This is the inside page that I designed for our publication, The Scoop. I felt a little pressed for time, but overall think I did an okay job considering this course is the first time I have been introduced to InDesign.
My page is the dining section for The Scoop and I decided to have some fun with it. I came up with "Your Daily Taste of Athens" and decided to use it as a heading or label for the entire page. I also took the suggestion of Professor Parks to separate this title from the rest of the page with a line.
I decided to place the main image in the center and top of my page. This allows the image of downtown and The Grill to be the dominant element. I think this is important because it allows readers to have a main focus and also makes the page more symmetrical, which I personally prefer. One thing I would go back and change about the picture is the cutline. I think it is too close to the image and needs just a little white space. Other than that, I think my use of a pull quote in the center of the story is visually appealing, as well as informative. It gives the reader a quick glance at what the story might be about, even after they have read the headline. A front page that I like and displays my vision is done very well in The Washington Times.
As far as the other stories on the page, I have one full story and two that jump. I do think a picture of Ms. Sandra, possibly a mug shot, would have been a nice addition to TK's story. I could have placed it within the text and text wrapped around it.
Another element of design that I could have utilized is lines. I should have drawn lines in between the stories in order to differentiate them. I think it would have made for a cleaner presentation and possibly easier for people to read. On that note, I also should have put a box around the wine glass picture and text about the website. This front page from The Daily News Journal displays the use of boxes and lines that I think would have made my inside page stronger. The layout of this page is actually very similar to mine in terms of pictures, as well as story placement.
Overall, this was a challenge, but I did learn a lot about the importance of design and doing it well!
This is one of my favorite layouts. The dominant photo of The Grill is big and has great color. My attention was automatically drawn to that first.
ReplyDeleteThe section heading "Your Daily Taste of Athens" is creative as well. However, the articles on the left side don't really relate to dining. This is understandable of course because of the limited amount of stories available. It threw me off a little bit.
However, I really like that layout. The graphic at the bottom with the blog information is nice too. In my opinion, it intices the reader to actually read the blog. I was even tempted to do so but then I realized that the blog didn't really exist.
I agree that rulers would have been good to separate the stories, but it's still a winner with me.