Task 1: Critique and Re-Design
Coles Magazine April 2020
Magazine Spread Analysis
The structure of the Coles magazine is placed to be engaging and exciting. The word ‘Coles’ is the main title of the place all in bold all along a baseline in perfect alignment as the words are flushed from left to right. The size of the page and the location of words can reflect how convenient the format of the page is and what its purpose is; which is getting pass byers to take one home. In the top right is the price and the date the magazine came out. The typeface is all in a light font capitals as body text with vertical lines to separate the information. ‘Happy Easter’ is a decorative cursive typeface to stand out as the heading. The different Sizing and spacing is important when thinking of intervals and differences to makes things easier to perceive (Bringhurst, 2004). Below the heading is information relating to the food on the front cover using arrows, exclamation marks and brackets to section and elaborate the ‘Easter egg cheesecake.’ The 3 Easter eggs on the page have their own titles at set-widths in a white semi-bold within a text block coloured to match the food which is a trending style called highlighted type (Compact Creative, 2021). The text blocks are also placed at different angles for a fun and enjoyable expression. Finally, down the bottom of the page is details displaying in bold that there is ‘70+’ recipes all at the same cap height as ‘recipes and ideas for family and friends.’ Below in a ribbon of red colour are dot points about the food and what makes them great finalizing the navigation flow of the cover (Saltz, 2013).
I think a lot of the structure of this magazine page words really well as everything is structured, aligned and bold standing out to anyone who might pick up the recipe magazine. The colours of the recipes to match the food works in a fun way and all the other colours match either red or black. The page is a bit overcrowded with a lot happening due to the position of the eggs and the overlap of words on the food. I also think the ‘Happy Easter’ could stand out more in a different colour like a gold to align with the caramel in the bottom corner.
Coles Magazine redesign
Using all the same elements (colour, typeface and images) the recipe was redesigned in a traditional style with the recipe name at the top in bold coloured capital letters so when searching for the recipe you know where to look while the serving, prep and cooking time are same except spread out across the entire page. The ingredients and method are in two columns with the steps outlined in red and the ingredients in bold as they are the first step in any cooking. These are aligned with another horizontally to provide space and simple structure so the person can find what their looking for when referring to the recipe (Taboada, 2021). The picture takes over the bottom half of the page, with tips on cooking the soup in a text box. The proportions of the page slighting hold the structure of the golden section which help shape the page and create a symmetrical relationship. These column proportions are a mix of short and wide help with readability and structure for a quick thorough reading while also giving the text time worth savoring (Bringhurst, 2004). At top right inside the margin is the type of meal the recipe is while down the bottom right is the page number and a hashtag which is the same as the original layout.
Task 2- Event Program- Conference line up
Draft of Conference booklet
The draft is all in a grid structure of 1 column and 3 horizontal rows. The issue with this layout was the writing lapping the bottom of the image and the 5 images not evenly covering all the page space leaving a black plain spot at the end of page two. The order of the typefaces and their colour, scale and font type all worked well in a systemized hierarchy to identify the important titles from the information (Saltz, 2013).
Final product of conference booklet
Process of Conference Booklet
The final Booklet has a title of the event in bold outlined letters in Source Serif Variable to stand out as the title. When navigating the page, the title is to the right-hand side to stand out from the rest of the writing, hence when your eye moves along the page and down you immediately see the pictures of the celebrities and to their names all aligned and symmetrical. This is navigating the reader to the most important information and can guide them through a smooth transition to who they want to see first for the conference (Saltz, 2013). The celebrity names are in Source Serif Variable, the birthdate and location are in Microsoft YaHei UI Bold, and Acumin Variable Concept regular for the information text. The mixture of serif and san-serif typefaces make the conference booklet engaging and legible with titles and text since the pages are at A5. The images and text are separated by the 5 columns guiding the page grid, evenly spacing the different shapes (Blatner, D. 2020). Outside the margins are two markers, a reference note with ‘conference line up’ so readers know which section of the booklet they are in with the page numbers down the bottom (Velarde, 2021).
References
Bringhurst, R. (2004). The elements of typographic style, 3rd ed. Chapter 8: Shaping the page. https://content.talisaspire.com/qut/bundles/5fff7eaa47e6434a46300d54
Blatner, D. (2020). Creating and applying paragraph styles. InDesign 2020 Essential Training. Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/indesign-2020-essential-training/creating-and-applying-paragraph-styles?trk=embed_lil
Compact Creative. (2021). 20+ Typography Trends for 2021. Design Shack. Retrieved from https://designshack.net/articles/typography/typography-trends-2018/
Saltz, I. (2013). Systemized hierarchy. Legibility and Readability. Retrieved from
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/graphic-design-foundations-typography?trk=embed_lil
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/graphic-design-foundations-typography?trk=embed_lil
Taboada, M. (2021). DVB201- Typographic Design. Rules of Engagement 3- Spacing, Alignment & proportions. (Lecture Recording). Blackboard https://echo360.org.au/lesson/cc58dd90-1cdd-44bd-8159-a1b3bcb8604d/classroom#sortDirection=desc
Velarde, O. (2021) A Quick Look at Types of Grids for Creating Professional Designs. Design Inspiration. Retrieved from https://visme.co/blog/layout-design/
