This is the 2nd piece I'm considering. For this project we had to design a magazine off a topic of our choice. I decided to make Rumble Pak, A gaming magazine targeting hardcore gamers age 16-35 because the gamer demographic is fairly spread out, with the average age being 31. The idea behind it was that most gaming publications these days have become too watered down and aren't willing to give a game a critical rating below a seven on a 1-10 scale. This problem has lead gamers to seek out smaller, indie review mediums that still retain their integrity. The name Rumble Pak is a reference to the peripheral device that was sold for the Nintendo 64 that allows haptic feedback in a controller, which has now been replaced with controllers that already contain the means to provide haptic feedback within them. The term that was also coined with these devices was called "Force Feedback" for the sensation the produced when activated, hence one of the titles of the columns. These devices were made to give the player a new sense to gaming and to shake things up which is what Rumble Pak magazine aims to do as well.
Tony,
ReplyDeleteI love the use of the logo on the cover as well as the orange and black color palette. Though, I feel like this could be unified more by using more of that orange throughout the design. Also I think the only thing you need to change is that in 4th spread, the fold of the paper will be on the type "Warp Pipe" and will inevitably cut it off. Other than that, I think this is a great piece and is definitely your style.
Tony - some great typography and layout here. Some additional things to consider:
ReplyDelete1. Cover orange is bright and dominant... and seems to be disconnected from the image too much (and as Kayla suggests... from the rest of the project too). Is there a way to photoshop some orange into the image so they unify a bit? Or... one of the very interesting, and successful, design decisions I see on the following pages is the transparency in your headings. I wonder if that approach might not be helpful here as well... blending the title/logo into the photo. Again... what you decide here should help the unity of your cover elements - while staying true to the content.
2. I notice that the body copy size changes for your second article - it got bigger. Why? That is the type of inconsistency that works against the gestalt of a multi-page project. At this point, with this project, you should feel free to cut type where needed to facilitate the best portfolio piece you can create. Have you considered cutting type from 1st and 3rd articles? I think it's important to make the body copy consistent.
3. Another inconsistency I see in the 2nd article is the heading treatment... the white background is over powering all other elements on spread. Is there a reason it isn't transparent? Maybe you need to create a more involved background image behind this head so the transparency "shows" us something? If this spread holds a different type of content than the other pages (and it might since I don't see a rating box on it), you might feel that it is necessary for it look a bit different. My response to that would be then... to make it look even more different than you have (without messing with the body copy size).. by changing the background, or using a completely different approach to the heading. It's the eternal designer's challenge to find ways to make contrast where needed, but without compromising the unity of the whole piece.
4. I feel the same way about the head on page 6/7 - it dominates so completely that I find the rest of the design to be chaotic as it tries to compete for attention. The whole spread is yelling at the reader. The heading, as bold as it is, isn't as interesting as the rest of the content... so it may simply be in the way! Too much contrast on this page, and I suggest looking at the heading for your solution.
That's it - hope this helps!
I just had a follow up thought - why not bring the bar code to the back cover? I think that would help the front cover.
ReplyDeleteTony, this is seriously awesome. I LOVE the name you came up with, and the layout and typography is really impressive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Coni about moving the barcode to the back page. On the table of contents page, I really like how you’ve laid it out, but where the orange 9 sits over the blue of the image it looks really glaring. I know that that blue is like nintendo’s accent color, but you should try to adjust it so that it doesn’t hurt to look at.
The white box around the Boss Fight title is really overpowering too, especially with both of the images on the page being dark. I would try to ghost it a little like you do on the other pages. That will tone down the brightness and make it look more consistent with the other pages.
Finally, on the top ten page, I might try to separate the subhead from the header. Maybe make it a gray box like the one behind the numbers/game titles. It looks a little out of place when compared to how you utilized the white boxes in the other pages. And again, I might lower the opacity a little just to keep it consistent, but it looks a lot better being white on this page than it does on the other one.
I really like the grid system and the way you laid out your images in this. Definitely going to be a strong portfolio piece!