Magazine Presentations
For my first few spreads I have chosen them from the magazine Grafik. The company Sea has designed the overall magazine layout.
The first spread is an article about a couple’s exhibition. There is a lot of imagery to display and I like the way the designer has done this without making the page too cluttered. The spread consists of small and large imagery, which has big imagery centered in the middle and smaller images around the side of it. This works because you are first drawn to the big imagery and then your eye wonders to the smaller imagery next to it. It has been nicely laid out with 3mm spacing between each image. The paragraphs columns of text are at the bottom of the page. I like how the designer has created the headings. The headings have the top line in bold and the bottom in regular, and it is aligned the left of a column with a big indent space surrounding it. I think the reason that they have done this is to create a good amount of space from the heading to the paragraph content. The viewer will now find it easier to read.
The second spread that I have chosen is a spread about a content of a book. The style of the layout is similar to the previous spread. There is big imagery placed in the 3 corners of the page with the fourth corner left for the paragraph content. The font size in this spread is 12 while the other spread was 10. I think the reason for this is because that this spread has bigger paragraphs and while the other spread, which was 10, has only 10. All imagery still has the 3mm spacing between them, which makes it look really nicely laid out. The font used for this spread and the previous one looks to me like Gothic Century.
The third spread is about typefaces. The background colour of this spread is a light pastel green, which really works well against the boldness of the paragraph content and the letter u. The letter u is spread across the right hand side of the page, it is bold and in the font Firmin Didot. The left hand side of the page has a wide paragraph column and the type is in bold. The heading is below the paragraph content and most of it is bold as well. The reason it has been laid out this way adds balance to the page. On one side you have the form of the letter u which counter balances the boldness of the paragraph and some of the boldness of the paragraphs headings. I think this spread works really well, because it is such a simple layout.
The fourth spread is from the publication “icon”. The designers of this publication are Rob Timm and Emma Chiu. The spread is about the city of Shenzhen in China. The background of the spread is a picture of the city, which looks like it has been taken early in the morning because it has a layer of mist to it. The word Shenzhen has been laid across both pages in a very big type size. Underneath that there is a sub heading, which is in about 30-font size. Then there is a small paragraph underneath the sub heading which sits above one of the skyscrapers in the background picture. The overall layout of this spread has been designed around the background picture. The first letter of the heading at the top “Shenzhen” has the letter s curved around one of the skyscrapers it is in the thin typeface so that it blends in more with the background. The designer’s have made all of their decisions based around the background picture because it is the main focus of the spread.
The fifth spread is from the Eye publication, which is number 59, volume 15 of spring 2006. The designer of this issue of Eye is Jay Prynne. The spread that I have chosen’s article is about advertising and globalization. I really like the bright vibrant yellow background colour that the designer has chosen. It fits in well with all of the advertising poster images and creates a kind of a pop arty commercial feel to the whole spread, this is why I think the designer has chosen to use this colour. The yellow background doesn’t go to the edge of the page there is a 1cm white line around the spread. I think the reason that this has been done is so that the images can be placed to the corner edges of the yellow background with the white line around them, so it frames the whole spread.. The images of advertising posters from around the world are laid out mainly on the right hand side of the page and are equally spaced out with a 3mm gap between them. On the left hand side of the page is the paragraph content, which is quite a wide measuring 10.5 cm. Next to the paragraphs are to advertising poster images and one above the paragraph in the top left hand side corner. I think the reason the designer has made the decision to do this is to balance the content of the magazine with the space.
