Here are some attempted analyses of the design elements of several ads, magazine pages, and packages I've saved over the years.

Menu from Suerte in Austin TX: There’s contrast in the typography between the thick headers and the smaller list text. Varying amounts of white space, plus double fonts and bold fonts, create clear hierarchy. Even though the course heading (“DINNER”) looks to be the same size and font as the category headings (Chips & dips, etc), it is set apart by a large white space. Repetition is used for branding and navigation: at the top of each page of the menu, the table of contents is repeated, so you can click to jump to a specific section in the digital version of the PDF, and see which section you’re on. There is also a little hand symbol, which points back to the brand of the restaurant.

 

Ad for the 13th annual Image Science Film Festival: The illustration has contrasting colors but they are muted. The dark background contrasts with the white font. The focal point of the design is the screen that says “migration” - it is relatively more brightly and warmly colored. As the theme of the film festival, this is probably a more important element to highlight. “MIGRATION” is in bigger letters, and it’s framed and almost centered on the page. A bit of tension comes from the slanting of the letters.

Hermes perfume packaging: The most important info (brand name and name of the product) are in serif font and the descriptive info is in sans serif. (contrast) There is some tension created here by the package illustration, which wraps around the side of the package. The flower is pointing upwards towards the name of the perfume which brings attention to it; the brand name Hermes is in bold serif font which indicates that it’s important, even though it’s smaller. (hierarchy) The top of the package has a lot of white space, and the bottom has less, which I think creates a restful feeling. The analogous color scheme adds to the coherent, restful feeling.

Table of contents page from Foreign Policy magazine (illustration by Jon Han): The strong red zig zag in the illustration creates tension and leads our eye upwards to the table of contents. The margins are fairly wide, the image has a lot of white space, and there is enough spacing between each section of text, so I feel this page is open and spacious. The red lines repeat in a balanced way in different spots of the illustration.

Table of contents page from The Nation magazine:

I find this table of contents confusing because each section of the magazine has a different format for its header and its contents. More repetition of formatting could make it easier to access. They balanced the image placements with the text, although then it’s hard to tell which images go with which articles. There is not much white space here, it looks crowded and cheaply printed (it’s a socialist magazine so more utilitarian).