As a way of enforcing the design theory that we have learnt our current lecturer set us the task of creating a double page magazine layout. We could select our own designer and using an extract from an interview build up a graphic spread on a CAD software like Illustrator. The designer I picked was Anthony Burrill, with a feature interview to be placed in print magazine as it is a digital and physical publication about whats going on in the graphic design scene.
From this I selected one and did a few iterations playing around with scale and ratios until I landed on my final paper draft, shown below. Using colour coding I’ve split up the elements making it easier for me to use as a basic map when going online and creating my layout .
After this I moved onto using illustrator software to create my layout. The photo gallery below documents me setting up my page, experimenting with composition and my final draft before I put text in.
In this magazine layout I have included a section of an interview taken from the smashing magazine, which I have laid out in a asymmetrical fashion to create form on an otherwise empty space.
With this design I tried to focus on how the eye would move across the page, so I know the title will be seen first and then most will glance at the pictures. So to draw attention to the bulk of the text I added in a graphic lilac element that drags the eye diagonally across the page towards it. By adding a quote in a bigger and bolder font on this line I’ve attempted to create an interest towards the rest of the article, by giving a morsel of the interview in a bitesize quick to read chunk.
The layout itself was an alright task as during tutorials we had been given all the theory we needed to create a successful outcome, the difficulty came when getting to grips with the software. Through the use of online video tutorials I worked out how to achieve the outcome I wanted to my satisfaction but, if I was to redo this brief I would want to play with different layers more, and how the graphic elements could play into that.
Kirsty baker 