I am not an avid reader of Vogue now, but I would say that I have a certain impression of Vogue. Looking through the magazine's issues published almost 50 years ago, I experienced an entirely different era of Vogue that I think was drastically different than the current publication.
I don't want to reiterate my entire presentation here; however, I will repeat just two of the things that I noticed.
1. Advertising
It was difficult at first to decipher what was a feature spread or photo shoot and what was an ad. I soon learned that there were two key identifiers: color and typography. Vogue was pretty content with its font selection and it was an almost unchanging design element. Ads were more likely to use different typefaces and place text at odd angles; and while the number of color spread Vogue produced increased over time, ads were much more likely to be in color than fashion photos.
2. Typography and grid
Vogue had a strict grid locked down for the majority of its spreads. The magazine had many full-page photos, but for many of its departments and stories, the design became predictable. Like most magazines (Ha! I say this like I have some sort of authority on the matter), Vogue did have fewer guidelines for features - though it did not go crazy with the freedom these stories allowed. Placement was a big deal. Where a headline was made a spread more interesting. Also, Vogue implemented type choices that I have rarely (if ever) seen. Underlining was heavily utilized - especially in departments - to highlight certain words in a sidebar or blurb. Designers also used boldface type to distinguish text throughout the spread. Occasionally size played its role, but even headlines weren't extremely large.
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