1/11/17 - 6/12/17
Week 9 - Week 14

Leanne Faye 0327020
Publishing 1: Print Media

Final Project & Portfolio (40%)









Research on Magazine Layout.
Beginnings of print magazines
First publication, which could be called a magazine, was the German Erbauliche Monaths Unterredungen, released in the year 1663. It was a literary and philosophical edition and after it was launched several periodicals with very similar topics were published, and were intended for an intellectual audience.

Thematic scope was very narrow, and it was mainly written by one author. A publication similar to today’s magazines (various themes and several authors) appeared in the year 1672, when French author Jean Donneau de Vize created Le Mercure Galant. It combines topics from court events, theater and literature, and this magazine concept was copied throughout Europe. The first women’s magazine, Ladie’s Mercury, was launched in London in the year 1693. Of course, these publications in their beginnings were called periodicals.

Name “magazine” appeared in the year 1731 with the occurrence of the Gentleman’s Magazine. The name magazine, which comes from the Arabic word which means the warehouse, and was used for describing the place which deposits large quantity of various goods, while the analogy used to describe a book that contained many useful information for travelers and sailors.

The success of the magazine was great, but the costs of every issue were even higher. Printing cost was high, and the number of printed copies could not be greater than one hundred thousand, because it was technically impossible to squeeze a larger amount of paper through the machine. Distribution was also a big problem because it was difficult to move large quantities of magazines at great distances.

First Ad Pages
In the mid 19th century readers were not only the rich ones and magazines become available to the middle class. This was beginning for the first family magazines, such as, Dickens Household Words. During the 19th century, increasing attempts was made to cut the price of the magazines. At this time the first ads appeared, but not much because the ads were loaded with special tax, all up to 1853.

After the repeal of the tax, number of ads did not increase since many publishers avoided this type of income (Readers Digest magazine did not publish ads until 1955). In the late 19th century and with the invention of the rotary press, the number of printed copies increases, and the price of the issue is reduced and thus we enter the century, that will mark the development of the magazines as one of the world’s leading media.

With technological progress, increased circulation, and increasing use of images, magazines are becoming increasingly attractive to advertisers. The first advertising agency was established in 1890 and from that point on advertising started to flourish.

Rise of Magazines
In the early 20th century appears one of the most important icons in the world of publishing, William Randolph Hearst. As the owner of several newspapers across America, he engages in a merciless battle for readers with his mentor, Joseph Pulitzer. During the Cuban War for Independence, Hearst and Pulitzer published in their newspapers images of tortured and starving Cuban troops. At this moment arises the term yellow journalism, which marks the sensationalist approach to the presentation of events.

Hearst expanded his empire to magazine publishing starting with the famous Good Housekeeping, National Geographic and Harper’s Bazaar. Besides Hearst’s magazines, some other important publications appear such as Conde Nast’s Vogue, Vanity Fair and news magazine Time, whose starter Henry Luce is still considered the most influential publisher in history.

Although Luce launched Time, he was not a visionary and he did not guide the magazine. He actually stole the idea for the first political weekly from his colleague at Yale, Britton Hadden.

Hadden was responsible for conceiving the concept of the political news magazine, and he as the editor of the Time, formed personality of the magazine, gained loyal readers, and brought the financial profit to the company. The same company will issue several well-known magazines such as Life, Sports Illustrated and Money.


Research on Rococo.
Key Date: 1600-1800
Rococo, less commonly roccoco, or "Late Baroque", is an early to late 18th-century French artistic movement and style, affecting many aspects of the arts including painting, sculpture, architecture, interior design, decoration, literature, music, and theatre. It developed in the early 18th century in Paris, France as a reaction against the grandeur, symmetry, and strict regulations of the previous Baroque architectural style, especially of the Palace of Versailles, until it was redone. Rococo artists and architects used a more jocular, florid, and graceful approach to the Baroque. Their style was ornate and used light colours, asymmetrical designs, curves, and gold.

Rococo is a portmanteau word combining both “rocaille” (French for “shell”) and “barocco”, Italian for Baroque, the art style preceding the Rococo period. Rococo art extensively feature shell-shaped curves and wave-like motifs, particularly in its sumptuous furniture design and interior décor.

Rococo furniture and architecture was defined by a move away from the austere religious symmetrical designs of the Baroque. Instead, they focused on secular, more light-hearted, asymmetrical design, while continuing the Baroque penchant for decorative flair. In art, light colors, curvaceous forms and graceful lines became characteristic of the Rococo movement. Canvases were adorned with cherubs and myths of love, while keeping with the jocular trend of the period, portraiture was also popular. The Rococo artists moved away from the intense dramatics of the Baroque period and became more playful in their works. Although many artists flourished during the Rococo Movement, the most renowned are François Boucher, Jeane Antoine Watteau and Jean-Honoré Fragonard.

Rococo Art
Rococo Architecture
 2nd draft (thumbnail)