Editorial design
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Marketing has shown that the best way to engage customers is through image. This is true for any type of product: if it is well presented and connects with the needs and emotions of your target audience, the chances of it being a success are much higher.
It is important to note that most of the information we receive is through our eyes. Moreover, it has been scientifically proven that human beings have a greater visual memory than auditory memory. That is why it is of utmost importance to work on the appearance and visual image of your texts, since texts that have a greater presence of diagrams or graphics are more attractive to the eye. It is also important that they have a simple, tidy and clean design, as well as being visually attractive.
In any shop we end up buying what catches our eye. This also applies to magazines, books and documents. That is why a book with an aesthetically pleasing cover and text presentation is more eye-catching than a drab one with no design.
Hence, editorial design is a fundamental part of the success of any publication. But let’s take a closer look at editorial design in particular.
What is editorial design?
We know that, in general terms, graphic design is the discipline that projects visual communications, aimed at conveying a specific message to a target audience, with specific goals and expectations.
Editorial design is the branch of graphic design that deals with the layout and composition of all types of publications or texts, whether they are books, magazines, newspapers or catalogues, among other contents.
The main task of the editorial designer is to create a style that is eye-catching and functional for the reader, as well as to achieve a perfect harmony between form and content. So that it offers a personalised design, adapted and representative of the publication, creating a brand and a value proposition to the readers.
It is important to point out that in an editorial publication everything is relevant, from the cover, typography, margins and even the colours or the layout of the images and text. And all these elements must match the personality of the brand, the target audience and the content of the publication.
Editorial design should make the content attractive to the reader and the way the text is organised to appeal to the target audience.
Therefore, typography, colours, text organisation and images will depend not only on the type of publication but also on the type of consumer we want to attract. For example, an editorial design for a legal magazine is not the same as an editorial design for a book for a teenage audience.
How to structure an editorial design?
Before doing editorial design work, an order of rules for the execution of the design is followed. These guidelines are usually:
- Define the subject to be dealt with in the publication, based on what you want to communicate to the public, always taking into account the needs and requirements of the target audience, which may be children, young people, professionals, women, etc. Each audience requires a specific type of editorial design.
- Conduct thorough content research (in the case of specialised publications) to match the design to the type of publication and audience.
- Define communication objectives in order to develop a design according to them, such as layout, typography, use of specific colours…
- Start the sketching process, i.e. small drawings that lead to the definition of a good concept, both in terms of composition and development of the theme.
- Make an outline for the whole publication in order to ensure that all the pages that make up the publication are homogeneous and coherent with each other.
- Layout the text by choosing one or more fonts, spacing and indents, and find an order that facilitates reading by the audience.
- Carry out a feedback process with the client to add or remove elements.
Types of editorial design
As mentioned above, editorial design is used for various types of publications. There are designs for newspapers, books, magazines, catalogues and more. And as you would expect, each one has its own specific aesthetic because it is aimed at a specific readership and has characteristics that make it unique.
Editorial design for books
In the case of books, the most important thing is to design a cover that captures the readers’ attention and that the typography of the content matches the subject matter and the quality of the material used. In the case of children’s or young people’s books, the most important thing is to make each page of the book attractive and to capture the content in images.
Editorial design for magazines
In the case of magazines, the content and layout of the elements depends to a large extent on the content or subject matter of the publication, whether it is an informative or specialised magazine, an entertainment magazine or any other type of magazine.
Newspaper design
In this type of design, the most important thing is the distribution of the information, that it remains legible and that each image is in accordance with the content of the text.
Design for catalogues
The function of a catalogue is to promote products or services, so this must be the most important thing in the publication. That is to say, how to make the promoted products/services more attractive or eye-catching.
Who might need editorial design?
Any written medium that wishes to provide or convey information needs good editorial design and layout. This also applies to freelance writers, publishing houses and any other media or company that transmits printed or digital information.
Now that you know all about editorial design, do not hesitate and get advice from professionals who are experts in this type of design. You can contact me if you need an editorial design service. I will be happy to work on your publication.
