Design theorists; Roger Black and Chris Frost

"The first colour is white. The second colour is black. The third colour is red. Calligraphers and early printers grasped this over 500 years ago and experience has proved them exactly right. White for background, black for text, red for accent and excitement. These three colours are the best . Be very careful with all other colours."

Roger Black (designer of Newsweek, Time Out, Esquire, National Enquirer, Rolling Stone)

"A cover should be a poster. A single image of a human will sell more copies than multiple images or all type. Always has, always will. Think about why."

Roger Black

"Never set a lot of text type in all caps. After a while, it’s just too hard to read"

Roger Black

"Use only one or two typefaces. Italian design is the model: a strong sense of a few things that work together. Avoid a free for all of multiple fonts/colours."

Roger Black

"Get lumpy! The trouble with most design is that it has no surprise. If you want normal people to pay attention, you have to change pace in your presentation. Monotonous rhythms of picture, headline, picture, text, ad, headline, picture, ad, etc. Is like a pudding without raisins – a stew without lumps."

Roger Black

"Break up type to add interest"

Chris Frost – Designing for newspapers and magazines

"Don’t use too many typefaces. Too much variation will end up looking a mess. It’s best to limit yourself to one font, and variations of it."

Chris Frost

"Even mediocre photographs attract an audience and a good news picture, even on an inside page, may attract 80% of the readership."

Harold Evans – Pictures on a Page

"Just switching type face from serif to sans can result in massive differences in reader comprehension, and response, to advertisements"

Colin Wheildon – Are you communicating, or just making pretty shapes? (2005)

"Editors and designers are the missing link between the ape world and man."

Colin Wheildon