Wired Magazine/MarieSolis

Standing in line at Barnes and Nobles, I stood holding the newest issue of Print magazine, when a bright and bold image caught my eye. Wired magazine, with its bright colors and bold type, the headline, "think big" stretched across the cover so that some type is cut off, uses its size and lower case, sans serif, type face to communicate its "big" message to the reader, and for that reason I had no choice but to put down Print and pick up Wired. The type used in Wired relates perfectly to its readers, the sans serif remains clean and technical, there is no flair of old style type faces that have a calligraphic/hand written flair particularly in the serifs. The title of the magazine is presented in a combination of serif and sans serif type face. The serif typeface, a slab serif, that greatly resembles ITC Officina Serif Std in small caps, goes along with the clean lines of the sans serif type by utilizing a clean computerized block serif, that keeps in with that computerized characteristic of other headlines throughout the magazine. The inside of the magazine mixes in a few more slab serif headlines, but mostly continues the sans serif type in most of its article headlines, as can be seen in the images below. While the headlines are sans serif the body type is a transitional serif type face, the grid in which the type is laid maintains the tight technical format. The hierarchy throughout the magazine is perfectly displayed through the use of bolder type settings and a range in sizes according to the importance of the topic. I would use this magazine as a reference for how to successfully layout type so as to keep a good hierarchy. I also feel that while the magazine relates to its readers as more technologically savvy people, it also does a great job in using color and design to catch the attention of passers by, as I normally don't read Wired, I now find myself a follower because its cover page caught my attention in the check out line.