Typography Design - A2 - Typographic Heirarchy
Task 3 - Critique and Redesign
Photo 1 - Art Student Magazine Original Article Photo 2 - Art Student Magazine Article Redesign
Above: Structure of the Magazine Spread
This magazine spread is a interview or question and answer style article about a new art platform. This consists of a main title, as well as various subheadings that state the question being asked within the interview, and a body copy which is the answers to the interview questions. There is also character style markers at the beginning of each section of the body copy to indicate the speaker answering the question by using their initials, and the side bar text gives context to the article. There is three images along with captions explaining their relevance, a pull quote is also included and a folio at the bottom stating the page number and publication.
The designer has used all san serif typefaces which are all very similar in style, and the main and sub headings are a light pink colour versus the body copy text which is black. Although it is important not have various different or opposing typefaces in one article, the headings, especially the main title, doesn’t stand out as much as it should especially in comparison to the brightly coloured photos. To alter this to work better within the design the heading could be enhanced by adjusting the typeface to be a serif style, or a more contrasted shade of the pink colour to allow these headings and subheadings to be more readable and to catch the eye of the reader as they should be what is seen first and at the top of the hierarchy when convincing people to read an article. Also adding highlighted squares around the subheadings will help with tying these in with the pink theming of the article and lead the eye from each question (subheading) to the answer (body copy) distinguishing these parts of the text.
The text is placed within a three column grid, which I believe is a good layout for this style of information as the style of tall vertical type indicates to the reader that this article is not a difficult or puzzling read and is meant for quick, unthoughtful reading, more for entertainment or casual reading rather than important essential reading (Bringhurst, 2004). Due to the text being various questions and answers I believe the information could be separated better using more negative space. This would make the article more pleasant to read in comparison to the current format that has the body copy in close proximity in large blocks.
There is some use of heavier stroke weights in this design which works well within the text such as in the side bar having a bolder stroke that makes names stand out. Although this could be further enhanced by changing the colour of these to have them stand out even more. I think the layout of the photos/art within the article is placed quite strangely, particularly on the second page where the images interrupt the flow and hierarchy of the text. I think having the photos separated will provided a better fit for the article and not have it look as though they have been placed haphazardly within it, hence making the art feel more apart of the article. Along with better placement of the imagery, the captions would make more sense to be located underneath the photos they are linked to, rather than unnecessarily needing to state which caption is referring to which photo in a small paragraph located to one side of the image set.
Task 4 - Event Program: Conference line up
References:
Bringhurst, R. (2004) The elements of typographic style. 3rd ed. Point Roberts, Wash: Hartley and Marks, Publishers.
Mattel, T., 2022. About - Trixie Mattel. [online] Trixie Mattel. Available at: <https://trixiemattel.com/about/>.
Zamolodchikova, K., 2022. Katya Zamolodchikova. [online] We Love Katya. Available at: <https://welovekatya.com/>.
