For my inside page, I wanted to keep the layout and the design fairly simple. My approach to design tends to be one with organization and clean lines. I was debating on whether to add another visual element at the top with the header, but I decided to leave it out since I thought it would appear too squeezed-in and cluttered.The ideas of the header and the subheader came from the the Atlanta-Journal Constitution's Metro page. I like the idea of using a subheader here because it adds a little more detail and relevency to this page.
As for the photos, I originally had the bike photo placed on the left side of the page instead of the right. Realizing now that the the person in the photo is motioning towards the right, I should have kept the photo on the left side, so that he is "moving into the text" as shown in the The Daily News front page in which the girl is pointing directly to the text on the right. I wanted to add one more graphic element, so I chose the piggy bank, which I found to be appropriately placed with the thrift store article. The idea of adding this graphic was influenced by The Red and Black's use of small graphics, which are usually placed next to the jumpers on the bottom of the front page. I wanted to use a small graphic so that I could accommodate as much text as possible on the page.
I struggled mostly on the overall layout of the articles. All three articles were fairly long and I had to make several deletions and edits on all stories. Because the bike story came with a photo, I decided to place it on the top. I orginally had the organic food story on the left and the thrift store on the right, with the piggy bank wedged in the middle. I decided to the flip-flop the articles so that the thrift store text could wrap around the pig. I had also thought about placing the pig in the middle of a column in the thrift store article, which I had seen in several newspaper inside pages, but decided against it since I thought it interrupted the flow of the text.
Overall, I am satisfied with the this page. Design was definitely my favorite part of this lab.
I really like how you styled "Athens Living" on your page; I hope that, in the future, the newspaper design portion of the class involves the development of a more consistent aesthetic for each publication. Even something as simple as an italicized font can go a long way towards making a paper look slick and cohesive.
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteI really like what you did with this page. At the beginning of the post, you said that your approach to design was one of organization and clean lines, and I couldn't agree with you more! A page doesn't need a whole bunch of fancy pictures and graphics to look good (although it does help sometimes), and I feel like you did a good job of demonstrating that. If only my page came out looking as clean as yours.
Also, I think my biggest problem too was on the layout of the stories. The pictures are pretty easy to place because you know where you want them or where they should go, but then once you place text, you have to starting moving things around!
In the end, though, I think you settled on something that worked. Great job!
I love what you did with the Athens Living head. It clearly tells the reader exactly what to expect on the page without adding clutter.
ReplyDeleteMy one concern is the white space to the left of the piggy bank. It looks like it is partially due to the way the second column's words wrapped at the top but I think a slightly longer headline (if possible) could fill what looks like a large empty space.