Lesson Tasks (Layout)

Task 5.1 Form and Space

”Rearrange shapes cut out of paper and find the point at which the figure disappears into the ground.
- Cut out a series of shapes from black paper – squares, rectangles, circles and random shapes – in various sizes, from small to large.
- Working with a square piece of white paper, place shapes of different sizes into the white space; place them on the white one at a time and move them around.
- Try to find the point where the distinction between figure and ground becomes unclear. Does it depend on which shape dominates the space: black or white? Is it about the position of the shape within the space? Think about how important figure-ground relationships are within composition and design.
Write down your findings, and remember to take pictures of your progress. Submit these pictures and your write-up on your WordPress blog.”

Images

Write-up

The distinction between figure and ground becomes more unclear the bigger the shape is. Our eyes sees these shapes better, rather than small shapes that is harder to see. I figured the more space the figure took on the ground, the more unclear it got. You can clearly see in the examples below that the tiny shapes I experimented with is less efficient than the one with big shapes. The position of where you place the shapes is also important. If you position it wrong your eyes may not be guided as wanted. Having a good composition in figure-ground design is important so the eyes can be guided the right way and the design is easy to spot.

Task 5.2 Symmetry/Asymmetry

”This task will allow you to test your idea sketching skills. It is important to start working with basic ideas on paper and develop your concept from there on out.

On an A4 landscape page, draw four equal squares. Create four more pages in this way. So, you’ll have five pages with four squares on each.
Draw one or two squares or rectangles in each empty square to achieve the visual effects that you see on the first page of Module 3 in your Graphic Design School textbook. You can work with the interaction of rectangles and squares to make the balance or imbalance more evident.
Produce at least two different versions of each effect, recording your results each time. Explain in one or two sentences what you wanted to achieve (as shown in your manual).”

Page 2;
Entering left – The square is placed far left, suggesting that it enters from the left.
Movement to right – The second square is placed to the far right, suggesting movement to the right.
Movement to the left- The second square is placed to the far left, suggesting movement to the right.
Movement downwards – The rectangle is placed going more downwards than the middle, suggesting that is is moving downwards.

Page 3;
Movement upwards – The rectangle is placed above the square, suggesting movement upwards.
Balance – The square is placed in the middle so the space is equal on all sides, making it balanced.
Tension – The square is placed in the far top right corner, giving a sense of tension.
Symmetry/Asymmetry – Both squares are placed in each corner across each other, giving a sense of symmetry.

Page 4;
Entering Left – The rectangle is placed far left, suggesting that it is entering from left.
Movement to right – The rectangle is placed to the right compared to the square in the middle, suggesting movement to right.
Movement to left – The rectangle is placed to the left compared to the square in the middle, suggesting movement to left.
Movement downwards – One of the rectangles are placed in the far bottom, suggesting movement downwards.

Page 5;
Movement Upwards – One of the squares are placed to the top left of the middle square, suggesting movement upwards.
Balance; The rectangles are places with equal space between them, making it balanced.
Tension; Both squares are placed to the left, pretty close to each other making tension.
Symmetry/Asymmetry; The objects are both placed right, but since one is a rectangle and another a square it makes an asymmetrical design.

Task 5.3 Basic principles of layout

”Take a magazine, and a newspaper and a book that includes images and text. Lay tracing paper on top of three different spreads (both left-hand and right-hand pages). Use a pencil and ruler to trace the grid underlying the page layouts carefully. Remember to remove specific text elements or images and only to draw the grid lines. Note column widths and margin sizes at the top, bottom, and left and right of the main body of text. Is your document based on a two-column, three-column, or another type of grid? Which elements stay the same on each page, and which change?”

Newspaper

Newspaper grid

This newspaper is based on a 5 column grid. The page numbers and top part of the grid stays consistant.

Margin size top; 1 cm

Margin size bottom; 1.5 cm

Margin size left and right; 1.7 cm

Column width; 4.7 cm

Magazine

Magazine grid

This magazine is based on a 2 column grid.

Margin size top; 1 cm

Margin size bottom; 2 cm

Margin size left and right; 1 cm

Column width; 9 cm

Book

Book grid

This magazine is based on a 1 column grid. The page numbers stay consistant.

Margin size top; 1.5 cm

Margin size bottom; 2.5 cm

Margin size left and right; 1.5 cm

Column width; 10.5 cm

Task 5.4 Pace and contrast

”Compare the design (in terms of pace and contrast) of an online magazine, blog or website to that of a printed magazine, book or journal.

What differences can you see between the kinds of design strategies used in the two formats?”

The first thing I saw when compering the magazines, was that the online version had a lot less text and more heading focused. Compared to the print magazine, you get more control of the pacing due to only images and headings, so one can decide what content to consume. They have both different column numbers, online is 3 columns and printed has 2 columns. This is because more than 3 columns on a printed magazine this size would be too chaotic. It works on the online magazine because you can easily
scroll up and down the page, giving a lot more space for text and picture. Compared to the online magazine the printed one has a little more color, but not much more. The printed magazine uses blue color around headings, giving a good rhythm because it continues with elements from the front page. Instead of a unique front page, they hate ”today stories” as their front page to attract a broader audience.

Vogue front side

Slide down

Terrier Magazine Front page

Pages in Terrier Magazine

Task 5.5 Design of layout in Indesign

”Use InDesign to design an 8-page brochure for a fictitious décor shop.

The size of the brochure should be A5 (when it is folded).
Design the brochure in full colour.
You are allowed to use Lorem Ipsum place holder text as body copy, but create sensible headings.
Use titles, headings and images of your choice.
Be sure to pay attention to:
- Choice of type
- Choice of imagery
- Use of layout and grid to communicate the content”

PDF format: Casual Living.pdf

I came up with ”Casual Living” focusing on modern, up to date furniture to improve your home.
Stay decided to stay with one color palette. Professional, lowkey and modern colors. I would say my target group is an older audience that appreciate furniture more than youngsters. Due to this reason I decided to go for a more professional and modern design. I made up the name Casual Living, and based the shop around modern and creative furniture. I decided to go for ”minion pro” font, first for just setting up the layout, but I gradually started liking it due to its professional and modern look. To me this fit the rest of the design quite well. I went for four colors that continues through the whole brochure. Two primary colors for background and headings, and for body text and pull quotes I chose two colors that are pretty similar. I did this after trying out several other colors to separate the quotes from body text more. I think these colors fit great together, and gives a feeling of comfort, professionalism and unity.

I used a 2 column grid with 6 rows that has a 2mm gutters to have an consistent and unified design.

Sand: #d8c7b7
Forest: #5a6868
Creamy white: #fbf5e9
Light beige: #f1eae4