Magazine Designers Are Very Creative And Unique

October 26, 2008 · Comments

While thinking about trust agents, I mentioned to Julien that some magazines use a + symbol as part of their design elements. He said something like, “I think I’ve seen that before, yeah.” I shot all these covers in an airport news stand in one night. There were more, but I couldn’t exactly go crazy. Plus, plus, plus, plus, plus.

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  • I saw these all hit your Flickr page earlier and wondered what you were up to. My guess was it might have to do with your book cover. I think I was right :)
  • Ed
    +1
  • That's just.... bizarre. I never noticed that before.
  • + we are going to charge you more money for a half page piece of advertised content.
  • I suspect it's nothing more than a design trend - "+" is just a cleaner, more angular and stark alternative to the ampersand - "&".
  • Chris,
    I'd guess that's the symbolical use of "get more"
    Symbols have power, you know...part of the collective consciousness.
    And what is better than (+)when you are competing at the same store with the same product?
    My 2 cents,
    Lucio Ribeiro
  • Hmmm...that's so interesting! I never even noticed that before and I'm always in the bookstore checking out magazines...
  • Like the others, I never noticed that before, but it is quite ubiquitous.

    + is something that we are familiar with. We grew up with it in school, and the + has always been used in love doodles: L.P + D.D. or whatnot.

    Great post!
  • Pam Martin
    Sticking by my comment that trust agents (and their archetypal symbols) are bullshit. To me, putting a + sign on a cover is like adding 3 exclamation points at the end of a sentence. I feel like I'm talking to a 9th grader.
  • I use it in my company name because it looks cleaner. Bee Large Photography + Media. just didn't like & or and - it sort of makes it stand out more.
  • The + sign has one inherent value that the ampersand does not, actually. It implies added value, and is not necessarily just a simple "oh wouldn't this be hip and trendy if we replaced the & with +!!"
  • They may not admit it, but magazine Art Directors and Designers are highly influenced by other magazines.

    I used to run a small publication, and it was common practice to study competitive and non-competitive mags the first week of each month.

    Other than a select few titles from the art/creative genre, the framework for every magazine is nearly identical. From covers to mastheads to features, they're all practically the same.
  • Hmmm, it seems like it may also have to do with the whole texting deal. I don't text, but people shorthanding everything would be using + for "and" and "&", right?

    Just a thought!
  • I'd rather see 24 magazines with a plus sign on the cover than 24 magazines with a colon on the cover...
  • Very interesting observation, Chris! I suppose it's just one of those design trends. The big one with Web design right now (I suppose an equivalent to the print +) is the conversation box-like shape. It's prevalent on Twitter (as you very well know) and on sites like Vimeo. It's just that little triangle added onto a square. That small detail makes any site 10x cooler. You know what I'm talking about? I call it the happy tail, but I'm sure there's a technical design term for it.
  • I've noticed the +-trend but it seems to be much worse on the other side of the pond. It's ready to die soon, bring back the ampersand all is forgiven.
  • + = "plus" which conveys more sense of benefit and bonus than & = "and"

    it's aspirational too. latin "plus ultra" = ever more; always higher.
  • Whodathunk? Pretty interesting trend to spot + great comments.

    RE: Pam Martin's comment about talking to a 9th grader, I've often heard that many people only read at that level. Evidently, magazine designers think it's true. K+I+S+S = Keep it simple stupid.

    Can't wait to see how + plays out next for you.
  • The things you catch Chris! I think this is a subtle yet strategic editorial call-out to Gen Y and Millennial Readers: it catches their eye and makes them think that the magazine is cutting edge with text-messaging symbols. Up next: @?
  • That's like the FedEx logo and it's secret arrow that I can't help but see now. Now I'll never look at a magazine stand the same way again.
  • An arrow? Holy crap - you're right! I learn so much from you Chris, and your readers.
  • That's very interesting. I'm going to go look at a magazine rack.
  • Ed
    I am so surprised by the comments here, especially by the women.
    This is common for print magazine covers, and has been going on for a long time.

    What's the online equivalent that visitors see on a site
    in the first seconds?
  • Rob
    The "+" has become the visual psycholinguistic equivalent of the infomercial's audio cue "But wait, there's more!"

    As well, the "+" makes a bit more sense linguistically as an isolated element of visual grammar than an ampersand, which is strictly a shorthand for "and".

    Being the arithmetic operator for the aggregation of elements into a greater whole, this is intended to make the magazine's value proposition stand out, instead of just saying "Here's a bunch of stuff, oh, AND this other stuff too".

    Marketing is, after all, a form of psychology and uses that understanding of the mind to manipulate the consumer population into preferring your product over your competitor's.

    Or maybe not... Just my own unscientific observations and conclusions :)
  • Thanks for an interesting post Chris. I look at lots of magazines on a regular basis and I must admit that the "+" sign has not had an impact on me one way or the other and that 99% of the time, I look right "over top" of the sign and keep reading. It does not invite me to look for more and it doesn't invite me to look for less. I'm still not sure what the value is in using that sign, particularly when "everyone else (other magazines)" are all using it. What happened to wanting to make yourself unique in your marketing and standing out from the crowd?

    Just my 2ยข!

    Happy Netweaving,
    Carol Deckert
  • Still surprised at your discovery Chris...And wondering why they put a + sign on cover??? Is it a marketing rule to attract more People?? I guess it is...
  • I was in an airport recently and counted 15 covers had a plus sign on them-really does get your focus on the plus. Makes you think ADDED when you see it, and possibly more value in the magazine. Psychologically? Not sure. either way- great post and my wife and I totally agree-this is a PLUS post!
  • hmmm, never really looked at "+" as a Visual Trust Agent signifier but now you come to mention it...

    ...maybe we consciously overlook a "+" sign, but subconsciously it probably has a much deeper impact than we might like to believe.
  • Interesting. I have never looked at it in the context of lots of covers at one time because I rarely look at magazine racks. I subscribe to a bunch. I just picked up a pile and the one on top - "Adventure" - has a + symbol on it. However, nothing else in my stack does. "Home Companion" has "plus" spelled out. Curious.

    I think it probably has more to do with the psychological impact than finding a shorter way to say "and" or "plus." Somewhere, someone has come up with the idea that we react positively to "+" and everyone has bought into it.
  • I think you folks are reading way, waaaay to much into what I believe is nothing more than a design decision, plain and simple.

    Sure, a "+" is a symbol for something positive and upbeat, but I think you're attaching too much significance to its use, attaching some degree of sub rosa importance to "+".

    Sometimes a symbol is just a symbol - visual shorthand meant to be understood quickly and easily, without any clever subconscious baggage attached.

    Sigmund Freud was once asked by a reporter if the cigars he smoked were phallic symbols.

    No, Freud reportedly answered, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
  • I don't see the digg request.
  • These +s are a fabulous way to draw the reader's attention to other important stories/articles in the magazine. It almost makes the reader feel like EVERYTHING is important!
  • Roberta Wedge
    I'm surprised not one of you savvy people has mentioned that the plus symbol is visually identical to a cross. Is there a Christian theme?
  • @Roberta...

    Amen.
  • I give this post a ++++++++!! Great Ebay user!
  • + 1 Digg & SU :)
  • I like your tongue-in-cheek title when considered with all your mag cover photos, Chris. I had been thinking the same thing after seeing all those "+"'s on a variety of covers lately. Given that, I think a smart mag could stand out by going back to the word "plus" in some original way, whether it be a color or font that stands out, or perhaps a bolded font that allows for a screen of a photo inside it.

    Great observation!
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