In Design Brief

Feedback from first crit

I was in a crit group with Sophie, Baljeet, Kirsty A and Kirsty H. I also got some feedback from Lorenzo. Here are the points from this crit:

-Check spellings and grammar

-Consider layout of text, get rid of widows (one word in a line)

-Expand the margin on the right page, and make sure the layout of text works, as at the moment one column ends with 'and' and the right one begins with 'and' which doesn't look right

-The CMYK colour scheme layout was preferred to the black and white one, and the image on this page was also preferred

-Get rid of the centre line as you wouldn't find this in a real magazine

-Try three columns of text instead of two

-Try block coloured background

-Un-check hyphenations on In Design as hyphenated words don't look good

-Good use of negative space, keeps article simple and effective

-Try different fonts

Also consider the general points made in the type and grid sessions, such as:

-Think about trying the headings and completely different sizes, weights and fonts

-Try more informal designs

-Try aligning things diagonally, and be more experimental with designs

-Re-consider the hierarchy of what is on the page

-I should look at other magazines and find layouts that I like, and question why I like it and then try out that layout with my own designs, to test what works and what doesn't.

Final piece

Evaluation

I have struggled with learning how to use In Design more than with any software induction we have had as it something I was really not familiar with, however, I think it will probably be one of the most useful pieces of software I have learnt, and I wish I had learnt how to use it earlier. I have also really enjoyed the type and grid sessions with Lorenzo; my favourite part of all this is drawing out different layout designs by hand. Before learning about magazine layouts, it wasn't something I would have thought that I would have been that interested in but now I would definitely like to do it again in future projects as I've really enjoyed it. The hardest part was making things look sophisticated in In Design, so it looked like a real magazine, but after trying out what I learnt in the induction as well as trial and error, I feel a lot happier. Some of the issues with my article that Lorenzo pointed out like how widows and hyphenations don't look good, or how one column ended with 'and' and then the other began with 'and', I don't think I would have noticed these unless they were pointed out, but now I know to always consider how the text looks. I still think that I have a lot more to learn with In Design but I am really pleased with what I have learnt up to now.