DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the images used in the spreads, nor have I personally written any of the text. The assignment was merely for understanding layout purposes. Other than designing the layout, all other content belongs to the rightful owners. The below layouts will not be used for any professional promotion.
Our assignment was to create three different black and white layouts using at least three of the provided articles and no more than two spot images (no larger than 3" in any direction). The articles were pulled from the internet through blogs and other online publications, while I hand-chose images from the internet and rendered them black and white.
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| Layout 1 - Conceptual Design |
- Pros:
- Strong concept: the idea that all of this controversy surrounds Cho, yet her opinion (the article on the far right) on the 'Chop Suey' font used on her poster appears to be irrelevant. Antagonists accuse Cho of not addressing the racial undertones of the poster design, yet Cho put out a blog stating her indifference on the issue (and, once again, no one seems to care). The far-right positioning of Cho's response is meant to feel alienated and unimportant to the content as a whole.
- Strong visual verticals broken up by the airy, horizontal quote. Creates an exciting feel, as the interruption of flow is unexpected. Also, the third article starting a row below the first two columns gives the eye a break while also making the layout less static.
- Cons:
- Some argue too much white-space; to better link the far right article to Cho, it could be nudged up to align with her picture. Cho's response is approximately the size of Cho's picture, so there would be unity and repetition to the design.
- In InDesign, the gutters break just slightly; I needed to account for the margins of the page when designing the grid. Because Cho's article ragged very close to the edge of the page, I nudged it over just slightly into the gutter. While on this single spread it may be unnoticeable, on a multi-page document, it may stand out more having content in an area that otherwise shouldn't.
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| Layout 2 - Newspaper Design |
- Pros:
- Successfully organizes lots of content within a limited space. I think the "A", "B", and "C" boxes create rhythm through differentially; setting the boxes up as "A"-"B"-"C" helps distinguish one piece of content from the other. The use of horizontal rules also helps does this.
- The repetition of layout creates a continuity that helps flow the content.
- Cons:
- Also slight issues with the gutter; MUST account for margins in InDesign.
- Because of varying paragraph styles, the cutters from Article 5 to Article 6 should align and are off slightly; to strengthen visual continuity, these MUST align properly.
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| Layout 3 - Image Influenced |
- Pros:
- Strong visual concept of conflict the people in the images clashing with each other are reinforced by the "Align Towards Spine" alignment of the body copy and headlines.
- The American Typewriter font breaks up the stark angles of the body copy shapes as well as the harsh angles of the sans-serif fonts on the page (I believe the body copy is Futura Standard). American Typewriter is a slightly rounded serif font, which gives the design more personality.
- Cons:
- All of the headlines break due to the leading. While it works in some instances, setting the text to align with the gird is not always visually pleasing. The leading should be tighter on the headers and subheaders--even if it creates the "chucky" look I was trying to avoid. Airy headlines done for this type of layout do not work. Be bold. Be brave!
- Something exists called a "soft return" in InDesign. This is used for fixing rags, widows, and orphans without using a hard return that will be subjected to indents and gaps (gaps particularly when text-boxes are resized or the text is reflowed in any way). A "soft return" is created in InDesign by holding down shift + enter. While it is not completely noticeable to the naked eye, mistaking a hard return for a soft return is a huge error on the production side of things and complicates format editing.
By writing out the pros and cons of my work, I hope to learn from my mistakes and make mental notes on how to better execute projects in the future. The only way to be a great designer is to recognize weaknesses in designs--that way, other options can be explored to avoid design pitfalls. I feel that reviewing the layouts in class helps me recognize weaknesses and strengths I would otherwise not recognize.