10 Things Publication

For this brief I first determines my paper size which I chose to be A5, and then I went on to determine the layout. I made a few digital examples to get an idea of which layout would be most appropriate.

It was important to me that I made it very readable to make the readers job as easy as possible so I spent a lot of time determining my layout.

I used guides to determine my grid format (rule of thirds) and highlighted the content with boxes.

This layout ideas helped me determine which I wanted to use and which were most effective and constructive. Similarly, using the grids allowed me to make easy decisions based on how the boxes coincided with each other, and I knew that with an existing order and format to the design, that I could lead the reader across the page in the manner I intend based on my content.

For my first design, I planned on keeping it simple, one image per double page accompanied buy a small amount of to-the-point text, and wanted to keep the whole style quite minimalist.

I chose to use Helvetica Light to remain in touch with the minimalist theme, and also to use as a reference as an ideal typeface to use throughout the publication.

I varied the designs on each double page while maintaining the same grid. I thought that since the layouts were so simple, to keep them the same throughout might make the whole thing seem a bit tedious towards the end.

I used mostly images from blogs to use as an ideal reference to what the content is referring to, so that the viewer could recognise the correlation between the two. This would make the importance of the point much more evident and if the reader found the text unclear, the image is a substitute

To lead by example, I chose to only use colour for images and keep the layout and colour scheme of the text black and white, exaggerating the 'less is more' them I was exhibiting.

By dissecting the pages with a single straight line I was able to break up the content and add a slight informality to prevent the publication from appearing very stiff.

When I finished the final digital version I had concerns that it had become a bit too dull, instead of minimalist. So since I had my content I decided to play around a lot more with structure, and explore making it a little more relaxed.

I looked into some of my previous research and explored the idea of using colour (still in-keeping with my 'rules') and to break up the layout to make it more relaxed. I kept the same type but lowered the size and made the actual graphic design principle much more evident. I spent some extra time finding the appropriate images while also trying to incorporate some of my own examples, and added a title and contents page.

Below is the final digital version of my spread after I had made these alterations:

I was much more satisfied with me second version that with the first. I haven't ventured too far from the minimal approach but have made the dynamic more interesting in itself.