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.

PLAYING AROUND ON INDESIGN

Today I have been playing around a lot with different layout on indesign, with spreads and also just text. I used my thumbnails for a guide when trying out formations. I thought a lot about negative space and visual flow. I also tried to play with scale a little, although this was a bit difficult as this caused the headers to take over the page which didn't quite work with my theme. I experimented with paragraph styles to create drop caps and indents in some parts.

I still need to work out what works best and what doesn't to ensure I can develop my final layout. Hopefully in class on Monday this will be somewhat resolved.

IMPROVING ILLUSTRATIONS

In preperation for Thursdays class, we had to develop more illustrations for our brochure. These are the 3 I settled on to bring to class. I thought more about the feedback I got last class and tried to create images that included more symbols and icons from each destination, as I needed to be clearer at showing where each destination was. I also thought about the feeling of each destination and tried to show this with the way i'd cut out each picture and the lines and shapes i've added.

Lyall Bay 

- a beach next to the airport. 

- freedom, fun. 

Green Belt

- Stretch of recreational forest.

- Relaxing, peaceful.

Oriental Parade

- a beach in the city.

- Vibrant, cheerful. 

These were pretty rough illustration and i knew i needed to fix them quite a lot before I finalised them. I got feedback from tutors which helped me out a lot. I took on the feedback for my 'Green Belt' illustration, that I mentioned in my previous post, and worked on an improved illustration. I did the same with my other two destinations and came up with 3 new and improved illustration.

Lyall Bay improved

Green Belt improved

Oriental Parade improved

I realised that my previous illustrations were quite flat on the page so I improved this by playing with scale and making the lines and shapes flow into the image a bit more. There is definitely still room for more improvement but I will work with these for now when continuing to the next process of text layout. I plan to make the illustrations flow when putting them on a spread, by carrying on parts of them, like lines, onto the other page.

MORE CLASS CRITIQUE

In todays class we got into groups with people who were doing similar topics to us and critiqued each others work. In preparation for this class we had to have made some more illustrations, and also play around with them on InDesign and make a draft of a spread. I used an idea from my thumbnail sketches and played around with that a bit, then put that with an illustration i'd developed for the 'Green Belt' 

This critique was really helpful as it let me know I was heading in the right direction. It also let me know what i needed to fix and what was working well. We had to pass each others work around and write a few key words we got from what we saw. For my spread, people wrote things like, relaxing, playful, and adventures for dogs, which I was very happy with as this was what I was trying to imply. I got some really good feedback for my illustration as well. Things like, trying out different scales with the images and making the wavy lines thinner and lighter to make them less obvious. I also think it would look a lot better if I carried the illustration throughout the first spread to make it look more put together. One of the tutors also mentioned how she like the paw prints and how this illustrated the dog was heading to this destination and then moving onto the next, which was the idea I was hoping would come across. Overall I was very happy with this critique and I will keep testing out different layouts and ideas, also with my other destinations too.

GRID THUMBNAILS

Week 3, Mondays lecture introduced us to grids. The next step for us is to start playing around with the placement of text and images on InDesign, with grids we learnt to make in the lecture. In the studio class we got given a sheet of grid thumbnails for us to sketch out possible layouts to try on InDesign.

This exercise really helped me, as I got a better understanding for how I might want to lay out my brochure. This also made it clearer to me, on for how I might go about adding in the paw prints, or illustrations I had the idea of doing. I have played around with a variety of different layouts so I have a lot to try out and see what works best for my theme.

CLASS CRITIQUE

Today was the beginning of week 3 and we started off the class by critiquing each others work. This helped me realise what designs were working more than others and also what I needed to do to improve them.



These designs in my opinion were the strongest. I like the simplicity of them and they portray 'running' and 'freedom' really clearly. The tutors agreed and thought the simplicity worked best.

In these designs, the tutors thought the use of line and shape worked really well, as they showed the use of 'index' and 'symbols'










Overall, they liked how I have used the dog as the main focus, and thought more about the perspective of the dog. They mentioned how I need to use more symbols or images of the actual place, so we can clearly identify where it is. I will focus more on this when I continue to refine my designs. I would also like to experiment a bit more with illustration and see of I can incorporate that in without making the collage too busy.

TESTING OUT COLLAGE AND ILLUSTRATION IDEAS

After Thursdays class in week 2, I realised I needed to think more about the feelings you get when you go to my destinations. I thought about adjectives and colours that describe each feeling, then drew lines and shapes that fit these feelings for each place. I also thought about this idea of 'the dogs perpective' when doing this.

This really influenced a lot of ideas for compositions and illustrations.

I begun by printing out images and physically drawing onto them. I thought this could make my brochure have a fun feel to it. I also was keen to experiment a bit with drawing. I liked the idea of cutting parts out and drawing them back in.

Using a black ink pen to create
an interesting texture.

I cut out some trees and drew

them back in with pencil.

I like the symbol of the paw

print and think I will continue 

incorperting this in. 

  

I then moved onto testing ideas on photoshop as I thought this would be an easier way to test many ideas quickly. I have been using Pinterest for inspiration as well. This is where I have gathered brochure examples and other designs to hep my ideas flow. I continued to think about the feeling of each place by referring to my lines and shapes drawn previously, then attempted to add these into my designs. I also thought more from the 'dogs perspective' when creating these collages and used the dog as the main focus.

Oriental Bay

Lyall Bay

Green Belt

Green Belt

EXPERIMENTING AND PLAYING AROUND

I decided to play around more with the image of the dog I have drawn previously. I tested out drawing the image with a few different techniques and mediums, like Sharpie, black pen and crayons. I also experimented with different thicknesses just to see how the image would look once id drawn it, like using a think white board marker. After drawing several ideas, I realised I liked the look of the loose, simple looking ones best. This was also reinforced after talking with the tutors in todays class and other people in class, as they think the top right image is too bold and angular, which I agree with as that doesn't fit with my theme very well. This means if I were to use this idea I would go with the simpler and loose drawings.

Images of a dog using several different styles.

I've also played around with cutting up images and arranging them in different ways. This idea was inspired from one of the brochure designs I uploaded in my first post. I will continue to experiment more with this idea. During todays class one of the tutors suggested I design my brochure based on the dogs perspective, which I thought would be a fun idea. Ill consider this idea more in my future work.

Experimenting with pictures from the Green Belt

Experimenting with  pictures from Oriental
Bay and Lyall Bay

MORE WORD ASSOCIATION AND SYMBOLS

I did the same thing as with the Green Belt and developed words and symbols with the same idea of, feelings, what you see and what you here.

Oriental Parade page from workbook.

Lyall Bay page from workbook.

GATHERING MORE PHOTOS

Lyall Bay Beach

After class on Monday I went to my other two sites and took photos of Poppet, running around and having fun.  I wanted to capture the feeling of freedom and happiness she experiences on this beach.

Close ups 

Socialising with other dogs

Running - shows freedom

Oriental Parade

Showing the scenery in background.

Captures the excitement and joy 

experienced by the dog as she is 

intruiged by the scenery

Next I went to Oriental Parade and managed to get plenty of photos of Poppet enjoying herself. This captures the vibrant and fun feel of walking your dog along Oriental Parade. I also came across other dogs and took a few photos of her interacting with them.

DRAWING

I had an idea from the first lesson, to have some drawn elements in my brochure, so i decided to take one of the photos i'd taken and sketch it out. I has the idea this image could be used all throughout my brochure, maybe drawn in different ways and mediums, so i will test out these different ways of drawing. 

Original Image.

Image drawn in pencil.