Saturday, February 21, 2015
Project #??--Book Jacket Design
Here is a piece that I would like to include in my portfolio but forgot to bring to class for critique. Yes I know there are probably some typos but please ignore them for now =) This assignment was to recreate the jacket for the book Designing with Type. My idea was to use a refrigerator magnet theme for the letters to give a very "hands-on" feel. I used Illustrator to make the hands and colored letters, the rest is InDesign.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sam, this shows a strong concept, nice art, and a suggestion of an activity we all did as kids – moving type around on a surface. Some thoughts:
ReplyDelete1. Sometimes I find it helpful to look at the number of elements in my design, because often, pulling the separate elements together strengthens the shapes on the page and the resulting design. So I question the placement of “5th edition” in lower left. It appears to be so separate we miss it, yet the size of it indicates that it is important to the content. Where can it sit? Can it join the rest of the elements somehow that the hands are working with? I suspect you put it down there because the page balance needed something – which I’m sure it did. However, this might not be the way to activate that area of the page. I suggest you restyle that element so it fits up and into the central element.
What other illustrative elements could be added to the “scene” you are setting up with hands and movable type? Are we looking at the top of a desk, or a refrigerator door with magnetic letters? Giving us a hint at this might help you complete the illusion and activatte the lower left.
2. As I look at the finished title design (as it sits on back cover) I see that the word “type” could be larger in comparison to the word “with” which seems to extend down too far, beyond even the descenders of “type”. Enlarging these colorful letters within this arrangement would also help them sit more dramatically on the cover.
3. Dramatic – that’s a word that could help you rethink your color palette. The bright yellow words “designing” and “with” and “5th” dominate the cover – but I suspect you actually want us to see the word ‘type” first. Yes? If so, then the problem lies with the lack of contrast between “type” and the background. Maybe this mid-tone bright blue isn’t the best color back there? Background colors should serve the foreground elements by adding contrast, environment, and support. I suggest you experiment a bit with the values (light and dark greys) in your cover to determine what makes most sense. Then add color with those values.
4. Back cover – love the falling lines of type that are being pushed back up by the hand. Are you starting the text type a bit high on the page? I had suggested you enlarge the word “type” in your title element, which will make it even more important to give it negative space. Another direction that the hand could be coming from, is the bottom and not the side (this might help give you some options with the columns of text type)
The flap title “About the Authors” doesn’t fit into its spot as well as it could because it seems to crowd the photo and also leaves trapped negative space below, and to left, of the photo. Consider breaking the title into 3 lines rather than 2.
Hope this helps.
I love your playful concept, Sam. The introduction of the hands, and the work they are doing to arrange the type, is a great illustration of how graphic designers move and adjust type and the fun we all used to have with magnetic type. Coni's got some great comments as well, regarding the "5" in the lower left on the cover and making the word "type" larger.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderfully colorful and playful piece. The only suggestion I would add is to make Irene Scala's name flush right in the "About the Authors" panel, since James Craig's name is flush left.
ReplyDeleteI think the concept of hands moving the type around is great. As said above reminds me of refrigerator magnets.
ReplyDelete