Below is the final spread of my Self Portrait project. Overall, I am very pleased with the design. I have a few concerns that I wonder about, particularly whether or not certain elements (or potential elements) would (or could) strengthen the composition.
- Pros
- The photographic aspect of the design is dynamic and activates a large portion of space; I enjoy the sharp contrast between the white space (background) and the dark positive space of my black cover-up. The curve created on the right side of the image is playful and dramatic which leads the eye upward to the purple flood. The purple flood then lends the eye downward toward the body copy, ultimately bringing the movement of the design full-circle once the eye lands on my nameplate header.
- The composition with the thumbnail images of my previous work helps frame the body copy; the strict adherence to my assigned grid makes the overall composition of the thumbnails and body copy a "square", which organizes lots of information in ways easy to locate, read, and distinguish. Although to some extent it bothers me, I really think it's worth noting how the absence of text and and thumbnail in the grid-square farthest to the right allows the viewer a place to rest their eye, which in turn, allows the design to breathe.
- The light splashes of orange in the thumbnails of the vertical images gives the composition a bit more life for the right-hand page that reinforces the energy of the photograph. Without the orange splashes, I believe the composition would have a strange, very static and serious color combination since my horizontal thumbnails possess contrasting red and green elements.
- Cons
- I still feel like my positioning of the thumbnail images is weak, even though I believe there is no other place to put them without redesigning the layout and tweaking the grid. I think with a third column of text, maybe the horizontal thumbnails would create a better, more fluid rhythm when the eye moves from thumbnail to body copy (also rendering the vertical thumbnails unnecessary). With that said, I have some concerns that three columns aligned under three images would be too predictable and maybe less appealing to the overall spread (however, the presence of text in itself has the potential to be very pleasing).
- Even though I believe the design needs it, I know based upon my previous classes, that the purple flood arguably is very unnecessary. One of my professors lives by the mantra, "If you can remove something and it does not break the design, your design does not need it." I am 50/50 about whether or not the purple flood falls under this rule. As stated above, I believe it helps break up some white space to aid in leading the eye from the image to the thumbnails and body copy, but if I could find a way to better solve the issue of how to harmoniously position the thumbnails and body copy, the purple flood may not be necessary.
- Content related: when writing about myself, my thoughts kept getting interrupted, which would change the flow and tone of my voice. When actually reading the content, I believe the change of tone is easily noticed, and I would like to better flow my thoughts and words maybe at a later time before exit portfolio. (I also corrected my spelling on my subheader; as turned in for critique, "purposeful" was spelled wrong. I ran a spell-check in InDesign, but for whatever reason, it did not work correctly. I need to find out why).
As stated, the outlined pros and cons are just some after-thoughts I have about the project, as well as some concerns I had while working on the project. Ultimately, I feel that I chose the strongest available options to composing the design, but the above-mentioned considerations stuck out significantly in my mind, and I would appreciate feedback--particularly on my "cons" section.
Just for nostalgia purposes, below are some snapshots of other projects from critique. Some are very strong and very well composed, and I really enjoyed viewing each spread.
