the brief
To increase our knowledge of page layouts and publishing techniques, we were given the task of designing the layout of an article and an Ipad page inspired by it.
To begin this project, i set about deciding what type of article I was going to redesign. At first I looked at articles surrounding sustainable design – but found that I was not motivated or totally interested in the topic. I decided that it would be most beneficial for me to design a gaming article as I have always been interested in the subject.
Now knowing my theme, I collected examples of gaming articles and analysed their structure, layout and overall ‘style’:
In this specific piece, I found it visually easy to read as the text has a white background, yet also overlaps onto the image – unifying the page. I also clearly understood the hierarchy of text due to size, weight and capitalisation.
My design
Now that I knew what article I was going to create a design for, I read it numerous times to gain a thorough understanding of the content and purpose of the source. Before I could think about the visual elements of my design, I created a six column structure as it allowed me more creative freedom to align and shape the page how I wanted to. I also created aysmmetric margins, allowing the inner seam more space – avoiding unreadable text.
Having a working structure, I realised that an interesting and informative part of the text spoke about a game called ‘Journey’ – so I decided to use an image of the game for the background.
I had noticed that many articles on gaming used one large image to create an exciting and energetic style – so I attempted to do the same. Using inverted and bold text, I added the title, pull quote and body text to the article. I then aligned concept art of a fantasy world to the left of the body text to add more visual understanding of the article’s ideas.
After careful reflection and analysis of my first draft, I noticed various things that I felt could be revisited. Firstly, I felt that the concept art image did not relate to the text enough, and the article did not require it. I also felt that the background image may be more effective if it was ‘passepartout’ instead of fully bleeding off the page.
I redesigned my article and became a lot more satisfied with how it looked:
- The body text is much clearer as it stands out against the white and has more white space around it – ‘space to breathe’.
- The extract on Jenkins report becomes more important as it is italic and is positioned in the top left of the page.
- The image is now a feature within the page which holds its own importance, whereas in the old design it was hidden behind text and image.
I am especially happy with my title. Changing the kerning, scale and override to make a much more interesting and unique font type.
Ipad layout
Since I had my article finished and ready for submission, I began converting aspects of it into an Ipad layout. I wanted the page to be clear and spacious, making the text the most important aspect and to create a more calm reading experience.
- I cropped the image I used in my article heavily, – only leaving the sky of the desert visible so that I could use it for the
header of the page. - Next, I edited the title of the article so that the override was not so large (decreasing the space between each line) and I reduced its size so the text itself was not so large and overpowering.
- Finally, I imported the body text and increased the width of the box to align with the title and column borders, as my Ipad structure only has one column.
Article – file:///C:/Users/Kyle%20Smith/Desktop/Picture,%20Symbol,%20Icon/Article/Final%20Article.pdf
Ipad – file:///C:/Users/Kyle%20Smith/Desktop/Picture,%20Symbol,%20Icon/Article/Final%20Ipad.pdf