There were many project requirements for the class that I had to input into the project that have since been removed now that I am turning it into a portfolio piece.
The target audience for this magazine is obviously people who are very interested in tractors. I took it upon myself to assume most would be of an older generation as well so I tried to attend to that audience by having the text size be just a bit larger and a larger than normal leading size to assist in readability.
I manipulated the photos to make the tractors stand out of the photos more and from those saturated colors in the tractors I found my color scheme for the bookzine.
After the class critique I made some additional changes. One critique was for pages 4 & 5 - to remove some wording since that was the only spread that was very dense. Everything from the logo to the name of the magazine are my own ideas so any critiques on those as well would be appreciated!
One thing I did notice just with uploading the jpegs to the blog, the actual text looks a bit lighter than it really is. On the blog it looks very thin and a grey color, but just know that it really doesn't look like that on screen or printed.
Thanks so much!
Beautiful images, and i love your logo design. i think your design would benefit if you add some negative space between your images and text like what you did for the first spread and last spread. I love how your images are bleeding off the edges but for images with the border i think you don't need those lines at the moment it look like its a mistake then intentional.
ReplyDeleteAmanda - some great stuff is going on here, and I think you have correctly identified your target audience. Some things you could think about:
ReplyDeleteCover - I wonder if you need that word "Tractor" under the headline, since it is clearly included in the logo at bottom right? Seems redundant to have it in both, but if you decide it's important to have it up top too, then I encourage you to find another styling for it because it sits in a slightly awkward position in relation to the tractor image. Consider pulling it to the left, to counterbalance the logo position. Then, of course, you may need to restyle it - the condensed size does not provide a strong foundation for the headline to "sit on". And, why not photoshop some clouds into the photo... which would improve the quality of this cover photo - your more important image in the project. Cover photos often need manipulation.
Page 3 - I encourage you to increase your negative space a bit, just a tad more around images (as Chris suggests)... because the layouts do seem a bit dense. Also - the section Color Schemes mentions a blue/gray tractor.... why not change the color of the tractor in those 2 photos to "show" us this color... it would be a nice break from seeing that old orange tractor again and again.
Pages 4/5 - Heading "Around 1920" sits in a color bar we haven't seen before, and seems startlingly out of place here. Can you find another approach for this section heading? It doesn't really have to travel across the page, does it... instead you could leave some negative space between the 2 sections in the middle and right hand column.
I encourage you to cut even more type on this page, so the small photo can become larger. Also - the vertical photo on page 5 has an unfortunate cropping, making the tractor element appear cramped... are we missing something on the tractor's lower left area?
Hmmm - this is your center spread, an opportunity to use a photo that crosses the gutter. I see a good horizontal pix on page 7... and this is also an opportunity to use something other than a rectangular shaped photo. Did you think about silhouetting this tractor in the field along the top of the tree line, and then using it large enough to cross over both pages? It might be a nice juxtaposition to the all the rectangles. The layouts are mostly made up of rectangles (text blocks, photos, etc)... so a silhouette that forces a text wrap would be a nice change possibly.
Back cover: Personally, I think you should not change the color of the wheat to black - but keep it white, like the version on the cover. The colors are more successful, and it will lighten up the logo. There is a reason why you chose those colors initially for the logo... it was a good decision. Then... please add some small information below it - maybe contact info, or website for the Grange Tractors.com? It's important that this back cover is never mistaken for the front cover... and right now it visually could be the cover design.. So - add some small info type below logo, and it will help it appear like a back cover.
I look forward to seeing how this evolves!
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI love this piece. The images you have chosen are beautiful, and the layout is diverse, both of which are important when designing a literature piece such as this.
A couple of things though:
1. Though your spreads are very diverse, one thing that is missing is a full page image. I agree with Coni about the potential to pull such an image through the center spread.
2. I'm not convinced on your choice of header typeface. In your explanation, you say that your target audience is of an older generation. Working from experience, I know that this generation, and the types of people who like tractors, wouldn't be fond of your font choice. This is a very modern typeface, and though I love it, I'm not sure it fits very well with this choice of content. I would look into a font like Blanch, which is similar in style, but not quite so radical. It would be a nice compromise between modern and traditional.
3. I love the bar on pages 4/5, and wish I could see this on other pages, perhaps as a secondary design element. You could use it across the bottoms of images to pull attention away from the beautiful pictures and back to the text, particularly on page 9. This could also be interesting as not just a horizontal but also a vertical line.
Overall, very good work. :)
cx
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI love seeing what you've done with this especially after having reviewed it with you last class. The addition of new images to break up the wordy spreads turned out great! And I absolutely love what you did with the last page! I really have no further critiques for you, just wanted to let you know that I love the end result.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI recall seeing this piece in class, and really enjoyed the overall composition and layout design. The piece is all around very legible, and I commend you on your font choice for the headlines/subheads. I do agree with Coni that you want this to appeal to your target audience (as you would want any piece to) however, the font does not feel too modern, and the line through some of the letters adds a nice design element. I do agree that the line below the letter "o" is a little out of place, so perhaps try adjusting that? Otherwise, I feel the typeface you chose adds some visual hierarchy to the design.
Something I would consider changing is the masterhead/title of the magazine on the first page. The word "tractor" feels a bit bland. My suggestion would be to play around with the alignment, perhaps setting it off to the right, as above to having it justified in the center.
Overall, the definitely enjoy the color palette chosen! Nice work!
Jackie Cifarelli