I'll start by saying, I'm not the most computer savvy. Hence, as to why my page is blurry in comparison to my fellow classmates' blogs. So, when designing my inside page I decided as a rookie at InDesign I would keep it clean and simple. I figured that if I divided a page into half, I could neatly fit two stories in no problem. I added adjacent pictures, one at the top right and one at the center left to give the page some sort of fluidity.
I had orginally planned on adding two pictures to the dog story, but the second picture took away from the text. So, I ditched the second picture, and decided to pull a quote out from the story and highlight in red. This, I had hoped, would add a little 'sizzle' to a page I otherwise thought fizzled everywhere else.
To make my page design less boring, I chose stories that had pictures people would be drawn to. I figured if my page design was blah, at least the pictures would add interest. I also decided to add blue text and headlines so that my page would be a little more aesthically pleasing.
While my page is not the most innovative or visually appeasing, it's easy to follow and organized. Although I may have 'bashed' my work in the above paragraphs, overall, I am happy that I managed to make a clean design. I liked the size of the pictures, the space between cutlines and the space in between texts. I see nothing terrible with my design, and I'm just excited it turned out as clean as it did. In fact, my simplistic design mimics some layout pages I found on the internet. Looks like simplicity is actually key.
Of course, if I had more time, I would most definitely make changes. For one, I noticed that the space in between the headline and the 'The Scoop" is a little crowded. I would have liked to add more stories, more pictures and different fonts for headlines. I saw on Rene Smith's page she added a subheadline, "Sytle and Entertainment" before the rest of her page and I think this really added visual interest to her design.
With time and experience on INdesign, I would love to make visually stimulating designs like the ones displayed on smashingmagazine.com. I love the pop-out images and the colors these designers added to make their layouts stand apart from the rest of the crowd.
However, for now I'll stick to what I know. Which is essentially to keep it simple and comprehensible.
I agree with you in your comment that your page is easy to follow and organized. Not adding a third picture was definitely a good move; your page might have looked too crowded otherwise. On my page, I felt like I was trying to force pictures in, and my final design was worse for it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really like your use of color. I think it nicely complements the "colorful" stories (apparently no one can resist cute animals). It definitely does add "sizzle" to the page. Having the quote in color too underscores the message of the article and makes your page more appealing overall. I would put it though in a more prominent position, like between the two columns or in some kind of box. Granted, that might be tough as an InDesign rookie (I'm one as well-- I'm sure I couldn't figure that out), but I think it'd look cool.
-Michael