The following are examples of 2 column grid, an uneven 2 column grid, and a grid of my choosing. for this exercise I used a lot of transparency. Placed images behind transparent background color to get a clouded effect. as well as organized paragraph set up.
Torri - when using a colored background there are quite a few issues that a designer needs to be aware of, and attend to. Because I see many of these issues here - I'll detail them below. I'm very happy to see more comprehensive layouts with some great creative experimentation!
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that you didn't export these jpegs as "spreads", so we don't get a chance to see them as you designed them, nor as the reader would read them. For your Exercise 2 submission please print these pages as "spreads" on 17" x 11 paper. I'll remind everyone to do this in class tomorrow too.
Grid A - the beautiful background color is light and appropriate for the "green" nature of the content. The steeply angled shape behind the type is adding a lot of interest to the page... it will be important to control how the other elements sit on top and in relation to the edges of this angle. Right now, the columns of text seem to be ignoring it.
Color: without bright white being used in some places (places that you want to emphasize... like your headings, etc) the whole layout seems dull. Bring back some whites and allow your photos to be fully saturated so we can see how beautiful they are. This will mean you'll need to reposition your heading type - which can be easily done.
Heading type and images: Running a heading directly over an image doesn't work as well as placing it "into" an image... and that is not an option in this layout. So reposition the heading "The Future of Farms" where Agriculture is now (you've added this, and it's unnecessary) and allow it to be bold and fully white.
Body copy placement and style: Your body copy should now move up and will probably overlap the bottom of the image a bit, so your choice of body copy is important. I recommend you try 11/14 pt sans serif, and bold that first paragraph which is overlapping the photo.
Type and the edges of a colored text frame: please use text indent to pull the text away from the edges at least 9pts... so there is a cushion of negative space around your columns of text. Let me know if you aren't aware of how to do this, and I'll show you... it's easy.
Using justified type: can result in very inconsistent spacing between words - don't use it unless you understand how to work with it. I see lots of issues here - probably because the text is too big and not enough words actually fit on a line to use justification successfully. (Above, I've suggested you reduce your type pt size to 11pt ... please know that all body copy is normally between 9pt and 12pt type... no larger.) Easiest solution for you, at this point, is to use FL type only - and avoid all these issues.
Please read up on good typographic practices, and go over your notes from your typography classes.
Page 2 - a big decision for you will be how to use the angled background shape you started on page 1, on this page too. You started something on page 1, and you can't ignore it now. It will give you a chance to unify the pages if you can figure this out. Will it move down from left to right, or repeat its position as it is on page 1?
Again... photos should not be dull, but fully saturated. Once these photos are full force, you may need to adjust their colors to fit into the color palette you have established for this feature and/or you may need to adjust the current green color to reflect a different light color you find in the photos.
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ReplyDeleteGrid B - the contrast between text and background isn't enough... the readability of the layout is compromised. Also, these pages contain most of the issues listed above.
Grid C - Very dark, although the white type is readable - which is an improvement on the layout above. The use of transparency has resulted in overly dark imagery...to the extent that the images actually add nothing to the design. I question this approach - why use images if they don't add to the content? Also - these pages contain the same issues as listed in Grid A along with a strange white rule around the photos on page 2. Some paragraphs are justified, and others are FL ragged right and I think this is a mistake rather than an intentional design decision on your part - right? You can't miss things like this because they are important to the design. Not sure the different width column widths make sense here, as the body copy simply flows from one to the next... there is no good reason they aren't of equal width.
I would suggest you continue working on Grid A because it seems to hold more promise and shows some really interesting elements (like the background angled shape, the position of the images). Let me know tomorrow in class if you are unaware of how to address the issues I've listed above, while working in InDesign. We should make time after class for me to show you where these controls are in the program if that would be helpful. Let me know at the beginning of class if you can stay for 15 minutes or so.