Magazines that survive the ages become staples of our culture:
Life, Harper’s,
and
Time
among them. These titles
are as familiar to us as great film classics and works of literature because they shaped how entire generations have
seen the world.
GQ
can easily be esteemed as one of the great magazines to weather the turbulent decades. After more than 70
years in circulation, the magazine’s title has become synonymous with fashionable, as in, “You look so
GQ
.”
The magazine’s design has progressed over the decades to mirror the changing image of the stylish, affluent man.
In the era of 20-something millionaires and 30-something retirees, design expresses quality and confidence with a
cool, yet reserved, edge.
WHY IT WORKS:
With few frills,
GQ
is straightforward in its attempt to be a timeless publication, giving a nod to its history while
firmly maintaining its stylish reputation. Richly colored photographs and striking type treatment boldly accentuate
clean, classic page layout—offering variety but staying grounded with a proud sense of the magazine’s identity.
GQ
Fashion for the New Affluent Man
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far left Strong, bold cover lines outline a straight-on
portrait of Kevin Spacey on the front of the October
2000 issue—an example of the magazine’s
assertive,confident covers.
left A stunning lineup of stars grace the cover of
GQ
's coveted "Men of the Year" issue.
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Still,
GQ
hasn’t avoided becoming “a lot hipper” over
the last several years, mainly to appeal to younger au-
diences who have grown up rather quickly, says design
director Arem Duplessis.
“With the economy as good as it’s been, we have a
more sophisticated audience who’s increasingly con-
cerned with overall style,” he says. “He dresses for the
job he wants, not the job he has.”
The New Gentleman
left
GQ
excels in cover-
ing a wide variety of sub-
jects, reflecting the tone
and message of each ar-
ticle through its design,
while maintaining con-
sistency. This playful se-
ries of layouts for the
September 1999 football
issue uses the subdued
palette and plenty of
white space, but inserts
fun images and type to
play off the energy and
excitement of the fea-
tured game.
above A variation on
the football theme for the
same September issue is
a spread of loud colors
and patterns, introducing
the sport in Samoa.
left Tightly cropped
photos act as a colorful
banner across this silver-
coated page introducing
GQ
’s coveted “Men of the
Year” awards—an exam-
ple of how accented color
touches up ordinarily
subdued pages.
Average readers range from recent college grads to
around 40 years old, generally hold advanced de-
grees, and make between $35,000 and $100,000 a
year. Such an age gap may be difficult for other mag-
azines to straddle, but Duplessis says the
GQ
reader
responds less to generational messages and more to
a prevailing attitude.
“Our readers already know who they are,” he says.
“We avoid anything over the top and stick to a classic
aesthetic, one that has no time period.”
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Much like other publications launched earlier in the
century,
GQ
is known for its literary legacy, and edi-
tors pride themselves on commissioning talented, rec-
ognized writers. But articles also must reflect current
issues and appeal to a diverse readership, so the mag-
azine covers broad topics—politics, sports, art, enter-
tainment, as well as fashion.
“Our biggest challenge is staying consistent with all
our concepts and reaching as broad of an audience as
we have,” says Duplessis. Design changes according to
the mood of each story, but design elements must tie
the book together from front to back.
A strict grid, generally three to four columns throughout
the book, plays a role in maintaining coherence. Articles
tend to be quite long, but rather than breaking them up
with boxes and subheads, designers let them play out in
two or three columns, usually with a pull quote or small
photograph that acts as an anchor in the gray sea of type.
The one place the book strays from this format is in
“Fahrenheit,” the department in the front of the book
that offers short reviews, product snapshots, profiles,
and calendars. Colored boxes and heavy black rules
break up articles so pages are attractive and delight-
fully easygoing. “It’s a quick read for people who are
skimming on the airplane or train,” Duplessis says.
The color palette, though subdued, also unites the
pages of
GQ
. Heavy blues, grays, and reds guest star in
headlines and pull quotes, never taking over a layout
but garnishing dense pages of text with just enough
color to intrigue and entertain.
Staying Consistent for Readers’ Sake
left A front-of-the-book
roundup of news and
trends, “Fahrenheit,”
offers short articles,
intense photos, and a
visual playground of
layout techniques to
represent changing pop
culture. Here, an eerie,
icy image of mountain
climber Elliott Boston
opens a winter edition
of the department.
below In another exam-
ple of text as illustration,
the red deck of this story
symbolizes the shape of
the body’s esophagus in
the facing illustration,
pouring between the first
and second words of the
headline.
left While trying not to
stray far from its consis-
tent use of typography,
the magazine often
adopts themes for fea-
ture articles and plays
them out intype. Here, a
giant “O” encircles the
opening text, a severe
introduction to an article
about an ill-fated aircraft
named the Osprey.
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In the same fashion as color, display type gives pages
power and pop without detracting from the article’s
message. Bold headlines contrast handsomely with
white pages and tiny body copy, while bold or colored
pull quotes, inside shapes or escorted by heavy black
rules, break up second or third spreads in articles.
GQ’s
signature typeface, rolled out during a redesign in
January 2001, contributes to the designers’ goal of con-
sistency as well as to the “modern yet classic” feel of
the book. “We hired a typographer to draw a font for
us,” Duplessis says. “He studied old subway posters
from the early 20th century and built a sans-serif font
based on the type in those posters.” The resulting
typeface, with its rounded letters and flat-topped and
flat-bottomed ascenders and descenders, graces every-
thing from cover lines to sidebar copy with the geo-
metric character of early Art Deco.
Occasionally, designers experiment with display type
somewhat—enlarging it to make a big splash on open-
ing spreads, illustrating it to match the concept of a
story, or playing with leading for a “crowded” effect.
But even these attempts are somewhat subdued, never
venturing out of the realm of expectations or veering
too far from the magazine’s standard look. Type also
rarely strays from the limited palette of colors, taking
on some red or blue here or there but more often em-
phasizing its point with bold, black characters.
The reason
GQ
doesn’t get carried away with type
treatment? “We don’t want display copy to take away
from the impact of the photography,” Duplessis says.
Retro Influence on Type
right By contrast, a more
shadowy, somber photo
of Hank Williams III is
surrounded by dark, soft
colors, setting a very dif-
ferent mood.
above In a show of how
display type can exploit
opening spreads to set a
mood, patched together
letters and a skewed
opening paragraph
reflect the iconoclastic
mood of the founders of
the punk movement.
below A bold, all-caps
headline, bleeding to the
edges of the left page,
and the facing photo are
a dramatic debut for an
article on actor Philip
Seymour Hoffman. Yet
the pallor of the article is
relatively upbeat because
of the sharp contrast and
demanding type.
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Photography is a cornerstone of
GQ’s
design. Though
they change to reflect the tone of the story, images are
sophisticated, beautiful, and often lighthearted. Like
the pages themselves, colors in photographs often
steer toward neutrals—grays, beiges, and blues, with
subdued lighting—with occasional explosions of
bright colors as accents.
GQ’s
director of photography, Jennifer Crandall,
recently started taking some chances with photo-
graphic choices, says Duplessis. “In the past we’ve
always been known for using big-name photogra-
phers,” he says. “Now we’re still using big names,
but we’re also finding innovators, mixing it up, and
doing a lot of experimenting.”
The same goes for illustrations, which are another
major part of the magazine’s brand. Fun illustrations
generally accompany fictional pieces or essays that
may not lend themselves to photography. Lately,
Signature Photography and Illustrations
above and left The mag-
azine adheres to a suave,
yet relaxed and personal-
ized style in its photogra-
phy. In an article featuring
conversations with distin-
guished actors, soft light-
ing accentuates the solid
characters of the person-
alities and the sophisti-
cated clothes they wear.
left Opening spreads
frequently offer varia-
tions on
GQ
’s otherwise
simple,straightforward
layout. For the story on
Kevin Spacey, a black
page faces the shadowy
side of the actor’s head
shot, while atmospheric
gray type makes a tiny
white headline stand out
even more than it would
by itself.
Duplessis says, the magazine has been looking at
European magazines to find new illustrators and
showcase emerging talent. Illustrators must be fa-
miliar with
GQ’s
look and feel and work within a
loose framework—using colors that complement the
palette, for instance.
The result of
GQ’s
commitment to sophisticated con-
sistency is a refined-looking magazine that feels ma-
ture and self-assured—much like the readers who
subscribe to it.
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