KRISTIN’S BACK WITH ANOTHER Harry Potter page, this one coinciding with the recent release of the latest Harry Potter film.
FROM KRISTIN: “I’m a Harry Potter fan, so when my editor gave me this assignment I was gleeful. I Photoshopped the background and used cutouts to set the Potter mood. The top article is our staff writer’s story on his trip to London and looking for all the Harry Potter scenes from the films. The bottom is an article about the movie itself. Wanted to see what you thought. Let me hear it!”
FROM ED: I like it! A lot!
1. The positioning of the visuals is nicely done.
2. Nice use of the Harry Potter typeface here, in the headline and the drop cap. But remember: Ed. Does. Not. Like. Funky. Fonts. Despite that, it works here.
3. I’d have taken the time and trouble to rid myself of the white outline around the top of Harry’s right shoulder and left lapel.
4. The runaround on Harry’s head is too tight for me.
5. I like the background. It adds depth to the package.
6. Does anyone you work with (managers, other editors) ever give you a hard time about placing elements over the section name? I’m no purist on this point, but I know others can be. Just curious.
Overall, a really nice page. Let’s see what others say!
Thanks Ed for the criticisms. To answer your question, yes, my publisher and editor pretty much give me free reign on most of my designs. Being the lead designer helps a bit too. That doesn’t mean that I throw everything out the window. It just means I can stretch my limitations on occasion.
This is a great page. I agree with Ed that the background is perfect – it adds to the page but doesn’t confuse things any. The clipping on Harry jumped out at me. With the advances in Photoshop, it’s really easy to cut out a pic. Do you have PS CS3 or later? The quick selection tool makes quick work of clipping pics, unlike the old days when you had to use the magic wand and lasso tools. And the placement of Voldemort is perfect. The page tells the story.
Great page! I really enjoyed it.
I think it looks great! Very nice! Some people at the Peoria Journal Star and even some on my staff at TimesNewspapers have put images over the newspaper’s name. I can’t get used to that.
Wow. I think you should get past that! A suggestion: try it yourself on a page you do soon. It’ll do you some good to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Love the page. However, I would have messed with the runarounds more to be more consistent – they are VERY important to the flow of the copy and should be consistent … and have elbow room AND the same amount of elbow room. The runaround around Harry’s head and the area where the picture/cap/headline meet his lapel is too tight. Sometimes you just have to force the copy with hand-drawn boxes – runaround parameters in your layout program don’t always get you what you want.
The white border around Harry is totally distracting to me – what’s with that? And the color density of Harry’s trousers and even his hand looks washed out … that’s distracting also. Looks like you could have punched up the contrast using a Pshop mask … ultimately it would be less distracting and potentially something that would not take away from your design.
The only other thing that bothers me (and this is really nitty) is the poofs of gray clouds around the outside. They all enter at about the same place and extend into the layout about the same amount. I think the poof should have been a bit more random and more diverse in size, with some of them extending well into the layout for a more realistic effect.
An awesome page that could have been awesomer … It’s all in the details…
Wow… as a whole, this is a very impressive package.
Very cool!
Another awesome page Kristin. In this case, the “funky” font is totally appropriate since that’s the typeface used in the Harry Potter movies, books and even the new ride at Universal Studios. The page is designed for Harry Potter fans (or anyone curious about Harry Potter), so I like the font treatment!