The content structure of this magazine cover is fairly simple. First the most dominant type is of course the title of the magazine 'Esquire'. Its position at the top of the cover represents the brand, thus, it is the largest of all the types on the page. The title has also been designed to stand out, the contrast of the white background against the black colour of the text makes it very clear to read. The type of the title has also been chosen to represent sophistication. The cursive type style can be associated with class, which is representative of the content that the magazine discusses. 

Your eyes are then drawn to the second biggest text on the page, which is highlighted by the numbers '84'. This oversized 84 text is intended to be an attention grabber for its sub-text below (THINGS EVERY WINNER SHOULD KNOW). This phrase also plays a part in directing the reader to more information (text) below. Once the reader has made its way down from the '84', the next piece of text that draws the eye is the white text on the right of the page. It is noticeable that the designers used ‘Reverse type’ , with the white text over the darker blue to Trump’s suit. These two pieces of text are also very attractive as they a physically placed over Trump. This is a rather unique technique as it is slightly unusual form text to block any part of an image, thus your eyes are drawn to it right away. Bold has been used in both sets of white text to portray a one-liner type sub-heading. The lower white text read on the page are a ‘Times new Roman’ esk type, which conveys a classic look that agrees with the magazine content as a whole. The last text your eye is drawn to is the balk text next to Trump’s head on the left. The sub-title of this section of text is much smaller than the other two sub-headings, making it third in the hierarchy of sub-text. Although the contrast is a little higher, this black text’s importance gets diminished solely due to its scale. The image of Trump headlines the page, showing that at least one section of this magazine is dedicated to something Trump has said/ done. This is obviously conveyed without any text.

What do you think works? What doesn’t and why?

I do think that the bold, high contrast title works well at standing out and grabbing the readers attention. However, I do not like the specific type that has been used for the title. Personally, I think that it looks somewhat childish. The cursive is the way to go with the title as it represents eloquence, but this type is just a little too bold. I would suggest a slightly slimmer bold text with a different type of cursive. This would suit the content of the magazine much better. I think the technique of reserve type, with the white text on the suit of Trump works very well. It stands out perfectly and its position on Trumps suit makes it interesting to look at. It looks somewhat misplaced, but it isn’t, and that what makes it eye catching. The hierarchy of the page is perfect and I would not change much to it.