Final spreads

Here are the final spreads that I handed in to go to print in class on Wednesday (Week 12). Matt’s blue lines are now included to flow behind the hands in my first spread and my spreads are now adjusted to the 5mm bleed.

Holly’s final spreads (Week 12) – Web version

Class exercises: Tutorial Week 12

This week was all about finishing up all the final touches of our articles and getting them prepared for print. We used the tutorial to make any final changes. I had most of my stuff done except for the crossovers with my neighbouring articles. I firstly, worked with Sam. I just had to adjust the arm from his spread as it wasn’t quite in place. Then I worked with Matt, I gave him a file with the buildings and stars from my article that was fitted for him to place on the far right of his spread and he gave me a file with the blue lines from his article that would place on the left of my first spread and could flow behind the hands.

I received Dan’s help to package my InDesign file and that’s when I realised we were meant to be designing our article spreads with the 5mm bleed in mind, which I originally thought was an optional decision we could’ve made but apparently, it wasn’t. Dan adjusted the size of my spreads to match the 5mm bleed on each side. I then checked to see if the crossovers still worked with the new size adjustment. I managed to adjust to crossover with Matt since it seemed like he had designed his spreads with the bleed in mind. However, the crossover no longer worked with Sam. I let him know and he also wasn’t aware of having to design with the bleed in mind so he had to fix his up too. I handed my packaged InDesign article in on a CD and I’m hoping for the best that all our articles look great and this magazine is something to be really proud of, which I’m sure it will be!

New article spreads following Dan’s suggestions in class (Tutorial Week 11)

In class, Dan suggested ways we could improve our articles. For my article, he suggested changing the crossover of Matt’s article and my article by having the blue flowing lines from Matt’s article come in behind the hands in my article. Also, the crossover with Sam could change by removing the pixelated effect from Sam’s article but keeping the arm and the pink strip crossing into each other’s spreads. I also had to fix up the my paragraphs by making sure there are no widows and adjusting where the paragraphs end so I don’t have floating sentences by themselves. And finally, Dan suggested to make my article less flat by bringing out certain elements such as the poker machine in the second spread, the rays in the second spread and the pink strip in the third spread. I also changed the buildings from yellow in the first spread to black as I believe this also emulates Dan’s suggestion of making the spreads less flat. So, I’ve changed the crossover image for Matt to use by making the buildings black and removing the white to yellow gradient. This is the new crossover image for Matt..

I haven’t received Matt’s file to include the blue lines from his spread that flow into mine behind the hands so this isn’t the complete final design just yet. Dan had suggested removing the white to yellow gradient from the original crossover that we had, so I brought in Matt’s white background to follow the outline of the hands in my spread.
Sam and I removed the pixelated effect and kept the arm and pink strip crossing over. 

I changed the first spread to make it more dynamic and less flat by bringing out the buildings some more by making them black. I brought out the poker machine on the second spread my giving it an outline and adjusting its colour. I also adjusted the rays by making some of them a darker blue. I made the pink strip darker so it contrasts against the rest of the pink in the image on the third spread a bit more.
I also went through and moved my paragraphs around slightly to remove any widows and random sentences that don’t fit in.

Here are the new spreads after making those changes:

Holly’s spreads (Week 11)

Class exercises: Tutorial Week 11

In class this week, we had our printed mock up of the magazine to examine so we can adjust the magazine and our articles with a better understanding of how it’s actually looking at this stage.

The first thing we noticed was the thickness of the mock up, since we are using french binding, this caused it to become rather fat. At first, I think the general consensus was for us to be put off by the thickness of the magazine and Dan suggested we could even it out by placing fillers on the thinner side. Once we got over the initial shock of the thickness, a lot of people came around to it and actually saw it as an advantage since it gives more tactility to it, which is definitely something I agree with. No one wanted to change our plans to go ahead with the french binding due to this. I believe it really works in setting us apart from the other class’ magazine, it also fits well with our idea to flow each article into the article’s on either side and it’s thickness does give it more of a physical presence.

We also went through each article with Dan and he suggested ways we could improve them. Dan made some helpful suggestions for my article, which I definitely plan to do. I will describe them in my next post in the magazine layout/artwork category and also, will upload the new spreads that will come from the changes in that post.

Working on creating a continuous flow between our spreads

As a class we had decided that we were going to create this continuous flow throughout the magazine by having elements of our spreads flowing into and back into our neighbouring articles.

My article neighbours are Matt and Sam. Matt and I discussed elements that would work as a sense of flow into each other’s articles. Matt has a blue, yellow and purple coloured string type of flow that tails off into my introductory spread, which I think works well especially considering the colours fit in with my spread. I have buildings and stars that will feature in his spread. Sam and I also discussed what would work and we came to the conclusion that the pink strip from my final spread would be extended into his spread and the arm that features in his introductory spread would come across into my spread.

To flow my elements into Matt’s spread, I made a separate Photoshop file of the buildings and stars and also white to yellow gradient as a background since his background is white and mine is yellow. And for Matt’s spread to flow into mine, he had given me Illustrator files of the ’string’ type element he used throughout his spread that will flow into mine. Unfortunately, I couldn’t match up his ’string’ element because he hasn’t been able to provide me with his spread so all I could do was only guess where to place it. Here is my introductory spread incorporating Matt’s elements.

Here is the cross-over Photoshop file I made for Matt to put into his spread..

To flow my strip into Sam’s spread, I created a separate Photoshop file and copy and pasted my strip into it and flipped it vertically and horizontally so it would be a tail end of it and sent it to Sam. He then used it and made a tiff file for me to use, which had a pixelated effect on the edge of my spread that he also used in his spread and also, the arm now extended across into my spread. 

Here’s Sam and I’s spreads together featuring the strip I sent him and the arm and pixelated effect he added..

With both Matt and Sam, I initially discussed ideas with each of them in class and processes that could work and then continued discussions through emails during the week. This communication process worked out well, we all had opportunities to provide concepts. The only downfall was emailing allowed for slow responses at times.

Class exercises: Tutorial Week 10

In class this week, we revisited some cover designs and looked at some new ones that were created following Dan’s brief of a photograph representing a happy moment in childhood. We discussed each of them and it was clear that we had some obvious favourites including Harris’ image of autumn leaves being thrown into the air, Matt’s photo of a middle-aged man flying a kite with clouds in the background and Kristina’s photo of a girl standing on the shoes of a guy, cropped to only reveal their legs. We all voted and Matt’s kite image one, which was a great choice and my personal favourite as well.
We decided it would be better if we could brighten the image up because it was a bit dark and our magazine’s theme is happiness so Matt agreed to brighten it up a bit and make some final tweaks to it.

It is a great image and an interesting play on happiness to see the innocent, youthful side of a grown man as he flies a kite. 

Changes made to spreads considering feedback from class

I’ve made some changes to my spreads considering the feedback I received from both Dan and the class. There was mixed opinion on my colour choices, some disagreed while others really liked the colour used. I believe the colours relate to poker machines since they are bright and eye-catching much like the machines themselves. I didn’t want to go down the cliche path of setting up your typical Vegas scene with the night’s sky and neon lights to represent gambling because I wanted to do something a little different. I did represent the city/neon element to a certain degree but with my own style using the bright colours and I’m happy with the colour choices and so are some others in the class so I didn’t change them. 

I completely changed the first spread. The original image with the Queen of the Nile character was not fitting in with the rest of the spreads since I did that one prior to the other ones using a different approach and this didn’t work and some member of the class and Dan were able to pick up on this as well. I believe this new spread matches with the others and it also represents money as Dan suggested would be a necessary element to my spreads to relate to the gambling theme.
I also fixed up the error with my standfirst on this page. The previous one didn’t fit in with the style guide. 

I intensified the poker machine overlay in the second spread, as Dan suggested and I believe this aids in representing the poker machine making it more of a feature in the spread and highlighting the theme of the article.

I didn’t change the third spread. I don’t believe there was any reason to. The only complaints that relate to this spread were about the colour scheme but that was in reference to the entire 3 spreads and as I mentioned earlier, I’m happy with the colour scheme so there was no need to change this spread.

I’ve uploaded the spreads here..

 

Dan’s feedback about my spreads from Mid-Semester Review in Week 8

I received Dan’s feedback about my spreads, which I’ve uploaded here.

In summary, Dan stated that he wasn’t ‘moved’ by my colour choices and the use of the colour blocks. He liked the overlaying image but suggested it should be intensified to represent gambling addiction. He mentioned that the ‘Queen of the Nile’ character is out of place and style, she stands out too much and should be represented as part of the addiction. He also suggests that the representation of money should be more evident as well.

I’m definitely taking these suggestions into consideration as I make changes to my layouts.

  

Feedback on my article spreads

So far, I’ve collected 17 feedback sheets since time was an issue on Wednesday’s tutorial and not everyone was able to get through everyone’s article spreads. However, 17 makes up most of the class so I’m off to a good start.

Here is the feedback I received so far:

. Elicia rated everything as ‘excellent’ except for the questions ‘Does the design work indicate a creative approach to the design of the chosen theme?’ which she rated as ‘very effective’ and ‘Does the style and techniques used in the image design effectively convey the concepts, reading tone, and attitudes of the text?’, which she also rated as ‘very effective’. Her comments stated that the spreads are, ‘fun and suits the article’ However, she wasn’t certain about the half yellow/blue colour combination and suggested to look at it completely yellow instead. She also said, ‘love the white images amongst the yellow background’

. Emily Sykes rated most things as ‘very effective’ with an excellent rating for creating a sense of pace to the reading experience and effectively communicating the theme and philosophical position of the magazine. A ’satisfactory’ rating was given for the typographic design being suitable for the target audience and if the style and techniques used in the images design effectively convey the concepts, reading tone, and attitudes of the text. Comments included that ‘the first spread is very powerful’ as she really liked the girl and sign. However, she thought the third spread ‘was a bit full on’ and suggested that maybe I take it back to its original colours and to take the second spread’s colours down a bit. She considered it a great concept though.

. Kim Huynh rated mainly ’satisfactory’ across the board except for a few ‘very effectives’  for a creative approach to the design of the chosen theme, style and techniques used in the image design effectively conveying the concepts, reading tone and attitudes of the text, effective consideration of design elements including colour, composition, texture, space, line etc in the design of the article, conveying a sense of pace to the reading experience of the article, using the chosen style guide creatively and effectively and the legibility of the magazine design. Comments were that it is ‘colourful, which fits in the position within the magazine’ and ‘good layout of image and text’.

. Monica rated ‘very effective’ for every question. Comments were that it is ‘good and eye catching’.

. Maria mainly rated ‘very effective’ for most answers with a ’satisfactory’ result for the style and techniques used in the image design effectively conveying concepts, reading tone and attitudes of the text and ‘excellent’ ratings for creatively exploring the topic in the written content and design content and that the concent/topic is relevant to the theme of the magazine. Comments include that ‘the picture techniques are not the same in article’ since the first spread uses illustration and the others are manipulated photos. She further states ‘there is not continuity in the images but I really like the illustrations’.

. Stephan Baric rated every question as ‘very effective’ with a ’satisfactory’ response to having enough variety conveyed in the arrangement of design elements in the sequential page layouts. Comments are that it ‘visually looks excellent’ and suggested I should possibly consider adding extra elements such as photographs to break the vector designs a bit. He further states, ‘I think it flows great at the moment but could look great with a few photographic images”

. Em rated everything as ‘very effective’ with an ‘excellent’ rating for effective consideration for design elements including colour, composition, texture, space, line etc in the design of the article and conveying a sense of pace to the reading experience. Comments state that the spreads are very nice but the writing on the blue page is a little hard to read.

. Kristina rated most answers as ‘very effective’. ‘Satisfactory’ ratings were given for the design being suitable for the target audience and concept of the magazine, the typographic design and image design working together to make a cohesive design statement and if there’s enough variety conveyed in the arrangement of design elements in the sequential page layouts. Comments include that the illustrations are really clever and the heading is cool but is difficult to read the word ‘robbing’ from afar. However, she states, ‘I’m not sure I like the colour choice of the blue and pink filters. Maybe add a variety of colour.’ She also likes the illustration of Cleopatra and the use of yellow.

. Paul rated mostly ‘excellent’ for the questions. ‘Very effective’ was given for creatively exploring the topic in written content and image content, the design work indicating a creative approach to the design of the chosen theme, effective consideration of design elements including colour, composition, texture, space, line etc in the design of the article, how effective the elements in communicating the theme and philosophical position of the magazine, variety in the layouts, the style guide effectively and creatively being used and legibility of the magazine design. Comments include ‘the use of colour and images are very engaging – definitely maintains interest’ and he suggests ‘your standfirst could be in caps to fit the style guide)’.

. Arlene Thomas rates most questions as ‘very effective’. ‘Satisfactory’ given to the typographic design being suitable for the concept of the magazine’s target audience, the typographic design and image design working together to make a cohesive statement, effective consideration of design elements including colour, composition, space, texture, line etc in the design of the article, conveying a sense of pace to the reading experience, variety conveyed in the design elements and creatively and effectively using the chosen style guide. Comments state, ‘I like your idea, I think it could work really well if you played around with the colours and lights from the machines’.

. I received an anonymous feedback sheet that rated mostly ‘very effective’ for each question with a ’satisfactory’ using the style guide effectively and creatively. Comments include, ‘Good approach and colours. Title image could use more detail to be consistent with latter images’.

. Amiel Dizon rated mostly ‘very effective’ to each question. ‘Satisfactory’ was given to how effective the elements used are in communicating the theme and philosophical position of the magazine and if there’s enough variety in the arrangement of design elements in the page layouts. Comments are that it’s a, ‘good article. I can see how your trying to create consistency through bright colours, however, I’m not sure if it reflects your article well. It would be awesome if you could convey that Las Vegas atmosphere with all the light globes, neon lights and flashing things. I like the wings on the second spread’

. Alana Deighton rated mainly ’satisfactory’ with ‘very effective’ given for a creative approach to the design of the chosen theme, the typographic design being suitable for the target audience and concept of the magazine and a sense of continuity throughout the article. Comments include, ‘the colours used in the article work well as a casino uses these bright colours. The pattern appears very glittered like a star. You need to consider the colours merging. The blue page on the second spread needs to merge with the yellow on the third spread. Perhaps you could have the snake move across the page or some of the background patterns could onto other spreads’.

. Steven Pham rated mostly ‘very effective’. ‘Excellent’ was given for the content topic being relevant to the theme of the magazine. ‘Satisfactory’ was given for the design work indicating an appropriate level of critical research in relation to the aims of the magazine and the chosen theme. Comments are that the spreads are ‘great, your style totally matches your article. I can’t find anything to nit pick’

. Emily rated everything as ‘excellent’ and stated in her comments, ‘really good use of colour’

. Krstyle rated ‘very effective’ mostly. ‘Satisfactory’ was given to an indication of appropriate level of critical research in relation to the aims of the magazine and chosen theme, conveying a sense of pace to the reading experience and elements communicating the theme and philosophical position of the magazine. Comments are, ‘nice visual graphics. I like the first spread and also how you integrated the poker machine graphically’.

. Matthew Naivasha rated mainly ’satisfactory’. ‘Very effective’ was given for the content/topic relevant to the theme of the magazine, the style and techniques used in the image design effectively conveying concepts, reading tone and attitudes of text, effective consideration of design elements including colour, composition, space, texture, line etc in the design of the article, conveying a sense of pace to the reading experience, elements used communicating philosophical position of the magazine. ‘Unsatisfactory’ was given for using the chosen style guide effectively and creatively and the level of legibility of the magazine design. Comments state, ‘the first sentence of the title is illegible. The title style is great but the type choices need to be more bold and easier to read. Make more use of paragraph styles in the style guide. Improve legibility and flow of article to maintain reader concentration’.

Overall, I got a bit of a mixed reception to my article spreads. Some people like the colours used and others believe there is room for improvement there. Since, there is mixed opinion on the colours I’ve used and I personally prefer the colours and think they relate to my article topic because they are bright and colourful (just like poker machines) I think I will keep the colour scheme I have. I definitely have an issue with legibility, particularly for the first spread with the article’s title since a few people handed the feedback sheet to me with the title of the article stated as ‘Us blind?’ rather than ‘Robbing us blind?’ It was mentioned that there is a consistency issue since the first spread doesn’t quite fit in with the other ones since it is illustrated and the others include manipulations of photos and I believe this needs to be worked on. I also have to change the standfirst because it doesn’t fit into the style guide, which was a silly mistake on my behalf since I was one of the people to make the style guide!

After receiving feedback, I am going to:
. fix legibility of title
. dramatically improve consistency for the first spread to flow with the others
. change standfirst to fit in with style guide 

Class exercises: Tutorial Week 8

This week comprised of a busy tutorial reviewing each other’s spreads. We filled out a feedback sheet for each student’s spread that asked to rate the individual on a scale from either unsatisfactorily, satisfactorily, very effectively or excellently on the following questions:

. Has the student creatively explored the topic in their written content and design content?
. Is the content/topic relevant to the theme of the magazine?
. Does the design work indicate a creative approach to the design of the chosen theme?
. Is the typographic design suitable for the concept of the magazine and target audience?
. Does the style and techniques used in the image design effectively convey the concepts, reading tone, and attitudes of the text?
. Do the typographic design and image design work together to make a cohesive design statement?
. Has there been an effective consideration of design elements including colour, composition, texture, space, line etc in the design of the article?
. Does the design format and organisation of the multiple pages or online sequences of the article coney a sense of pace to the reading experience?
. Is there a sense of continuity throughout the article? Have design elements been repeated throughout the design of the article?
. How effective are these elements in communicating the theme and the philosophical position of the magazine?
. Is there enough variety conveyed in the arrangement of design elements in sequential page layouts?
. Has the chosen style guide been used effectively and creatively throughout the magazine design?
. How would you rate the level of legibility for the magazine design?

There was also a section dedicated to comments.

Unfortunately, filling out these feedback sheets for each individual student took a lot of time and not everyone was even able to fill one out for each student. This also meant there was little to no time left to discuss the extra content designs that we brought in being the editorial page, contents page and the new front cover designs based on Dan’s brief. Only a about half of us hung around to talk about the extra content with only limited time.

The tutorial was effective in getting feedback about our spreads but time was definitely a hinderance since we didn’t get all feedback sheets completed and nothing productive was really done about our extra content besides a small discussion. I will discuss the feedback I received in my next post related to my design work for the magazine.