Assignment

Guys, finish up your templates. Tweak every detail.

For next week you get to choose one of the two assignments. Either design your first feature opener or 3 department spreads.

FEATURE OPENER GUIDELINES
Design your first feature opener as a spread. Think about the A-B-C layouts. Think of it as a mini poster. Design at least 20 layouts.

FEATURE OPENER INCLUDES:
- headline
- subhead
- by line
- image of your choice (illustration/ photography/ both)
- no text or little text

• Pay attention to layout, color and scale change, choice of image. This spread will reveal your personality, sense of taste, what you deliver when you run wild.
• Choose your swipe wisely. Remember that every art director is going to know if you choose a photo from a famous photographer. You want your art direction and design to be seen, not the famous photographers work. Choose a nice photo/illustration.
• Choose type nicely. Remember a feature opener consists of a headline, a subhead, a byline, and very few or no text type. Pick typefaces that are relevant to the story.
  
• Regarding your feature openers. Design a bunch of layouts, at least 20. If you work in Photoshop in 72- 100 dpi you could be able to make a lot of variations in no time... Change layout save as, change image save as, change typography. Print to size the ones you liked the best. Print all the other variations as well and bring to class.
• Look at SPD annuals for inspiration, see if you can spot the A-B -C layouts we discussed in class.
  

3 DEPARTMENT SPREADS GUIDELINES

• Design your 3 departments in spreads.
• Departments should have a consistent structure. Catch up with your department templates.
• Get your headline, subhead, pull quote, rubric, caption and credit line working together before you incorporate the images in your layouts.
• Keep in mind that text type should be the same throughout the magazine.
  
• Figure out the hang line and keep the body copy underneath that line. Images and headlines may go above but body copy should fall underneath that invisible line...
• Choose your images wisely. Try to find images in hi-res so that you can have the scale flexibility in your design. We recommend you use your own imagery (photo/illustration/collage etc.) or check out flickr.com or use the public library.
• Make sure you have some scale change in your composition.
  
• Read your course PDF for more info.
  
• Look at the SPD annuals for inspiration.
• Check out student works.
  
  

NOTES

• Post all work on your blog ahead of time and print to size and bring to class.
• Bring everything departments and/or feature opener and your templates to class. This way we can see if they hold together.
  

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