Tuesday 3 May 2011

Type and Grid- Lorenzo's Workshop Pt. I.


Having bought in our two magazines with similar feature articles- one high end magazine, and one "low end", along with twenty images along our chosen theme, we went about following a series of instructions, as directed to us by tutor Lorenzo:

*LOOK AT BOTH MAGAZINES, COMPARE:*
-FOLIOS
-PT SIZE
-PHOTOGRAPHS
-TYPEFACE ETC...

*ASSESS ARTICLE:

-READ ARTICLE CHOSEN (ONE OF THE TWO)
-DO A WORD COUNT/AVERAGE (REASONABLY ACCURATE)

*WRITE A SHORT STATEMENT ABOUT WHAT THE ARTICLE IS ESSENTIALLY ABOUT.

*LIST FIVE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HIGH AND LOW QUALITY MAGAZINE (AT LEAST- CONSIDER THESE AT A LATER STAGE, THEY MAY INFLUENCE YOUR DESIGN).

*CHOSE EITHER 210X210MM OR 148X220 FORMAT FOR YOUR DPS DESIGNS.

*RE-INTREPT THE HEADLINE WITH NEW OR RELATIVE IMAGERY.

*WRITE NEW: 

-FORMAT
-CONTENT
-HEADING
-STRAP LINE
-NEW WRITING STYLE

*CONSIDER THE ORIGINAL DIFFERENCES TO SEE HOW YOU WILL MANIPULATE THE FORMAT AND LAYOUT.

*USING A2 PAPER, PRODUCE 2 PAGES OF "RADICAL" LAYOUTS AND 2 UNIFORM LAYOUTS.

*USE GRID THAT YOU HAVE DESIGNED AND POST TO BLOG.

*WORK ON DPS- HALF SCALE OR 0.25 FOR EASE.

*CONSIDER MARGINS, GUTTERS, COLUMNS, ETC. TRY TO HAVE AT LEAST 6 COLUMNS FOR FLEXIBILITY!

*ONLY MAKE ONE GRID- AN UNDERLAY FOR ALL OF YOUR LAYOUTS.

*CONSIDER WEIGHT OF LINE, SHADING, PT SIZE, ETC...HIERARCHY? SPECIFIC FONTS? SERIF/SANS SERIF? TRACKING? ITALIC? KERNING?

***FOR NEXT WEEK...HAVE ALL FOUR FINISHED SHEETS WITH LAYOUTS FOR MINI CRIT- 
ALSO CRITING INDESIGN LAYOUTS (MINE FOR BETH)- TRY TO HAVE A COMPLETED PRINT OUT FOR THIS TIME*** 

MY DESIGN WORK...

'Oh Comely' "This bowl is just right" PORRIDGE FROM AROUND THE WORLD article, issue five.

Word count: 878 in entire DPS.
"This article showcases recipes from some of the more exotic or unusual parts of the world- with new porridge recipes for you to try at home".

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HIGH END AND LOW END MAGAZINE:
'Oh Comely' porridge recipes, and 'Now' cauliflower cheese recipe...

1. Defined outer margin in 'Oh Comely'- almost non-existant in 'Now' (money saving on low end magazine= crammed page!)

2. Lots of photographs and images in 'Now'- not a great deal of structure.

3. Well photographed images in 'Oh Comely'- well lit and composed. Main image from 'Now' looks quite distasteful- not a lot of consideration put into the image.

4. 'Oh Comely' has a consistent colour scheme over the DPS- well balanced and considered alongside and working with the images. In 'Now' the colours fight for attention...red and yellow combination being bold but almost painful to read- to many items fighting on the page for attention.

5. 'Now'- no evidence of consistent folios on the page, unlike 'Oh Comely', which gives the sense that there is no need to bookmark the pages, and it is a completely throw-away item- that it wouldn't hold enough importance to want to come back and read at a later stage.

6. 'Now' filter in other stories which bare no relevance to the particular article I am focusing on- cramming the page full of details and text to achieve the best value for money when printing.

7.'Now' doesn't appear to have any direct hierarchy of text- combining several typefaces, point sizes and colours which make the page look visually untidy and unstructured. 'Oh Comely' use a larger point size and a darker shade to distinguish the hierarchy- making it clear and simple for the reader of the article.

8. 'Oh Comely' uses italic type to emphasise or highlight important parts of the body of text (the recipe ingredients).

9. Vertical type of the side of the page in 'Now'- again, utilising free space- but not having as clear and crisp an aesthetic as they could do.

10. 'Now' recipe page is alongside an advertisement- of which the magazine is heavily dependent- one of their greatest sources of income- a way to ensure that they can keep prices low and keep attracting their target audience.

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