Week 3

Typefaces

Baskerville, Helvetica, Garamond, Franklin Gothic, Akzidenz Grotesk, Gill Sans, Sabon, Futura, Gotham, Georgia, Times New Roman, DIN, Blackletter, Didot, Bodoni, Univers, Comic Sans, Trajan.

In class

Critique with Fay. She suggested merging my two directions to get the best out of both of them.

Here I have the two spreads with all the edits Fay suggested, apart from page numbers. I was feeling like there was something off with the use of white space though. I wasn't sure about the large row left in the top half where nothing is happening.

Here I made the tint of the title a little darker as I was finding that the title was getting a little lost at the top of the page. I also moved the pangram down again to trial that placement, as well as giving the image more space on the top and letting it have an extra row. I'm not sure about this though as it means it lines up with nothing. It also doesn't work having the pangram down a row as it looks best aligned with the title.

I moved the pangram up again, but kept the tint and the image size the same. Something funny happened here with my body copy but I didn't notice that until later, it would've been because I was editing paragraph styles.

Title point size decreased. I tried putting the subheading above the title, as well as added page numbers. This definitely didn't work! I also made the image shorter to fit on the same row as the rest of my flow lines.

I tried pulling everything down again to give room to the page number and the page information (not sure what the real word is for this). Title black again as I was finding the grey to be less effective as the point size got smaller. The subheading is also a bit squished into the title in my opinion. I also fixed up my body copy paragraph style to add manual space dimensions in between paragraphs. I gave them 2mm but looking at it now, maybe it could do with being 3mm.

Utilised the same system as above for the Futura spread here. Not really enjoying the random white space at the top of the page above the title, but I think it works on the second page. This layout would work without the rule on the title I think, because that it what makes the blank space above it seem really boxed in. I asked Timmy which he liked best out of this system, and the one above where the title is at the top, and he said the one at the top. I'm a bit torn myself, I think I like having the title lower but both Fay and Timmy have recommended the top of the page and they are the experts.

I printed these two spreads at the end of class, because I couldn't decide on the black or the grey. If I continue with this layout, I think it'll have to be the black because it acts like an anchor for the eye to start with, the grey just gets lost in all that white space. The black isn't as distracting anymore now that the type is smaller as well, so I don't think that's an issue. 

I really just don't feel like this layout is working for me though. The white space feels really uncomfortable, clumsy and awkward, whereas I want it to feel purposeful and dynamic. It's not doing anything to elevate the look of the page. I actually think I might keep playing around with having the title lower because as much as Timmy and Fay say this one looks the best, it just doesn't sit right with me. I can't recall any book I've seen with the white space in that particular area, which is a clue that it isn't the right direction for me.

This is where I got up to with the design of the first essay in class. I really was not expecting there to be that much text! Having the title at the top of the page definitely works for this sort of thing as it leaves more room for the text to fill.

Independent Study

I went back to the lower title that I had before because I just couldn't get the other style to sit right with me. I really like the look of these ones.

It was super easy to then apply my system to this Blackletter page.

Essay pages. This is the first spread.

I have 3 options for the second spread for this essay. This one is just text and the biography.

This one has an image and a caption down the bottom of the page.

This one has the image and caption at the top. I think I'l print this version out for the interim because the image breaks up the text too much in the spread above.

Introduction. I have two spreads for this as well. The first isn't exactly the same as my typeface spreads but it still follows the same hanglines.

The second is the exact same layout as the typeface spreads. I'm going to print the one above because I think it'll be nice variation of layout for my book, and it's also best to have the text underneath the title for this one I think.

Section openers. I haven't done anything crazy here.

I'm going to print this one (below) because I like how the type colours stay the same as the type on the other layouts.

Glossary spreads. Spread one is feeling a little clunky. It's not too bad though as you can easily read all the text and find what you're looking for easily because of the bigger point size.

I think this spread is more streamlined and professional. I put a red page next to it as I think this spread will be one of the last in the book, and it kind of acts like a section closer. This is the one I'm printing.