Week 5

Magazine layouts

Ebola DPS

I chose to play on the fear factor of the Ebola virus by choosing photos where healthcare workers look particularly alien-like. I converted the photos to black and white and cropped them to cut out the background to look more imposing. The word Ebola was spelled out in a scientific style typeface to reflect the medical issue and I made it oversized to be the dominant feature. I used a grid but then rotated it to the diagonal to give it a more dynamic appearance. Making Ebola the first word of each body copy text block, and making the E a drop cap, further emphasises the word.

Sportsperson DPS

I looked for a dynamic image full of movement which had a plain background that I could easily remove so I could wrap text around it. I chose to make the image the main feature and positioned it so the bottom ski was off the page to enhance the perception of movement. The red block underneath the skiier and text reflects the dangerous sport and draws the eye to the skier's jacket. I added page numbers and author in the margins.

Architecture DPS

I wanted to reflect the nature of the high rise buildings in the city of London by putting my text in tall thin columns, some with a grey background, stressing the vertical movement of city offices. I converted all but the main image to black and white and stacked or cropped them to reflect the surrounding architecture. I kept the main image in colour to show its important in the hierarchy. I used a small grid to allow for the large number of pictures but still allowing plenty of white space around the design. The black rule represents ground level. I chose to make the page numbers a feature as a lot of architectural practices seem to adopt this approach.

London Fashion Week DPS

For this spread I wanted a non-catwalk shot and chose this for it's colours and contrast and the expressions on the women's faces.  The image was cropped in half, and positioned on the recto, because this is the first page that is looked at when leafing through a magazine, but also their gaze is off to the right.  The background to the heading is the same colour as the clothing.  I chose to flush right the heading and subhead so they lined up nicely with the image leaving no white gaps. The taupe box behind the head bleeds to the left to look more dynamic.

Alpine trees DPS

The landscape dictated a horizontal stress for the image, and I placed the 2" wide white band above the trees with space for the heading at the top.  I placed the columns of text to the right to balance the taller trees on the left and allow me to use the blue sky as the background.  However, I'm not very inspired by this layout.  Perhaps the font selections are not very well thought out.

Shadow puppets DPS

I decided to go for something more unusual than the black and white imagery of the traditional shadow puppets.  I selected this image because there was plenty of space around the subject to allow text to be placed on it, linking it with the other text boxes on the page.  I chose a "scary" looking font for the heading and continued the orange colour theme behind the last two text boxes to encourage the reader to turn the page.  The orange elements were kept in a diagonal line for movement.