InDesign Development - Part 2

Considered colour, placement of text and the use of imagery in these experiments.  I decided to display the story over both pages and reverse it out when overlaying the picture of Isaac.  It brought the two pages together and prevented them from looking separate.  It also made room for the other image to be placed, which I cropped down to the essentials.

InDesign Development

My initial development was focused around where the body copy would go, and what would complement the title the best.  I decided to place the title on the bottom of the page and line up the text with it to give visual harmony.  I'm not sure about the red on the author's name though, I think it stands out way too much.

Grids & Layouts With Lorenzo - Week 2

After doing the layouts, Lorenzo's main criticism was the use of only one pen.  He described it as going down to the car mechanics and for him to only use a screwdriver.  I will take this on board, and went over my layouts with a thicker pen for the headlines and opening paragraphs.

Layouts with Lorenzo - First Week

These are the original magazines I brought in for the session with Lorenzo.  He said they didn't really have anything strong going for them, especially the horse magazine, and that I should consider changing the magazines that I use.

In Design Week 2

More notes:

• If you're working with transparency (no background) in photoshop, the PSD will still keep the effect in the InDesign work.
• The transparency can be used in the text wrapping - set the Contour Options to the Alpha Channel.

InDesign Workshop Notes

Notes taken from the workshop:

• The document size must be the dimensions of the final, trimmed piece
• Bleed allows for the image to be printed outside the trimming area, preventing any white marks when trimming down the final print.
• The standard bleed margin is 3mm.
• Printers marks are printed in the slug area of the document.
• Facing pages allow the user to see the opposite page when working on a book document.

In-document:

• Black line is the edge of the document, where it will be trimmed.
• Blue lines are the guides in the document.
• The red guide is the bleed area.
• Every single item in the program has to be contained in a frame.
• Use the frame to flow the text.
• 'W' on the keyboard brings up a print preview.

Images in InDesign:

• All images will be prepared in other programs. (Photoshop, Illustrator etc.)
• The file format used should be a TIFF, PSD or AI.
• PSD files don't have to be flattened.
• Colour mode should be CMYK or Greyscale.
• All images should be 300dpi.
• Prepare the image the exact size it needs to be in the InDesign document.
• All images are displayed in a low resolution format - they are not true to the actual document.
• Working in one folder will keep everything together and prevent losing any linked images.

In Design - The Interview

After receiving the 'IN DESIGN. Workshop briefing.' brief, I was paired with Lisa Whitaker.  The task is to create a double page spread based upon them.  After a good half hour talk, I made these notes:

• Lisa is from Bolton.
• Very family orientated.
• Married to husband David.
• Two sons - Oliver aged 11 and Isaac aged 7.
• David teaches guitar for a living.
• As a result, the family is very musical.
• Both her sons play guitar.
• Oliver plays Rugby League.
• David likes football, supporting Oldham Athletic.
• As a result, Lisa watches football too.
• The family have a huge record collection, reflecting their musical interests.
• David owns 7 guitars.

Although a lot of these findings are based on her husband and children, they are based on her dedication to her family and are therefore a big part of her life.

Some notes on her design ethics:

• Favours the colour purple.
• Likes the 'heritage colours'.  Berrington Blue etc.
• Leans towards the neat, sans serif fonts, but has appreciation for the Psychadelic typefaces.