I noticed an insect theme in the articles that I chose and really wanted to incorporate them into my covers but in a way which would invite the reader, rather than disgust/scare them away when they would see it. I chose a close up photograph of a fly which I found very interesting and absorbing and for the second cover, broke up the image of the grasshopper to create movement around the page.
The logo is a rounded sans-serif cut up in an interesting pattern to reveal some negative space and movement representing the future. I enjoyed using very different layouts and played around with typography, overprint, and full sized images vs. cropped.
Tania,
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing some fascinating setups in your covers - I feel that the first two are clicking for me as it's focusing on your subject of 'insects'! However, think about 'how' the lighting and color of the insect images could comfort rather than scaring the readers away! Then again, it's even more imperative the tone of the image is harmonizing with the 'tone of the message'!
Of the three, the second layout stands out to me! It's quite charming with the grasshoppers, roaming around the cover. You may want to try moving the logo on the left though, or find a way the grasshopper could take you to the logo before the sub-header. About the subhead, I feel that it has a nice handcraft quality to it - it may seem too 'grungy' though; again, this is just my opinion! If you 'tweak' out and seek a method to balance the three cutlines, I think it will have great potential as your cover - I really think so!
For the third cover you did, it may not be the best idea to include lots of body text for the cutlines as, like a website (and I learned this from reading Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think for my Info. Architecture class), the reader will only 'scan' 'the essentials' like the type of magazine and the featured articles!
Other than that, great progress!
These are truly unique approaches to this exercise and I do have to say that I enjoy them. Your logo is very strong and the cover designs compliment them well. Something with the bugs however does not make sense to me for a food issue. Saying this I think "c" is the most successful out of all three. The information is presented in a clear, concise, visually stimulating and overall well executed design. The only thing that hangs me up it the positioning of the text within the circle as well as the additional information added. This, however, is my own personal preference.
ReplyDeleteTania - I agree with the other 2 comments above to say that we see 3 very different approaches - so good work! Because the insect is a bit too scary in the top one, and the chickens might not be provocative enough, I'll confine my thoughts to #2, with the grasshoppers - which I think has great potential.
ReplyDeleteYou have a great chance here to create a photo composite based on the content of the articles... and insects are just one food we might be eating in the future, right? I wonder if you might find a way to indicate a few more foods - maybe some crickets? Could they be scurrying around the surface a bit, to give us that "insect-like" movement that tends to give us the shivers? Could they be interacting with the theme title and/or masthead more directly?
Font choices - I'm curious about your masthead, which is deconstructed in a way that makes me want to understand it. Is there a reason behind the pieces and color breaks we see in this masthead?
Although I believe that #2 cover is the most promising, I do question the font you are using in the middle of the design. Or, maybe I'm wondering why it would be handwriting... and IF it does make sense for it to be handwriting, the baseline might appear too straight and the lines too centered for me to really believe someone has written it by hand. So, continue to think about this.
Colors - after you have settled on the cover image, I think you might reconsider the colors pink and blue as the primary palette... together they don't seem to talk to any particular audience (except new born babies?). These colors should support the cover image as well as the magazine content.
Good work!