count is about 60 pages. This page count works because it allows for a few long form pieces as well as regular columns and shorter features. Also, since it’s a weekly magazine, it doesn’t necessarily have to cram, say, a month’s worth of news and relevant content, into one issue.
GRID
The left, right and bottom margins measure 3/8 of an inch, while the top margin is 1 and 5/16 of an inch wide. The grid varies from two to three columns, and it’s not seemingly based on story length. In the Feb. 1 issue, one of the long form stories has two columns of text, while another has three. The columns and short features stick to two columns of text. On two-column pages, the column sizes vary; they can be 2 5/8 inches, 3 3/8 inches, 2 2/8 inches or 2 13/16 inches. On three-column pages the columns are 2 3/8 inches. The gutters between columns are between 3/16 and 4/16 of an inch.
CONTENT ORGANIZATION
Some of the recurring features in the front of the book are Verbatim, a collection of quotes from public figures, The Brief, a summary of US and world news and The View, commentary on current events. The well of the magazine includes the long features on news events, that can be 5-8 pages each. The back of the book includes the Time Off section, which is entertainment and pop culture news and opinions.
LAYOUT
TIME Magazine does not like a lot of white space, there are often pull quotes, factoids, infographics or other data elements in the gutters between columns of text.
For the long feature stories, there is generally one big photo on the opening spread and 2-3 photos throughout the rest of the story. So, the layout for the well is more text-heavy, while the other sections include more graphic elements and pull-out sections.
Overall, the print magazine is organized very traditionally in that it has a straightforward layout and design. This works for TIME’s audience, which has an average age of 50, skews male (52% male vs. 48% female) and is higher-income and higher-educated. The colors are mainly black and red and sometimes yellow to create hierarchy, and displays information in a way that is easy to read and follow.
