Changing appearances: Magazine advertising layout and design, 1980--2005

This study analyzes the changes in the appearance of magazine advertisements by examining the evolution of the individual layout and design components and the overall layout formats. Print advertisements from seven general and special interest magazines were analyzed every five years from 1980 to 2005 to understand how the changes in the appearance correlates to the layout formats used. This study confirms that statistically significant differences exist between the use of headlines, body copy, images, and logos in magazine advertisements created in 1980 compared to 2005. Also, results confirmed that specific layout formats are used more frequently than others.