Continuing on Plaid Dad design, here is my revised feature spread. It is still very much a draft, and I am having a lot of difficulty with it. I think my problem is that I am attached to my headline design, but I need to find a way to make it fit and flow with the eight gadgets. My other issue is organizing the eight gadgets. We have determined that dad's (and men in general) would rather view a grid or chart of some sort than read a lot of copy. With so many different shapes of objects it has been a challenge to lay out this page. My publishers are working on getting the permanent pictures. I was thinking I might cut out each object and work with them in some way like that. SUGGESTIONS would be greatly appreciated!
RESPONSE:
We also had the pleasure of viewing each others' magazine in class today. I was only able to see two - Nosh and mine - because I had to leave early. Nosh is off to a great start though! I was very impressed with their progress and the overall flow of the pages; there is no divide between spreads that different designers have done. I noticed that the they paid a lot of attention to detail, which always takes a magazine to the next level. I thought it was a bit overwhelming that there were arrows on every spread. It's a great element and I definitely think it adds a lot to the personality of the magazine, but when it's overdone it loses that punch. Maybe only using it on department pages would help cut back. I would have also liked to see more color used throughout the spreads. I absolutely loved the detailed photographs of small portions; it completely gets the point across and I think it's a unique way to display food.
YOU CAN'T MISS...
Tuesday was the 200th birthday of Manhattan's street grid, and The Wall Street Journal blog featured creative maps made over the years of the grid system. Definitely check out the post, because there is an array of typographic, illustrative and info graphic designs. Here are a few I found to be the most interesting:
You're on a good start to your feature! It well organized. I like how you put a grey box behind one of the gadgets. Maybe you could make more of them stick out by using variety in size, for example. Cutting out the gadgets like you suggested would be a nice touch.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you kept your headline treatment from the original feature design for "Stick 'em Up Ketchup." I don't remember where I read it, but someone commented that the yellow clashes a little with the word ketchup, and I would have to say I agree. Maybe try using a red or a tone of red to tie it in more. Otherwise, I love the headline.
ReplyDeleteI like where they layout of it is going, but I would remove the strokes from around the pictures of the tools and maybe not make them all the same size. You could try asking your editor to rank the tools and then play with hierarchy with your designs by making the photo of the best one really large, or box it in or something.