KRISTIN’S LIKING the feedback she’s getting here, so she’s decided to throw a couple more pages our way. It’s been a busy week for me, so it took me a few days to post these.
From Kristin’s note:
“I liked the feedback from my last page. So I’m going to send you these two pages I designed this past Sunday. To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed in both. If I had more time, I think I would have done each a little more differently.
“For ‘Keeping Time,’ I used a stock photo of a clock on parchment paper for a background to give it an old-timey feel. I used one of the clocks as a cutout because the actual picture was kind of drab. I liked the typography with the headline but towards the bottom it loses something. (It might be because my editor wanted the entire story to stay on the front) Or is it something else?
“For ‘Harry Potter,’ I really liked the design. The only thing I would now change is to make Harry come all the way to the bottom instead of having him come halfway down the page. For the head, I took a picture of the Harry Potter book I had at home and then cut the title out. Is that cheating?
Love feedback, but again . . . be nice.”
So, let’s hear it, folks!
I’m a strong believer in never being afraid to try something. Even if it turns out looking horrible, you learn from it. That’s not to say what you have here is horrible by any means. I’m just saying taking a chance on a design can be a good thing … and some times a bad thing.
I love designs that “pop out” of the frame, if you will. Anytime I can make a cutout go onto a different part of the page (the header, a part of another story, etc.), I do because it just draws you in that much more. Of course, like anything, too much of something is a bad thing. Do it too often and it loses its magic.
With all that said, I wasn’t wild about the clock page. There’s a lot of wasted space there and the clock on the parchment in the background makes it look a little cramped. I love the clock in the top left corner, though. The Harry Potter page, for the most part is really nice. Using the “Harry Potter” font I thought was a nice touch. The only thing that scares me about this page is the reverse type in your column. It’s been my experience that reverse type can be a bad thing, especially if the printer isn’t lined up properly (makes it difficult to read, etc.). I would perhaps think about using a lighter color and black font or boxing the column in.
One final question, is it standard policy to center headlines at your paper or is it a design choice? You’re doing some excellent work. Keep it up!
I totally agree with you on the clock page. Mainly the result of snap-decision design work. I believe I put it together in a little over an hour, and it looks it. Same with the “Harry Potter” page, too little time to pound out a decent design. I agree with the reverse type and the use of it also. Sometimes it can be used with great impact, here I just wanted to balance the page on the left since the right was top heavy with “Harry.”
To answer your question on “centered headlines.” Only feature pages (Food, Health, Magazine, ect . . .) are allowed to use them. Well, 1A centerpieces have them as well, but technically, they are 1A features. I like having the flexibility to create whatever I need for a particular design. Sometimes they are right, sometimes left, and on occasion “out of character.” I try to mix it up a little when I can.
Thanks for the comments. Keep them coming. :-)