Great News from Kristie Bailey

Hey Gen! I have some good news! Last week I was promoted to the magazine-- which is wonderful! I'm incredibly excited to learn as much as I can, and eager to challenge myself.

Bravo, Kristie!

11th Assignment

Are you getting excited for the finished product?

We sure are!

Please bring in your final magazines, printed and bound for the adoration of your classmates and instructors. Make any revisions, tweaks, conceptual shifts, or radical changes you feel necessary.

Looking forward to seeing it all come together!

work!!

dana

anna

dana

jade

weylan

adam

anna

10th Assignment

A very special thank you to this week's guest speakers, Robert Priest and Grace Lee of Priest and Grace! Their perspective on our work was positively invaluable, and we're incredibly excited to move forward with their suggestions.

For next week, please do the following:

1. Take a second look at your cover and logo, and work through any revisions to you might have.

2. Design an ending spread for your back of book.

3. Design a TOC spread for the front of your book.

4. Create a rough draft bound version of your magazine using a glue stick to adhere pages. It doesn't have to be perfect, so no need to agonize.


As always, post to your blogs and email us if you should need feedback before next class.

Ninth Assignment

NY Times Workroom, 1942

For next week, please do the following:
1. Create an exhaustive collection of cover and logo variations. E-X-H-A-U-S-T-I-V-E. As many variations as your design-cramped hands can execute. Include strong imagery and type that will communicate your concept and attract your readership in one glance. Include cover lines that will draw readers in. 

Pointers:
Your logo type can be entirely different from any of the faces you have used in your magazine so far. Covers usually (but not always) represent something from your strongest feature, but should always speak to the overall tone of the magazine.

As always, please remember to bring all the components of your magazine with you to class next week. This is critical to our understanding of your work.

Eighth Assignment

For next week, please work on your third feature spread.

Make it interesting, test the boundaries, get weird. Put your insides on the outsides. Blow us away with something we've never seen before. Now is the time to take chances, to find inspiration in unusual places, to challenge the expectations of those around you. Show us how you put your soul in it.

Pedal to the metal.

Seventh Assignment

The Making of Little White Lies

For your next assignment, please :

1. Catch up on everything that's due so far,
2. Begin and finish a new feature opener spread and feature jump spread.

Test your limits! If your first feature used format A, try B or C. If you used B, try A or C. If you used C... you know.

Until next time!

http://www.showusyourclips.com/typography-featuring-hoeffler-frere-jones-paula-scher-and-more/

Sixth Assignment

Please design three different department spreads, with multiple variations of each. Make sure to figure out your text lock up, rubrics, imagery, and basic template. Though there can be flexibility in this section (in terms of headline, deck, and photo placement, etc), be sure to keep a strict hangline throughout.


Post work to your blog for feedback during the week.

There is no class next week-- Spring Break! Be sure to wear your sunscreen; we'll see you again on March 12th.

 Maria Abella

Nabil Samadani

Fifth Assignment

Please redo your first feature taking into consideration the things discussed in your class critique, as well as some general suggestions:

1) think of this as a poster

2) write a clever headline that will draw in even the most reluctant reader

3) write a subhed that tells the reader what the editorial content is about

4) include image, headline, subhed, byline, image credit, folio line on your spread

5) make sure this spread captures the content of your mag, speaks volumes about what you want your mag to express and to whom

6) work hard on the typography--that's what ultimately counts!

7) do many variations, a few is not enough, ie at least 20

change image, change layout, crop, try loads of fonts, and different variations on the headline, subhed, byline

make this count!

8) DO NOT wait until sunday to begin this assignment

9) be sure to begin with swipe for typography, image, color (always begin with swipe!)

Design Studios of Note

 

Last class, Martin generously shared the work of a sleek design studio called Workroom (above). Workroom's particular strength lies in its understanding of hierarchy, in addition to its playfulness, creativity, and strong aesthetic.

Please check out their site here, along with a few others that Martin has kindly recommended.

http://www.toko.nu/projects.html
http://www.sulki-min.com/wp/
http://www.robvanhoesel.nl/
http://www.frostdesign.com.au/
http://twopoints.net/
http://silnt.com
http://www.heystudio.es/

Fourth Assignment

Please put aside your department templates for now. Design one feature spread that captures the feeling, demographic, and thrust of your publication.

Put some soul into it. Work toward producing a strong statement that encapsulates the feeling and message you'd like to put out there.

As always, please produce as many variations as you are able. Please use your own photography or illustration; your piece will be infinitely stronger for it.

As discussed earlier in the semester, there are three basic editorial formats:

A: Text on one page, image on the other

B: Image bridges the gutter to take up some space on the "text page"

C: Image spans both pages

Please post to your blogs for feedback before class.

Helpful Reference: Designer Survival Guide

Simple bite-sized tips for new designers provided by industry professionals.

Third Assignment

For next week, please:

1. Revise your department templates, taking into account last class' critiques and the opinions of your peers. Devote a significant amount of time to this task, because it will result in a rock solid foundation for the rest of your magazine. Post to your blog and email us if you would like to review your work before our next class.

2. Record your typefaces, point sizes, and leading on the back of each page you print. This will enable us to make informed decisions about the best looking type for your particular layout.

3. Be sure to print on acceptable paper. Does not have to be anything too expensive-- we're just looking for a nice weight with some brightness, not thin copier paper.


New Terms:
Hangline: the maximum height established for body text within your department template. Body text can start below the established hangline on different pages within your department section, but never above.

Second Assignment

1. Redo and expand your swipe, taking into account this week's critique and your classmates' understanding of your demographic.

2. Create a template for your departments. This part of the assignment will take the most time. It should be a solid and dependable template, as it will be used throughout your department section. Some tips:

• Design your templates as single right-hand pages. 
• You should set up a comfortable margin, about the width of your thumb from the edge of the page to the start of the first column of text (between 3/8" and 1/2"). 
• Your grid should include 12 columns and 9 rows, with 1p gutters. 
• Take some dummy copy from the web, removing any "tricky spots," including parentheses, sub/superscripts, brackets, etc. 
• Choose a text type appropriate to your subject/audience. Find a comfortable point size and leading. This text type will carry throughout you entire magazine. Your objective is create a nice grey "astro-turf," meaning no holes, rivers, widows or orphans. 
• You should include a folio, photo credit, byline, rubric, headline, subhead, and body copy. You can  also involve a drop cap, lead in, pull quote, but no illustrations or photos for now, please. 
• Make many, MANY different variations of these templates, as many as you can, saving them in separate indesign files. 
• Post these template variations on your blog throughout the week so we can give you feedback. Please contact us if there's something you'd like us to see before your next class.
• Print with the grid visible for class. 

Please let us know if you have any questions over the coming week. 

Also, if you don't see your name in the class list to the left, it's because I haven't received (or have misplaced) your blog URL. Please send it to me when you can.

Raster Systeme/Grid Systems

This book is a great source on Grid Systems by the legendary Swiss designer Josef Müller-Brockmann. You can find it at amazon.