COMPLETE BROCHURE AND RATIONALE

This week I have been checking over my brochure multiple times making any small changes needed. I have reached the point where my brochure is complete and I can't make any more changes, so i've had a final copy printed out at Ink digital. I chose 170 gloss paper as this seems like the paper most brochures use. It was also a good weight, no to thin and not too thick, so my brochure is sturdy. I am really happy with the end result, it looks quite professional and clean.

Rationale

From very early on I was keen on focusing on 3 areas in Wellington to walk your dog, but I kept an open mind for other ideas. Over time I realised this was the best choice of topic for me and stuck with it. My brochure conveys the perspective of a dog and the experience they have at each destination.
I have added in key icons to show the difference between the locations and used colour, shape and line to portray the atmosphere of each one. I have done my illustrations and layout, quite playfully and made sure to show the difference between each location. I found this whole process worked well when getting advice from tutors as they had a different perspective of things. Even though this might require me to change things, which could be a hassle and take a lot of time, it definitely improves my work and gives me an even better end result.

FINAL STAGES OF MY BROCHURE

After talking to the tutors I have received some feedback for small corrections I could make throughout my spreads. My brochure is looking more or less finished, although there could be other minor things I need to change.

I have moved some things around, like the pllacement of the dog at the very beginning to make room for me to adjust the title on the 'green belt' page as It was pointed out I needed to make the text more consistent with the other two destination spreads, as the text on these is all on one block. I have made a title for the map and changed the type faces to match my titles for the first two spreads. I have fixed up the illustrations aswell, making the line flow through both pages and adjusting them to make each destination spread similar but different. I have also adjusted my front and back cover, as mentioned in the previous post. 

REFINING FRONT AND BACK COVER

After the first class back after the mid term break, I continued to work on my front and back covers. The tutor suggested I make the front cover one whole picture, so it becomes less confusing to looks at and also workd better with the back cover. I also added the mandatory text we needed for the back cover and made this text consistent with the text on the front cover. I think these are starting to come along, I may need to make more changes but these are a big improvement from where i started.

FRONT AND BACK COVER MODIFIED

MID TERM BREAK

I have tried to improve my front and back cover, by making them look like a pair. I realised that they needed to flow together as they will be attached to each other. 

I made the picture on the back cover a similar shape as the front, but reversed, so they look more consistent. There is still more improvement needed but i think this works a little better then my previous idea. I will show these to the tutors and hopefully get some good advice to improve these further.

FRONT AND BACK COVER

MID TERM BREAK

I have been working on developing my front and back covers for my brochure. I was a bit stuck with ideas when it came to this but I managed to create something to show the tutors after the holidays.

Back cover

Front cover

There is definitely a lot of room for improvement with both of these, but I think I have done enough to show my intention.
I want to get the tutors feedback before I make any more changes.

CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT OF SPREADS

MID TERM BREAK

After the final class before mid term break, I had a talk with the tutors about my work so far and they gave me some good ideas for how to improve my spreads further. It was only down to small adjustments, but these will definitely make a big difference.

A main thing I needed to work on was my text layout, so I added in a line break to separate paragraphs and make it clearer for the reader to read. It was pointed out that the drop cap I had used previously was too eye catching, so I decided it was best to get rid of this all together. I also had too much spacing between some titles and paragraph bodies, like in my first two spreads. I got rid of the over rule as this wasn't really necessary. I changed the colour of my map as the tutor suggested it was too dark which didn't work with my theme.  I worked a lot on y line work in my destination spreads as it was suggested to have more variety especially in the 'Green Belt' spread. I focused a lot on making it smoother as well. I reduced the tone of the aeroplane in the 'Lyall Bay' spread as this was too bold. In my 'Oriental Bay' spread I added in some line work which helped portray the feeling of the place a bit more. I also improved my key, by adding what each part stood for. Overall i focused more on making my text the supporting element and my illustration the main element. I tried to think about the overall look of my brochure and making it easy for the reader to navigate. 

I've been working on my spreads throughout the holidays so far. I am at a stage where I can leave these how they are and move on to working on my front and back cover. 

IMPROVING SPREADS

In Mondays class this week, we printed out all of our spreads so far and looked at each others work, from our stream and also other streams. This session was helpful as I got feedback on my work and also got to see other peoples work, which helped for inspiration. The tutors told me I need to make my work more consistent, in terms of my Collums, text and layout, so i worked on this feedback throughout the week. I also worked on my 'Wellington' spread and 'Theme' spread and added in my key to my destination spreads.

I thought a lot about consistency when improving these spreads, for example, i chose to use two collums and have my text on the right side of the page. I tried to be consistent all throughout my pages, although it was difficult to keep the headers and subheadings the same because of the way my illustrations sit on the page. I thought about the placement of the key and tried to keep this in the left hand collum, but this was difficult for my 'Lyall Bay' spread. I found the Wellington and Theme spreads quite difficult because of the amount of text we were given but I managed to fit everything in without making it look to busy. I thought a lot about keeping them consistent with my other pages, by using two collums and having my text on the right, I also I focused a lot on alignment. I used paragraph styles all throughout my text to make everything more efficient and clean. There is definitely still room for improvement but I am a very happy with my progress from the last class.