My goals for this presentation was to explore with design techniques based on the theme of the story. On my opening spread, I researched how to use the type on a path tool to create a visually stimulating piece that worked with the main image. It was really tricky to figure out, which caused the edges to not be perfect following the semicircle pattern of the tunnel. I felt accomplished since I was able to successfully use the tool in multiple parts of that spread. On my second spread, I wanted the three different train maps to feel like a train map in the process of reading. I created a path and focused on making sure it followed a reasonable path for the readers eyes to follow around the text. I feel like it works well, but the size of the left red line may end up being a bit distracting while reading.
I successfully stuck followed the three face maximum and connected my ASF to my main story with the Chalkduster font. I was especially careful on following my grid in the second spread. I tried to have each element line up perfectly to their grid lines, which made me specifically proud of the top left sign where the underground text perfectly covers the grid. I used the eyedropper tool on my cover and in my spreads to create unity, which I think helps keep a consistent and attractive theme. The grey background for the sidebar is the same color as the railroad in the opening spread image. Considering the story is focused on the development of the tube map, I thought the reader would be most interested in the evolution of the map. I wanted to design a an interesting way to see that evolution and I think it turned out to be very visually interesting.
Click image for full design!
I learned that it was incredibly helpful to plan ahead. There were a couple ideas I had for the opening spread and cover that would not have ended up successful in practice (at least in the way I tackled it on paper) and I am glad I caught that before I spent the time trying out the design. There were a couple ideas I had to bail on after giving them a crack, but it could’ve been much more. I also learned how to research my own techniques to incorporate into the design. The curved text on my opening spread could’ve been better. The time spent to get it where it ended was more than I expected, and I had to accept that it was not going to be perfect. So I think next time I should experiment with a concept a bit more before committing to it. I also noticed my text is a bit tight and uneven in places, and it may even cause my ASF to appear a bit bland. I like the idea I had, but maybe spending more time tweaking text and adding color to largely white pages could be more appealing.
My main goal that I had going into this project was to make something that I think looks good and is successful in sharing the stories/information and more importantly I wanted to enjoy the process of making it. I had a lot of fun working on this project. There were definitely parts of it that frustrated me. I have also learned that I am fairly indecisive because I went through about 6 different layout ideas for the main story and had to sleep on a lot of different ideas for how I wanted to approach the ASF. I think that I did a good job of meeting both of my goals for this project. Creating and trying out the different layout ideas that I had was a lot of fun and I think by allowing myself to try (and fail) so many times helped make a good final product.
The first thing that I did was pick out the fonts that I would use for the cover and rest of the magazine. I looked on Pinterest at other magazines and their font and layout choices to inform my decisions and figure out what works and what doesn’t. After I made the cover I used that to guide the typography throughout the rest of the magazine. When it came to adding color I decided to take colors from the main images I use. I did this because I think it helps in incorporating the images and the text together to create a harmonious look between the text and images.
My creative process consisted a lot of making a design and then putting down my laptop/pencil and thinking about it after thinking it through. I would come back and make changes or try another idea that I may have come up with. Something that was something that took a bit to get used to was the centerfold. I’ve done a lot of yearbook design so being able to have elements so close to the centerfold was very new to me and a mental barrier that took me a while to overcome. At first I struggled to calibrate to the scaling of things on the page I would make something, but then upon looking back it would be too big or small on the page. I think in the future I want to try and incorporate more white space and different ways of placing images into the design.
This post will explain my main goals, key design decisions, and an analysis of my creative process.
First, I wanted to create a magazine for young designers–a light, alternative, and nuanced set of stories that balanced history with design news and skill advancement/acquisition. Hence, I designed a cover with teasers that: offered a historical perspective of the London Tube map, the best design schools in the United Kingdom, and a review of color theory. This publication was, of course, for young people in the United Kingdom, but I did not want it to feel like a tabloid, which was quite difficult to avoid. The colors, typography, and photos all reflected a slightly “grungy” but still lively aesthetic that prioritized deep thought and critical thinking while holding Millennials’ and Generation Z’s attention. Simply put, this magazine was inspired by the news outlets and magazines that I use daily, but it also had to heavily incorporate and welcome (art) history and artists of all kinds, which are not the topics of most of my favorite sources. My favorite online magazines and news sources are: The New York Times, Forbes, Sentient Media, We Animals, The Guardian, National Geographic, and the BBC Science Focus Magazine; after reviewing their style choices, favorite fonts, and notable teasers, I adjusted my own cover to make it look more professional and show continuity and stylistic flow. I also looked online, specifically using image searches for classic publications like TIME, Vogue, and National Geographic for inspiration as well, both for my spreads and the cover. Thus, while I wanted to establish my own visual identity, I also used outside sources to help create a professional magazine, rather than something like a tabloid or otherwise weak presentation. I do believe that I achieved my goal to create a serious, yet aesthetically pleasing magazine, while focusing on history, design, and the youth.
Furthermore, I spent most of my time adjusting my typography, images, and colors. The most difficult part of this project was pairing images and colors, as well as establishing an identity with my fonts. Beginning with typography, I chose to use Broadway, Georgia Pro, and Avenir Next as my three font families, but I used P22 Underground for my headline. I chose Broadway after much contemplation. While Broadway was initially created in 1927 as an Art Deco typeface and usually reminds us of the 20s and 30s, to me, it invoked a feeling of older art forms–dance, music, and drama–that were “wild” for their time. It is a font family of history and innovation of art forms, which deeply resonated with the purposes of my own publication. In addition, I chose to use Georgia Pro, as I read that The New York Times used to use Times New Roman but switched to Georgia; I love The New York Times, and because Adobe InDesign comes with 20 stylistic variations of Georgia Pro, I decided to use Georgia Pro, as it looks a lot like Georgia and has a wide range of styles. Georgia Pro acted as my main Serif font, and I used it in my body text, deck, and author’s name, as well as in my teasers. I chose Avenir Next, as our professor used Avenir in one of our assignments, and I wanted to try it too! However, I only had access to font families such as Avenir Next and Avenir New World. I wanted a Sans Serif for my captions; I also used the Sans Serif in my sidebar and my ASF page, as well as on my cover. I needed a font family that was suitable for my captions but was readable (for the slightly longer paragraphs, like the short paragraph in my sidebar). Next, I used P22 Underground. This font has a story. P22 Underground was created by Paul Hunt in 1997 for the P22 Type Foundry and is an adapted and publicly available version of Johnson, designed by Edward Johnson in 1916 for the Underground Group. Thus, this font was used by the London Underground! I initially used a font family called Omnium, as it was rounded and reminded me of the long tube lights illuminating the insides of buses and along railway passages. However, once I found the font used by the London Underground, I knew that I had to use an adaptation of this font for my opening spread. Moving forward, I must describe my image choices. I chose the image of the London Eye for my cover, because I thought that I could use the “sandwich” effect with it, just as the class did with the Lil Bub cover. I also loved the colors in this cover, and I loved that the colors (blue and orange) were compliments on the color wheel. However, I experienced difficulties with the colors, as CMYK and RGB versions of the photo looked completely different. These issues will be addressed in the next section, but shortly put, my color scheme changed to include yellow-orange and blue-violet. Virtually every photo had to have at least one of these colors, once I made this choice. The image you see in my thumbnail has yellow-orange in it (I used the Eyedropper tool to pull this color from my cover); the text box is a tinted version of one of the two blue-violet colors that I pulled from my cover image (using the Color Theme Tool). Notably, I also used the Golden Ratio and had to crop my image to show the tracks running toward my body text! Thus, my photo took approximately 62% of the space, and it was cropped accordingly, while still abiding by the Rule of Thirds! I continued this pattern and applied the Golden Ratio to the Sidebar on the left side of my second spread and to the main image on the right side of my second spread. The main image (a train) also contained yellow-orange, and I had to swap out the image three times before finding the best one! Images of the maps and of Harry Beck were added to provide historical elements, as I wanted to add visual references within the story, though these elements did not abide by my color scheme (they were thus used as smaller images and did not have as much attention drawn to them). With respect to the sidebar (I chose Poster Parade), I used a tinted version of the one of my color swatches from my cover. I chose to use six images in my sidebar and displayed them chronologically. I did not use all eight posters in the sidebar, as I ran out of room, but I did choose to remove the two posters whose publication/creation dates were duplicates. The posters used also tended to have a blue-violet, blue, orange, or yellow-orange element in them. Lastly, my ASF page was designed to reflect an informative but playful aesthetic. The images were all given strokes from the cover’s color swatch (or using the Eyedropper tool), but I tinted the colors to turn them into pastels and add to the playful effect (I also rounded the edges of each box around the image and around the ASF itself to add to this effect). Thus, this process was long, but the complementary color scheme, three font family rule, and rule of thirds, were carried throughout the magazine, adding continuity of style and consistency of effect. As most of my issues revolved around color, this topic is addressed in the next section.
In this last text block, I will review my mistakes and issues. I had many. First, I struggled with color. The image that I chose for my cover looked very different in Photoshop, and when I added it in InDesign, it changed from an orange and blue color scheme to an orange-yellow and blue-violet scheme. I knew that I had to use the CMYK color model for print projects, but I wanted to preserve the blue and orange complementary color scheme seen in the RBG version of the image. My original plan involved crafting the cover in a separate file and importing the cover as a PNG. Then, I would import the cover without impacting the spreads, and ASF, which would both use CMYK color settings. The final version would use the RBG model for the cover (as a PNG) but still technically be using CMYK colors everywhere else, abiding by the printing rules. However, after doing more research as to how the CMYK and RBG models work, I realized that CMYK model is better for print projects and is a subtractive model, while RBG model uses additive light and needs a screen. Because I wanted to maintain consistency, I used the Transparency Blend Space to change the settings back–from RGB to CMYK. Because of this change, I spent Saturday altering my entire color scheme, swapping images out, and redesigning my headline for my opening spread. The issue came when I went back to Photoshop to create my thumbnail. The file using the CMYK model was dull and unimpressive as a thumbnail, so I used RBG color model settings, just as our video tutorial suggested. However, my project thumbnail looks different from the InDesign file and PDF. Because of this inconsistency, in the poster project, I plan to either use the RBG model (as we used this model when making thumbnails) or only use colors that are “CMYK-safe” (and are less affected by conversions between models). For the former option, I have read that the file should be saved as a transparent PNG for printing, as the printer uses RIP for CMYK color conversion. For the latter option, it seems that some colors are better preserved during conversion than others, as the available colors are more limited in CMYK than RGB color models. I have learned much. Because I am new to this type of project, I assumed that my only option was to use CMYK color settings to maintain consistency, but I now see that I just need to do a little bit more research, as the answer to my problems are not black and white, and I can alter my settings to fit my needs. I have a better plan to illustrate my poster now! Lastly, I learned so much from this project. I learned how tedious this process is. I learned that I must create a contingency plan. I learned that I must take the process in stride; as soon as Week Two began, I started working on the first project instead of waiting. Yet, I had not acquired a full skill set to tackle the project, so I had to redo a lot of my work later on, resulting in over 30 hours of work being needed. As I saw issues with typography, looked at other magazine spreads and covers, perused past students’ work, and designed my magazine’s first six pages, I found out that I needed to work more slowly. I had to work and revise, instead of race forward. I also learned that I needed to accept that a first draft might not be good enough. I became so attached to my work that I was hesitant to change the color scheme from orange and blue to yellow-orange and blue-violet and to move from the Omnium to P22 Underground font family. I was afraid to alter my work. In the next project, I intend to embrace the struggle, work fewer hours, and make rough drafts. I will embrace the tedious process of sketching and resketching, and I will look to work slowly, as the tutorials are given, instead of working too far ahead, before I am ready. I am so excited for the next project, as I become a better artist and designer!
Obviously my first step in the process of creating this project was choosing which stories I would use. As an artist I was immediately drawn to the Giacometti article. After seeing the pictures available I felt it had more visually interesting potential.
Not only that but I was struggling to choose a cover picture. I wasn’t drawn to any of the ones given in the actual project download and looking for one sounded slightly overwhelming so I thought it would be nice to choose one that matched the article. I really liked the bright colors of the self portrait and saw potential for a good layering effect with the name of the magazine.
I chose the opening spread because it gave plenty of space for the type and it matched the “edge of madness” title in the sense that the sculptures shown were kind of spooky. However I of course needed to include his studio for the story so I made that the lead image on the second page. The other pictures were largely picked to fit in the cluster and make the text fit properly. My main regret with them is the captions. I originally had the captions separate and inside each picture but that was hard to read and very ugly so I moved them all to one. However I should have spent more time trying to make it work. The color is a bit hard to read against the color varied background.
As for the type, I didn’t think too hard about the body copy, just chose a serif font that was simple and dependable. For the captions and sidebar copy I chose a modern looking sans serif. For the magazine’s heading type I chose an art deco inspired font as I felt it was a strong look for a graphic design magazine. For the article heading I looked through adobe fonts to find an unhinged font. I liked Motion OT because it had a similar clumpy yet slender texture as the sculptures. The green for the fonts came from the strong green color in his self portrait to strengthen the connection and bring a bright color to a story with darker images. I feel the high saturation added to the madness feeling.
I went back and forth way more on the alternative story form. I had ideas for both but I didn’t love either. I started with the labels cause I thought it would be easier but it was so ugly so I started over with my idea for the icons. I arranged them on the page and then it was suggested to me to make more separation between the icons as they were bleeding together. I know we were told not to make it too boxy but it really did need sections. To try and combat the sterile feeling of boxes I tried to give it a patchwork quilt feeling. I feel this brought it to life some in a kind of quirky way. Originally I was trying to use the colors from the cover but upon going into office hours I was told this was unnecessary. Instead I used the colors from the icons themselves. I ended up cutting out the lamps to better fit my page’s structure.
Our second project for Graphic Design I was building a magazine spread. This one challenged me significantly more than our first project as it had more moving parts. As a part of this project, I used new tools in InDesign, such as the type on a path tool, and was able to practice layering images to create a more impactful design. I felt this project challenged me to consciously think about my design choices and overall create better designs.
I wanted to keep my cover relatively simple. I chose the image of Big Ben at night because it had a wide variety of color but was easy to place text on. I used the eyedrop tool to pull colors from the photo and use them for the text. I also used photoshop to cut out Big Ben and then layered it so it was coming out in front of the letters. For my typography I chose to use Benton Sans Extra Condensed for both my title plate and my titles for my previews. It is a clean sans serif font that helped pull the design together and make it look very cohesive. For the decks, I used Didot which I then used again in my alternative story form, this font felt elegant but simple.
For my project I chose to create my opening spread over Albert Giacometti. For the opening spread, I chose the image of him in his studio as I felt that it embodied the story and expressed the chaos that surrounded Giacometti. To make it work well for my spread, I cut out Giacometti and layered him so that he would remain in full color as I increased the opacity of the surrounding image. I also chose to use Trattatello as my font for the word madness and then in the headline in the sidebar on the second spread to build that sense of connection between the first and second page. I felt this font mimicked the length and of Giacometti’s sculptures but also felt like a font that stereotypically associated with insanity and chaos. The rest of the typography for both the opening and second spread was Georgia to make the Trattatello stand out more. I also used the eyedrop tool to pull a red from one of his paintings to use as the color of my typography which helped to create a connection between the pages.
For my alternative story form, I used the six icons of British design and created circles that I imported the images into. This gave my design a sense of organization and looked clean but felt more creative than using squares or a more stereotypical shape. The boxes that I used for the list numbers helped them stand out more and created a sense of unity throughout the design.
Overall, this project challenged me both creatively and as a graphic designer. I was able to continue practice using InDesign which helped me get significantly more comfortable with the program and the commands. The choices I made were very intentional and required a significant amount of thought and time. I am happy with the way that my project turned out and the way it looked when I printed it out.
