Love, Joy, Peace, and the Rule of Thirds

This magazine spread comes from the April 2019 Liahona magazine. The specific photograph did not have any attribution in the magazine, but it assumed that the image is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to whom the magazine also belongs.

Category Identification

The font circled on the first page would be classified as a sans serif font. This font is easily identified because of the lack of strokes or serifs on the letters. The font circled on the second page would be classified as an old style serif font because there is not much different between the weight of the strokes and some letters have a serif.

Typeface Contrast

The typeface of the two fonts contrast because one is a serif font and the other is sans serif. The other difference between them is the fact that the font on the second page is in italics, so it contrasts even more heavily with the normal font on the first page.

Photography

The photography on this magazine page implements the Rule of Thirds. As illustrated by the lines drawn in the image above, the bowl of fruit is not perfectly centered in the image. Rather, it takes up about two-thirds of the height of the image, leaving the top third blank.

Alternate Images

I mimicked the original photo in the magazine by also utilizing the rule of thirds. In order to make the image still fit with the theme of the original, I used only fruits and vegetables in a bowl in my images. Because the article is related to “fruits of the spirit”, any fruit or related item such as a vegetable will still make sense when placed as a photo next to the article.

Conclusion

Both the contrast in typeface and the Rule of Thirds greatly enhance the overall design of this magazine cover. The two typefaces draw your eyes to those highlighted titles and quotes while making the article appear more interesting to the eye at first glance. The photograph of fruit that implements the Rule of Thirds provides an interesting image to illustrate a part of the topic of the article. Overall, both these principles were implemented well in this magazine.