Overview
What is Wired and how do its target audience inform its visual elements across its website and print magazine? This is the central question that my partner, Mimi Jiao, and I wanted to discover. The following post is split into sections: history, research and insights, and process.
History
Wired is a monthly technology-oriented publication with a print and digital presence. The magazine debuted in 1993 at the Macworld Conference with a mission to empower the upcoming digital generation. Historically, the print magazine has been aimed at a fairly affluent 30–50 year old college-educated male audience who are either very interested in technology or working in technology. It should be noted that Wired is owned by Condé Nast, a subsidiary of Advance Publications. In 2013, Wired launched a redesign that overhauled their print publication.
There was something about the previous version of Wired — the bright colors, bold fonts, perhaps the splashy photos and graphics — that made it feel distinctly like a magazine about science and technology for men. Not so with the new edition. . .With its modern, almost muted aesthetic, it feels more like a lifestyle magazine — and a rather sophisticated, thoughtful one at that. (Mashable)
The relaunched version of Wired not only updated its visual aesthetic, but its content as well. The first half of Alpha includes articles that sometimes read more like an article from the Culture Section with slight technology. undertones. This is not mistake. Many of these articles come from, or appear on, the culture, ideas, and business sections of their website. This is primarily due to Wired positioning itself for the new innovation generation. In fact, this should come as no surprise as Wired was originally founded as a publication for the upcoming digital generation.
There are a lot of magazines about technology. WIRED is not one of them. WIRED is about the most powerful people on the planet today — the Digital Generation. These are the people who not only foresaw how the merger of computers, telecommunications, and the media is transforming life at the cusp of the new millennium, they are making it happen. (Wired)
Research and Insights
There are many elements that inform a readers experience. In looking at the many elements that could be analyzed, I decided to hone in on a few: structure/flow, grid, typography, imagery, and covers.
Structure/Flow
The magazine follows a fairly standard structure. It can be roughly divided in half. The first 50 pages are broken up by a lot of tech-related ads — of course — and short 1–2 page articles from culture, ideas, and business that also appear on their website. It is only when you get into the latter half of Wired that the feature article, usually about 3, take center stage, undisrupted by any of those pesky ads.
Grid
In their print magazine, Wired embodies the cutting edge tech feeling while also embracing aspects of youthfulness and play. One of the ways they do this is through gridding. The magazine employs a 10 column grid which provides a generous number of constants with the greatest possible variability. It gives the designer the flexibility to create more dynamic compositions while also adhering to some type of structure. It is best demonstrated through three recurring page types: the first page of short articles, the second page of short articles, and featured articles. As seen below, there are few qualms about breaking the grid whether with pull quotes, large imagery, or text elements.
Typography
There are 6 fonts in use in the print magazine. (1) Ambroise is a font that was introduced following the 2013 redesign. It falls under the didone genre, a type of serif typeface that rose to prominence during the 18th century as a all-around font. In replacing the formerly mechanical font, the magazine made a strategic pivot towards women. Didones are generally associated with fashion magazines, so its inclusion here points towards Wired Magazine’s push to broaden its target audience. However, this is not to say that Ambroise does not pay homage to Wired mission to be a magazine that breaks boundaries and innovates. It’s inclusion alone is unexpected and refreshing. (2) Tungsten and (3) FF Oxide are careful juxtapositions of Ambroise. It’s blocky nature keep Wired grounded in its roots. (4) Exchange is a font that conveys authority and elegance and serves an appropriate font in this context.
Imagery
The magazine employs modern and sleek photographs/illustrations. Many of the photos are of products and use simple compositions, harsh light, and colored backgrounds to give these elements a techy and innovative vibe meant to reflect the readerships continued interest in technology across both print and web. They are of high fidelity and obviously well-curated.
Covers
The first thing someone sees, the Cover is an important part of establishing any publications visual identity — don’t judge a book by its cover goes the popular saying. To stand out on a news shelf, covers must be distinct in their identity and eye-catching in their composition. Wired does both very well.
There are 2 central elements that make up Wired Magazine’s iconic cover: (1) blocky logo, (2) recognizable tech figures/featured article covers. See the University of Minnesota’s analysis for a more detailed perspective.
(1) The logo for Wired is distinct, techy, recognizable, and malleable.
With its big chunky letters broken up by contrasting blocks of color — black and white is often used — the logo both conveys a technology vibe, reminiscent of old computer terminals, while also remaining visually distinct. Because of the logo’s simplicity and variability, it can easily be manipulated (e.g. Year in Wired digital ad) while also retaining a common identity.
(2) Prominent technology figures (e.g. Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos) generally appear on the cover of each magazine. Most times, a Time-esque approach is taken with large headshots that are snuggled right under the cover and in between the side margins. Perhaps this is indicative of a larger trend but I digress. This type of upfront imagery is designed to be slightly jarring and can either draw attention, the intention of Wired, or evoke strong and raw emotion, the intention of publications such as Time. Other, less common, types of cover include product imagery and illustrative work (e.g. Sept. 2018 Cover for The Code That Crashed The World).
Process
The project spanned approximately two weeks. Most of the research was conducted in the first week and was all about trying to gather all the information I needed in order to reach well informed conclusions. While this approach did pay its worth in the long run, it did mean that the visual aesthetic and presentation did suffer somewhat — most prominently during the initial dry run. However, with an additional 40 or so hours to work, a lot of the information research began to make its way into the presentation through the script and visuals.
