For the final exercise of Part Four, I was asked to design three different pages using dummy text. The first, an interview with a TV actor in a listings magazine entitled: Will Sheila Tell the Naked Truth?, the second, a book review in a newspaper’s weekend edition, and the third a review of a new piece of hardware or software in a specialist computer magazine. I was asked to research the different types of publications and identify three different combinations of typefaces suitable for my designs, using the typefaces to explain why I chose them. I then had to create all three designs.
The unit guide discussed the concept of hierarchy in graphic design before the exercise, but I wanted to dive deeper into this and how I could use the concept effectively in my work. I looked at the Interaction Design Foundation website which has short articles about various design principles and their relevance to UX and UI design – which I felt I could apply to other areas of design too. I read this article about visual hierarchy and took some notes on effective tools, and then read this article about Gestalt Principles and how they can be utilised when designing.
Once I felt like I had a really solid understanding of how to work with visual hierarchy in both traditional and nonconformative ways, I moved on to working through each of the three briefs.
Will Sheila tell the naked truth?
To start, I headed out to the shops to buy some research material. I initially tried googling and using digital resources, but for TV guides this proved difficult. I bought two different brands of TV magazines – TV Week and TV Choice – and began to make notes on what graphic features were consistent throughout. Both used a lot of bold, bright, and primary colours alongside heavier weighted sans serif fonts which were often all-caps for headlines. These pages felt very chaotic for me, and almost satirically opposed the research I had just done on visual hierarchy. I struggled to make sense of each page and every element was competing with each other.
I felt a bit overwhelmed about having to replicate this as it felt against my natural desire for visual ‘neatness’ and readability. My preference for minimalism and clean-looking designs was being challenged! Regardless, I sketched out a few ideas for layouts and began looking at font options. I needed a bold sans serif font for headlines and an easy-to-read complementary sans typeface for the body text. I used my PDF from If the Face Fits and selected four options for each, then opened a blank Photoshop document to experiment with combinations within.
My process in Photoshop was to write each header font choice four times, pair each with a body font option, and then pick which one I felt was strongest. I then put all four selections together and chose the three strongest to fulfil the brief. At this point, I chose subheadings for each pair, which I knew I wanted to be a variant of either the header or body font as is consistent within the magazines. My three final choices were Franklin Heavy paired with Europa and Europa Bold, Ebrima Bold paired with Candara and Candara Bold, and Segoe UI used as both a header and subheading, paired with Europa for the body text.
I felt the strongest set of the three choices was the Segoe UI and Europa combination, so I highlighted this in my sketchbook and moved into InDesign to begin exploring layout ideas. I realised quickly I needed to source some imagery to make this piece come alive, so headed over to Unsplash and downloaded a few I felt fit the brief. I then explored ways of using the imagery alongside text and other elements to create an eye-catching and attractive piece. I reflected on the four options and felt the swimsuit layout was best.
I began to work on this layout in a similar way to how I worked on my replica designs in the previous exercise, building a foundation and adding text around that, then finishing off with graphic elements and choosing colours. I had a difficult time navigating the image manipulation and going back and forth between Photoshop and spent hours trying to figure out how to position everything and make the piece look exactly how I envisioned it. I learned so much about how to use InDesign in this process and despite it being quite stressful at the time, I’m grateful for the experience.
I chose colours that complimented the image as well as reflected the bright primary colours used in the magazines I bought. I also referenced both magazines repeatedly throughout to look at how the text was organised, what sort of shapes were used in graphic elements, and what effects were used to make the text easier to read. I was especially interested in the fact a soft background glow had been applied to lettering over images, rather than a drop shadow, and I was impressed by how effective this was when I used it in my own work.
I used several variations of both Europa and Segoe UI throughout the design, and I feel they were an effective choice. I am so proud of how this page came together. I do think it feels too minimal compared to the magazines, but I pushed myself to be more chaotic where possible and I love how it looks. I think it looks just like a piece from an actual TV magazine! I had some issues with the text formatting as I couldn’t quite get 3 even columns for the body, and I think this is something I could’ve explored further. Overall, I am really happy with the design.
Newspaper Book Review
For the next design, I mostly had to rely on digital research, though I did have a copy of the i newspaper to hand. This didn’t feature any book reviews but did have various other reviews and sections that I could take inspiration from and get a general feel for how newspapers are designed. I took some notes from this to be a foundation for my page – noting that soft earth-toned colours were frequently used, with more of an emphasis on the text rather than imagery as in the TV magazines. Headlines used bold serif fonts, with sans serif subheadings and a subtle serif body text. I also noted that reviews typically featured a star rating, where to buy, and the cost of the product being reviewed.
I attempted to do some digital research of newspaper book reviews but found this very hard. Digital articles are laid out very differently from printed publications, and the requirements in terms of readability are different. There’s also a growing issue of newspapers paywalling their digital content, and I simply can’t afford to pay to access articles just for research purposes. Existing paywall dodging services unfortunately alter the design of pages, rendering them useless for research anyway. So, I continued with my printed newspaper, trying to also use my mental bank of research alongside.
Once again I turned to my If the Face Fits PDF to identify three header, subheading, and body typeface options. I then repeated the same process of elimination to narrow down three combination options: Lucida Demibold with Corbel as a subheader and Californian FB as body text, Georgia Black with Candara as a subheader and Sitka as a body text, and Bookman Bold with Calibri as a subheader and Corbel as a body text. The first, featuring Lucida, was my favourite of the three.
I hadn’t sketched any layout ideas yet and decided to go straight into InDesign to play around and test out different ideas. I was feeling a bit demotivated at this point in the exercise due to the lack of resources available, and I just wanted to get on with finishing it. I sourced an image for the author’s photo and both books and worked to create an eye-catching page. Once I felt good about the layout, I decided to build a guide to ensure everything was even and I could avoid the issues I faced with the TV guide brief. I split the page evenly into 4 columns and used this to place all images and text.
This process was a lot easier than the previous one, mostly because I already had an understanding of the software and had already navigated any potential issues. However, I felt a lot less positive about the outcome of this piece. Something about it just didn’t sit well with me the whole time, and I can’t put my finger on what. I shared it with friends, and everybody complimented me and said it looks exactly like a newspaper article, but to me, something isn’t right. Maybe I just didn’t do enough research, so I feel I have nothing to pull it back to. I also wish I’d taken more screenshots! It’s hard to explain my process when I don’t have them to hand.
Specialist Magazine Tech Review
For the final brief, I decided to use some amateur photography magazines I have from 2006 as a basis for my research. I did briefly do some online research on more modern magazines, but as mentioned in the previous brief, this isn’t quite the same as printed work. I felt like despite being outdated, the general concepts were still there for these magazines, and I could use them as a launchpad. I noted down what features I needed to include in my review layout – photos of the product, specifications, price and where to buy – as well as identifying that all fonts used were compressed or condensed versions of fonts, with a large heavy-weighted header, and a light-weighted body text.
I decided to sketch some potential layouts for this brief, as I wasn’t quite sure what direction to go in. I then used the PDF from If the Face Fits to identify 5 potential header typefaces and 4 potential body typefaces. The subheadings throughout the magazines used either the body or the headline typeface in a different weighting or variation, so I planned on playing around and seeing which of these worked best when I experimented in Photoshop. My final three combinations for this brief were Futura Condensed Extra Bold and Regular paired with Ingra Condensed as a body text, Condor Bold paired with Mr Eaves Narrow for both subheading and body text, and Ingra Condensed Extra Bold and Book paired with Mr Eaves Narrow Light as the body text.
My favourite font combination jumped out at me for the previous two designs, but I had a harder time with this one. I felt the first and last were particularly strong, and after some discussion with a friend I decided to proceed with the Ingra Condensed headline combo. I then visited the Curry’s website to find a product to feature in my review and chose the Lenovo Tab P11 as it was advertised a lot on the front page of the website. I found a handful of images of the tablet to use in my design and headed over to InDesign to begin plotting out my layout.
I once again used a 4-column grid system for this design as I loved how it worked in the previous one. This was the first thing I did once I set the margins for the document, and I think I will continue with this for future designs. Some research I did at the start of the exercise said ‘Build your own grid’ and it stuck with me.
I followed the same process again, starting with images, then headers and any ‘stand-out’ text, then body text, and then little details. I like to plot everything out using filler shapes just to see where everything should sit before I start nitpicking at details and filling in text. Once I feel happy with the layout, I tweak everything until it looks perfect. I then selected colours and I was very intentional about this process. The magazines I had referenced were quite plain, and I wanted something that popped. I researched ‘tech colours’ and saw that blue is most often associated with technology, so I used Adobe Color to create a colour palette for the piece. I really like how the orange highlights complement the blue header, and the image used in the top right of the page.
I feel really happy with this design, especially after feeling less confident about my newspaper spread. It looks exactly like a tech magazine to me, and those I sought feedback from agreed. I also felt like this piece was an accumulation of all I learned through the previous two, and the exercise before, as I was able to put all the work into place effortlessly and intuitively.
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I feel so excited about the work I produced for this exercise. I knew going into it that I would have fun, but I completely exceeded my own expectations. I can’t wait for the assignment and to produce a magazine layout for it, and hopefully to continue exploring editorial work and where I can take my portfolio in this area.
Learning Log 