I really like the design personality of this Chapter Opener. Because this is a typography class, I see how the type took center stage and was well executed. If you took the images away, the typography of this piece is very strong. In this case the designer chose to have the images support the type. Overall he text was organized well. The backdrop photo was dramatic and yet allowed the type to stand out. The timeline was easy to navigate and relayed the information well. The only thing I would like the designer to do is play around with the placement of both the Essential Question and the Focus in Writing text. It feels a little like an afterthought where it’s placed.
The 2nd spread could use a bit more refinement. The Boxed text, bulleted text, and the A heads feel clunky. The 3 col grid looks awkward. This reads and feels more like a magazine then a text book. The fonts should be more refined overall. Try taking down the body text to a smaller type size, 11/13 or 10/12. Use a 2-col grid with a minor col. Explore other fonts that could help compliment the main heads. The difficulty with doing a design that is all San Serif is you need to select fonts that can give you a variation and yet compliment each other. -- The lead in text is placed in an awkward box. This is important and should be secondary to the title. The reader should be able to get the gist of the chapter by reading that chunk. The bulleted text is the least important on this page. I’m not sure what that chunk really means. The A heads feel clunky and it has to do with the narrow columns.
For the digital screens, the most successful screens were the ones that had the Chapter openers and the timeline. The Chapter menu screens (1st screen), the fonts can be taken down in size. Again this feels clunky.
The other screens showing the interior pages have design issues as relayed in my comments about the 2nd spread of the printed piece.
I really like the design personality of this Chapter Opener. Because this is a typography class, I see how the type took center stage and was well executed. If you took the images away, the typography of this piece is very strong. In this case the designer chose to have the images support the type. Overall he text was organized well. The backdrop photo was dramatic and yet allowed the type to stand out. The timeline was easy to navigate and relayed the information well. The only thing I would like the designer to do is play around with the placement of both the Essential Question and the Focus in Writing text. It feels a little like an afterthought where it’s placed.
ReplyDeleteThe 2nd spread could use a bit more refinement. The Boxed text, bulleted text, and the A heads feel clunky. The 3 col grid looks awkward. This reads and feels more like a magazine then a text book. The fonts should be more refined overall. Try taking down the body text to a smaller type size, 11/13 or 10/12. Use a 2-col grid with a minor col. Explore other fonts that could help compliment the main heads. The difficulty with doing a design that is all San Serif is you need to select fonts that can give you a variation and yet compliment each other. -- The lead in text is placed in an awkward box. This is important and should be secondary to the title. The reader should be able to get the gist of the chapter by reading that chunk. The bulleted text is the least important on this page. I’m not sure what that chunk really means. The A heads feel clunky and it has to do with the narrow columns.
For the digital screens, the most successful screens were the ones that had the Chapter openers and the timeline. The Chapter menu screens (1st screen), the fonts can be taken down in size. Again this feels clunky.
The other screens showing the interior pages have design issues as relayed in my comments about the 2nd spread of the printed piece.