A) 3–column grid
B) 4–column grid
C) 6–column grid (my choice)
Target audience for the magazine: Well educated adults aged 25–45 interested in learning about the world, actively engaged in making a difference in their lives, and curious.
I wanted the designs to be clean and have some breathing room while still being dynamic. I enjoyed working with the 6 column grid the most because I felt I had a little more room to experiment and break the rules while still keeping with the structure of the columns.
Here is my take:
ReplyDeleteI noticed that in all of your pages, you've incorporated a large amount of justified text! The justified text helps make a clean space for reading, but they're times when it just creates too many hyphenations, which is the case of your last paragraphs throughout your third page! You might want to either make that 'real-estate of text' smaller, experiment more with your hyphenations, or consider justifying the text left. The reason I'm pointing this out is because through hyphenating, it tends to squish certain words or make shorter words too distant from each other (that's why my typography instructor in the past condemned them)! One of your initiatives for the next time you refine these exercises should be 'to reserve breathing space for your paragraphs'! Therefore, it doesn't overwhelm the reader for when they stop reading!
For Exercise 1, I honestly feel a sense of discomfort while reading your paragraphs above at the last column; it has to be prior to the fact it looks as if it's going out of the margin! Otherwise, the headline and the photos (especially) have a lot of potential for your layout! For the headline though (the large text), it may need some boldness to grab attention more easily to the reader - The glyphs on your typeface is beautiful and fascinating though (looks like Bodoni)! The layout has this subtle minimalism - utilizing color and styles could be beneficial however for lending your reader's eyes - that's one of the risks I had to make for my last layout of the exercise! Overall, this one clicks for me the most for your exercise!
The second layout is 'very difficult' at first when it comes to finding the text to start at for reading as most of your text in the first columns above are small. I think this could create some problems for readers, especially for older readers who rely on glasses or contacts! The boxes you formed with the black strokes and the pink text is pretty interesting - I would like to know the concept behind it! I really enjoy the large image of the forks though - you may want to try placing them in the bottom instead! Therefore, you're creating a sense of balance with your imaging throughout the layout! I'm unsure if the small image of the basket of food is working for me though however.
Your last layout is opposite of your second layout - it has a nice way to start your reading hierarchy with the italicized serif text! The image you've applied to your triangle is nice, but I question if the crop is making 'farms' difficult to read on your headline - try a little boldness for the text! One of my critical concerns regarding this page is that I feel as if my eyes are ignoring your 'SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE' text and goes down to the large quotation mark instead! I love your use of the quotation however, but I'm wondering why there isn't another quotation mark that ends the aqua-colored quote! Another concern is that you're applying a lot of space for the text of your first article (or whatever it is), which can result in 'greater discomfort for the reader! Shorter widths (maybe three or four columns with a .1667 in. gutter) tend to comfort most of the reader's eyes throughout a print design! The color usage on the last paragraphs is harmonic and beautiful (love those colors to death) - it's just that the justified paragraphs 'can't breathe'; it's tight and busy in other words! I noticed that some of those paragraphs may need a decrease in leading as a solution. Overall, the asymmetry makes this page unique - although it defiantly needs some refining at the moment.
I can tell from the look of your exercises you must have a specific, aesthetic idea for your final! However, the point about this exercise was to 'explore' different possibilities regarding images, text, colors, boxes, etc.! You did show several usage of colors - I just think that it pays to explore on different typefaces to see if you can 'thumbnail' some brilliant ideas for your final project! Good work!
DeleteGreat use of image in all of these. A is grabbing my attention the most. You've got some great white space here. The eight photos sit nicely and are not cramped. Adding the second piece in the top right over a grey tone was a smart choice. The overall layout is inviting and is something I could feel myself wanting to pick up.
ReplyDeleteA clean and engaging design for sure. Your first and second page go together almost seamlessly. They clearly look like they are from the same magazine and department. Your third page does have a completely different look-and-feel. I'm not sure if you were going for this or not but wanted to note it.
ReplyDeleteYour second page makes great use of creative grids, unevenly spaced. I find this kind of design to be more engaging and welcoming to me as a reader. I've noticed that the few magazines that I do read have these kinds of layouts. I need to practice this kind of design more myself.
Great work!
Each one of these layouts is pretty successful in terms of balance, color, and overall design. So - nice job as far as that goes.
ReplyDeleteBut now, and here is the big thing, I have to ask if you understand the difference between a Department page design and Feature page design? The only department page design I see here is page 2 - Grid B. Please look closely at the department pages in other magazines - and you will see that they contain at least 2, if not more, small articles that are of equal importance. This means that a designer cannot emphasize one over the other, resulting in the individual headings sitting more like subheadings under a Department Title.
So, when I see a large headline (just one) and running body copy, I will think it is a feature about one topic only, and will continue for possibly many pages.
Page 1's design appears visually as a feature article - containing small chunks of information sitting below images."Overused and Overlooked" is the title of the feature, and there is additional "side bar" information at top right. This is not a department page design, although it is nicely designed.
Page 2, although it needs a department title, clearly holds multiple small articles that are equal in importance to the page. This is a Department layout and I understand it to hold small, and separate, bits of content. Not necessarily related in a continuous way, and may even be quite different (although in this case, these are closely related... they wouldn't necessarily need to be).
Page 3 is very much a feature article design with a large headline, pull quote, and bottom side bar. The articles are not of visual equal importance... so one takes the "stage" and the others appear to be related and supportive to that one article.
Overall design - as I said, they are pretty solid designs... but as was mentioned above, sometimes you can (and should) justify type and sometimes you shouldn't.
Be aware that hyphenation serves the purpose of filling out lines more fully, by avoiding the overly "ragged right" issues - but you do need to be aware of how many hyphens sit stacked in a row. I say this without actually seeing this as a problem in your design... instead I see some rivers in your thinnest columns (so would recommend FL type alignment here).
NOTE: I'm not a purist in terms of typography, like other instructors and designers - I'm more concerned about readability and legibility... not theory. There are very few things I won't try out just because someone has told me it can't be done. So that said, and in this class, it's going to be all about experimenting with new techniques and refining your designs until they are inviting, exciting, and successful!
i think coni covered a lot of the things i was going to say i also like how you have the images layer out i feel like your first project works really well especially your use of white space
ReplyDeleteSuch successful designs all three of them. The first one I feel like I could definitely see in a magazine. Your use of the grid was very well done on all three. The third design, completely different than the other two but works really well!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brianna. though i really your use and layout of the images.
DeleteI like the 1st one very much. I love the negative space and the way the columns and grid are so simply utilized to emphasize the differences and benefits of each grain with the healthy negatives to give time to digest information. The 1st and 2nd are very different from the last, I don't quite like the layout but I don't hate it either. Mixed feelings but the first two I could see myself pulling it from a magazine and hanging it on my wall.
ReplyDelete