Final design idea

Doodle Idea Design Development

Wanted to try and create a whole new aesthetic for the insert and thought about how I could use these 3D objects and digital manipulation with hand written text. Ended up creating simple drawn ideas straight on Photoshop and abandoning the 3D objects as this kept it more hand crafting and more tacky, similar to Steve Hockett. 

Drawing straight onto Photoshop however did not produce the best results and therefore I decided to produce the elements on paper with paint and ink and pens and to then put these through the programs to play around with layout and colour. Quickly created simple shapes and symbols that relate to the theme of the articles from Reductress I was looking at and these translated really well onto the screen alongside the text I made. Simple = best. 

Following this principle of simple symbols and a range of text made by hand, I put together two spreads of the insert. They have the illustrative and graphic mixed approach that I wanted to produce but fitting the text around these elements was a challenge. I did not spend much time on ensuring the text was very readable as I wanted to get the layout and aesthetic of the zine right for the crit, but for future spreads I need to pay more attention to kerning and the placement of the text. 

Feedback on developments:



Simon 

• Newsprint means you have to compromise in your designs: more simple, less colour 
• Energetic, dynamic: not simple black and white modern product
• Small, A6 publication for an insert. Smaller means vibrant colours can be used 
• Doesn't have to be glossy paper, just white 

Pat 

• Elements from the illustrations and paint texture around them to be put on all the pages for consistency and for texture and dimension. 
• Maybe just a block of text for the article on every page? Keep it simple?

Developments and creation of prototype:

Following the feedback I put bits of texture on each page taken from the painted elements scanned in and image traced which brought the designs together and created dimension on the page. I also really quickly made a front cover as I felt it was difficult to bring together the elements from every page into one design in a way that it would be consistent, and so keeping it simple I used the type from the main article 'UM' and 'ER' and repeated this in an interesting pattern. It has a slight reference to the tone of the article with the words and lack of rigid structure in the placing of the pattern, but is not the outcome  want to use for the end product, as it does not shout satirical nor feminist, important things to show. It also does not evoke a doodle style that I want, inspired by Steve Hockett, and doesn't involve any of the logo developments I designed nor the important symbol of the flower, so this will have to be redesigned. 

Group Crit 

- The body copy could be more interesting, perhaps the type could be slightly off to present how feminism is something that interrupts the norm. 

- Look at Fraser Muggerigde = Mega-Font 

- Like the flower symbol made out of rectangles and blocks. This could be used for front cover when changing it from the UMER idea. It is similar enough to the flower in the logo of Reductress that people could recognise it but it gives a modern abstract twist. 

- Think about adding in different coloured paper: 

1. Perhaps there is a piece of pink paper on the outside of the centre page = divided and seems less intentional 

2. Or maybe it's at the centre and it's something the reader can rip out into a mini poster. Perhaps a link to the blog such as the wesbite's URL or a large QR code. 

Problems with Prototype: 

- Need to remember how to put together a booklet form as the pages can get confusing

- Did not bind the mini magazine in a particularly interesting way (just glued it together quickly for crit) and so need to consider this for the future final outcome 

FEEDBACK ON PROTOTYPE 

Ben

• Needs more white space - elements are too closed together and its difficult for the reader to know where to look, hierarchy is not simple enough 
• Reduce text sizes (to readable size) and condense text into one column on some pages so there is space between the text and illustrations 
• Text could also be broken up around the illustrations (play around with rag) 
• Paper stock: 1. same colours used in magazine but different colour stock, would mean the colours change depending on paper, would be cheaper if it was lithograph printed 2. newsprint!! 3. Thinner paper so that each design bleeds through to show through on other sides?
• Could fake how the photocopier messes up alignments of images and text to create a more informal and playful aesthetic 
• Serif type needs to be used for article text for legibility and ease of reading it