A blog for the summer 2016 NEiA Advanced Layout class with instructor, Coni Porter. The purpose is to offer faculty and peer feedback in a timely manner, allowing and encouraging the students to progress in a focused and productive way.
Sarah, I love the layout of your brochure, that corner that will be cut is interesting. Maybe you could put something on the panel that you will see when the brochure is closed? Just a thought. The type at the bottom that says "The technology that makes most magazines and catalogs possible..." I would take out the word "most" because you're trying to sell your business to people that want these kind of things done. Regardless of if you will be able to do their job, they will still come to you in order to see if you can. I would also change that orange color to something else, it stands out but there really isn't anything else in your brochure with that color so it kind of looks out of place. Great job so far!
Cover: Nice angled design. I wonder if the words “Offset Distinct Print” could be a bit larger, so the “t” in Print aligns with the downstroke of the “P” in ODP? (I’m always looking for opportunities to align design elements). This will also create a sturdier foundation for that large logo to sit on.
Back cover: We seem to see a new color here, not used anywhere else in the brochure: the light blue for the logo. It is often not a good idea to do something different… on the last page. So… because you are successfully creating the focal point with this blue on this panel, where else can you use this same blue earlier in the brochure? Read on…
Inside panels: the red at the bottom here will probably not print well, and already I can see that the red against blue background is creating some distracting vibration. So… why not use the light blue here?
I feel like the margin that travels around the edge of each panels is very small – really too small. Have you printed this and folded it down to see how close your live area is to the edge? In some places I can see that the body copy is almost touching the fold. Bad plan… add more negative space along the edges of all your panels (even the middle panel) and on either side of your folds. This will relax the layout a bit. It may mean you need to cut copy… although your body copy appears to be quite bold. Consider using a regular or light version (if it is readable) and that might help by pulling up a few lines. Whatever you can do to add that negative space will be well worth it.
The headline at bottom that travels across the folds – add an extra space between “most” and “Magazines” to give it a bit more area over the fold, and then pull “and” to right away from the fold.
Fold-in Panel – when folded in, this panel must work compositionally with the first inside panel (which will sit to the left of this one). Do they work together well now? To check, I often pull down the design of the inside panel to temporarily sit next to the other… and design them in that manner before pulling returning that panel back to where it belongs.
That’s it, feel free to repost this after some changes. PS - I agree with Nichole about rewriting that headine.
Coni - yes you were right about the fodl-in Panel... and I fixed it. the logo I wont make any change because it is already on stationary but I will consider your opinion for the portfolio class
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI love the layout of your brochure, that corner that will be cut is interesting. Maybe you could put something on the panel that you will see when the brochure is closed? Just a thought. The type at the bottom that says "The technology that makes most magazines and catalogs possible..." I would take out the word "most" because you're trying to sell your business to people that want these kind of things done. Regardless of if you will be able to do their job, they will still come to you in order to see if you can. I would also change that orange color to something else, it stands out but there really isn't anything else in your brochure with that color so it kind of looks out of place. Great job so far!
Thank you Nicole, I think you are right about the orange color. I will change it to light blue or white. Thanks
DeleteSarah – some things to think about:
ReplyDeleteCover: Nice angled design. I wonder if the words “Offset Distinct Print” could be a bit larger, so the “t” in Print aligns with the downstroke of the “P” in ODP? (I’m always looking for opportunities to align design elements). This will also create a sturdier foundation for that large logo to sit on.
Back cover: We seem to see a new color here, not used anywhere else in the brochure: the light blue for the logo. It is often not a good idea to do something different… on the last page. So… because you are successfully creating the focal point with this blue on this panel, where else can you use this same blue earlier in the brochure? Read on…
Inside panels: the red at the bottom here will probably not print well, and already I can see that the red against blue background is creating some distracting vibration. So… why not use the light blue here?
I feel like the margin that travels around the edge of each panels is very small – really too small. Have you printed this and folded it down to see how close your live area is to the edge? In some places I can see that the body copy is almost touching the fold. Bad plan… add more negative space along the edges of all your panels (even the middle panel) and on either side of your folds. This will relax the layout a bit. It may mean you need to cut copy… although your body copy appears to be quite bold. Consider using a regular or light version (if it is readable) and that might help by pulling up a few lines. Whatever you can do to add that negative space will be well worth it.
The headline at bottom that travels across the folds – add an extra space between “most” and “Magazines” to give it a bit more area over the fold, and then pull “and” to right away from the fold.
Fold-in Panel – when folded in, this panel must work compositionally with the first inside panel (which will sit to the left of this one). Do they work together well now? To check, I often pull down the design of the inside panel to temporarily sit next to the other… and design them in that manner before pulling returning that panel back to where it belongs.
That’s it, feel free to repost this after some changes. PS - I agree with Nichole about rewriting that headine.
Coni - yes you were right about the fodl-in Panel... and I fixed it. the logo I wont make any change because it is already on stationary but I will consider your opinion for the portfolio class
ReplyDelete