Game Informer

Magazine in question—Game Informer, October 2010

The triune brain in action:

First, the neocortex, informing the reader “hey, a new BioShock game!” which the reader will ideally be excited about (read the announcement here).

Second, the limbic brain, using appealing designs and a sort of sepia-toned, vintage feel (worked on me).

Some shifts:

Epistemological shift—the cover has very few words on it, and relies primarily on its image to draw the reader in. This is shown in the rest of the magazine, too, which is packed with pictures. Video games in general are also an image-driven medium. For example, the trailer for BioShock Infinite is almost completely wordless.

Some of the shifts are shown in the recently enormous video game industry, like the shift from mass media to personal/participatory. Especially because recent games allow the player to connect online, video games are an especially personal and participatory medium.

Some principles:

Production techniques—this goes back to the cover that appeals to the limbic brain—well-designed, concise, and especially appealing to a certain audience. This applies to the rest of the magazine, too—some of the articles are tilted for dramatic effect, and there’s obviously a lot of deliberation in the font choices, colors, page organization, etc.

Emotional transfer—this ties in pretty closely with production techniques, in that the way the magazine is designed plays a big part in how the reader subconsciously receives it.

Pacing—it’s not uncommon for someone to quickly flip through a magazine, and the organization of this one, what with the spacing of the ads and pictures and whatnot, makes the reader want to open it to a single page and start reading. Once inside, the actual articles are mostly paced to appeal to this generation’s inattentiveness, with lots of graphics and short paragraphs.

Persuasive techniques:

Since this medium is journalistic in nature, most of these don’t apply. The most obvious one that applies, though, is nostalgia, which refers to the cover specifically. The relatively simplistic, vintage design does a lot of work to intrigue the reader—the issue is even labeled “October, 1912.”

That's all for now. Until next time, strive to be interesting.