Type too loud? Then and now- The power of silence is on mute.

Vogue, circa 1960's

 This 1960’s June Harlequin Vogue cover is a “whisper” in comparison to modern day advertising.  Hard selling as we know it today is a contributor to self-consciousness amongst women.  Beauty in the eye of the beholder is much more complicated in a typographic dominating world.  Being told what to think, and how to feel comes in waves, morphing from season to season and with social economic factors.

Absence of text allows for the mind to wander and for art direction to drive connotations. Yet present day magazines have text yelling from stands, about fashion, diet, makeup, telling us what to and what not to wear. 

February 2010 Vogue

The underlying denotation of “picture perfect” women with in-season style, perfected skin and nails, and the in your face eye contact from the model which screams confidence is simply this- we are not good enough.  Now add on the copy.  Can we look at the person next to us with the same zealous affirmation and radiate that we are just as "badass"?  If we’re not already thinking it, text shouts out the sexiest new haircuts, wrinkle fighters, and my personal favourite, the X amount of INSIDER TIPS.  Insider tips make you feel V.I.P., as to give the reader exclusive insider scoop of how to look, feel, and be beautiful.  At times they do have good tips.  Yet as a driver for sales, which I admit I’ve fallen guilty for, Insider tips are just another way to project how the common everyday person is NOT a part of the world portrayed through magazines.  

The point being this- images and text in present magazine circulation are all connotations of woman’s unawareness of how to be BEAUTIFUL.  62 percent of women feel pressured from magazines and TV to have a more attractive body. We are influenced to believe that we don’t know, based on what is shown to us, and driven to fulfill our social and ego needs.    What makes magazine houses annual revenues soar in fact make the everyday women seep. What is made to be current cultural appeals are far more dangerous than we realize.

Good Advertising