Uncovering the art of persuasion : understanding design decisions for award-nominated or winning city and regional magazine art directors between 2012 and 2014

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Magazine covers serve as the first impression for readers and determine whether the reader will pick up and read the magazine. Therefore, it is important to look at the design decisions art directors are making in order to persuade their readers to pick up the magazine. In order to analyze art director's persuasion attempts, I draw upon the Persuasion Knowledge Model. The scope of research on the Persuasion Knowledge Model has been limited to the advertising industry and I propose this same theory can be applied to the magazine field, opening up a new scope of research for magazine scholars. This research will also be useful for magazine art directors, and even editors, in understanding the importance of persuasive design and how it effectively reaches their target audiences. My research question asks how might the PKM, specifically target knowledge, be used to understand and explain viewpoints of art directors for award-winning magazines and their decisions for using certain design elements for their magazine covers? Through in-depth interviews with art directors, the research will gain a better understanding of how persuasion tactics are used within their decision-making process for cover design