Typography help (kinda urgent)

[Eenuh]

Okayyyy, so since this is my last week of classes, today was the very last time I could show my graphic design assignment before handing it in. Problem is, -everyone- was trying to show their progress to the teacher, so I never got a turn.

 

So now I come to you friendly NE people! If there is anyone out there with even the slightest knowledge of typography and design (two things I suck at), please take a look at this and give me some criticism.

 

We had to make a 20 page brochure on an architect and his work. I picked Santiago Calatrava and his L'Hemisfèric building in Valencia. The concept of the brochure is that I used the shape of the building (an eye) and have photos in the middle (the eyeball). Each page gets smaller, until in the middle you only have the part of the picture left (then from there on out the pages get bigger again). Concept and everything was good, but then came the typography. I suck at this part (for real!) and so would love some pointers on what to change (size, placing etc.)

 

Here are some of the pages (sadly not all at real size since photobucket doesn't allow that):

 

front cover. Not happy with this at all.

 

Last page on the left (with list of future projects) and first page on the right (intro sort of).

 

Page 2 and 3 (has the same layout as some other pages).

 

Page 4 and 5. Not sure what to do with the text (delete it, change it, whatever).

 

Page 12 and 13. Same as 2 and 3, except with a background colour (since it's on the same level as page 4 and 5).

 

 

Sorry for the super long post. Don't mind the text itself on the pages, since most of it is not meant to mean anything. Don't mind any black borders either, since they'll be cut away.

 

Critics, have fun with this! X3

[MoogleViper]

Why is each side uneven?

[Eenuh]

Why is each side uneven?

 

Didn't read all my text eh? =P

It's because the sizes of the pages get smaller towards the middle.

[MoogleViper]

Didn't read all my text eh? =P

It's because the sizes of the pages get smaller towards the middle.

 

I read that but read it incorrectly. I thought that the images would be getting smaller not the actual pages.

 

My bad.

[Cube]

The only thing that doesn't look amazing is where you've used noticeably different line spacing (mainly the last page on the left).

[Eenuh]

The only thing that doesn't look amazing is where you've used noticeably different line spacing (mainly the last page on the left).

 

The line spacing on the left part (basically short intros) is the same for every page that uses it though. So it should be the same as on page 2 and 3. I guess since photobucket resizes my pics it looks different. =(

 

But any idea what I could do with the cover for example? Or page 4 and 5? Because I really don't know what to do with those pages. >.<;

[Sanchez]

I don't know much, err, anything about typography but I think a slightly less bold font and a very slightly more curvy font would look better on the cover, to complement the building.

[Letty]

I'm not sure about the use of italics on your frontpages subtitle. Did you try this placement?

 

Also, the text on page 12 looks more angular (if you get what I mean) that the rest of the page's curved theme - you could maybe curve it around the image to fit with the others?

 

I sound really bossy here, Im sorry!

[Eenuh]

I don't know much, err, anything about typography but I think a slightly less bold font and a very slightly more curvy font would look better on the cover, to complement the building.

Ah, I would, but we are sort of forced to use one font that we have to pick from a list they give us. Evil teachers.

But I could make it less bold (since right now I think the name is set to Super Bold). X3

 

I'm not sure about the use of italics on your frontpages subtitle. Did you try this placement?

 

Also, the text on page 12 looks more angular (if you get what I mean) that the rest of the page's curved theme - you could maybe curve it around the image to fit with the others?

 

I sound really bossy here, Im sorry!

Hmm, I'll try playing with the font and the placing of the title, see if I can get something done with it. =)

 

On page 12, do you mean the right side of the text (next to the image)? If so, the intros like that are supposed to follow the curve of the page side, while they are straight on the image side. Whereas the page next to it is the other way around: following the curve of the image and having a "straight" edge on the right side (this doesn't make sense at all does it? XD ).

If that's what you're talking about though, then it's intentional (teacher said something about using different shapes and all).

 

I could try making it follow the image as well, but I'd have to change it on the other pages too I think (will only do this if I have time I think).

 

Thanks for the replies by the way. =D

[Guest bluey]

wooo i love it!!

i agree with letty, maybe the cover text would look better left-aligned...

 

are you keeping the black borders?? maybe try making the big headers' line spacing a little narrower...? and maybe a slightly darker blue for the bolded text. veeerry slightly darker ... it'll make the bold stand out more and mke it feel like there's more lighter text

 

4th pic is awesome. the image is amazing and i'm guessing you sampled the colour of the text from the image?? brilliant!!

[Klimop]

 

Here's what I would do;

 

I wouldn't make the eye smaller with every page but with every spread, so that in the line of the book, it seems that the eye is blinking. Also, I'd try to match the form of an eye more (as the iris/pupil is round).

 

As for the typography, I would make a different, stramien?. I wouldn't try to match the shape of the eye, but make a different composition with the text as a layer on top of the eye. Allways keep your text as basic as possible. I would make a couple of colums and work out the text in that way... As you can see on the picture.

 

And voila, now it looks as if there is a giant eye blinking over a skyline!

[Eenuh]

wooo i love it!!

i agree with letty, maybe the cover text would look better left-aligned...

 

are you keeping the black borders?? maybe try making the big headers' line spacing a little narrower...? and maybe a slightly darker blue for the bolded text. veeerry slightly darker ... it'll make the bold stand out more and mke it feel like there's more lighter text

 

4th pic is awesome. the image is amazing and i'm guessing you sampled the colour of the text from the image?? brilliant!!

 

Nah, the black borders will be gone from the actual brochure. They are there so I will know where to cut in my pages. =P

 

I played a bit with the text on the front cover, but don't have much time to try more at the moment. Not sure any of these are better (especially the second attempt isn't good, since I cut off a bit too much of the letters I think).

 

 

 

I will try playing with a slightly darker colour for the bold text. =)

 

And for the 4th pic (the big one with sunset colours?) I simply used white text. The text is always just the same kind of blue (the blue in the background of the last image) or white.

 

 

Here's what I would do;

 

I wouldn't make the eye smaller with every page but with every spread, so that in the line of the book, it seems that the eye is blinking. Also, I'd try to match the form of an eye more (as the iris/pupil is round).

 

As for the typography, I would make a different, stramien?. I wouldn't try to match the shape of the eye, but make a different composition with the text as a layer on top of the eye. Allways keep your text as basic as possible. I would make a couple of colums and work out the text in that way... As you can see on the picture.

 

And voila, now it looks as if there is a giant eye blinking over a skyline!

 

That's an interesting idea to use, but it won't work for my brochure. Especially since I won't be using square/rectangular pages but the actual pages will have the shape of the eye.

I guess it's kinda hard to get what I'm doing, so here's a simple pic:

 

You can see that each spread gets smaller in size (though the part of the picture in the middle stays the same size), until in the middle you only have the picture left.

In the coloured image, you can see what you would see if you open the brochure in the middle; each colour is a different spread of pages (though you'd only see a white border).

 

It's also too late for me to change anything about the size or concept. I have spent ages on that part already and it's been approved and deemed good by my teacher, so it'd be silly to change it in the last week.

But thanks though for your effort and reply. =)

[Haver]

The last version of your cover is the best. I like that a lot.

 

Took me a while to grasp the idea because I am in many ways an idiot, but it's a cool idea. 4 and 5 are beautiful.

 

Be wary of the white-space and the blue-space is really my only advice. You have this beautiful building, so get as much of it in there as possible, as many photos as you can, even if it's the entire background, and have white bold text over the top, like on 4/5.

 

Or, don't be afraid to have single-colour backgrounds for your text like:

 

(see 'Desperate Housewives' and 'Don't Miss' text)

 

I think you'll do fine.

[Eenuh]

Thank you Haver. =)

 

I wish I could do more pages like 4 and 5, but sadly you don't have that much freedom when you only get 16 pages to design. Plus they tell you to find the right balance between pictures and text.

 

I'm actually not even sure I have enough high-res pictures of the building to use them over the entire page (since the pages will be big). X3

 

Anyway, did another version of the last cover, but put the first title in a more bold version and the undertitle in all capitals. But I think (am not sure) the previous one is better.

 

Previous one

New one

 

 

Or maybe I just shouldn't cut off the text at all on the edge...

[Haver]

I think you should keep the main title as it is in the New One, that's nice, but change the sub-title back to how it was in the Previous One. The lower case looks cool.

[Eenuh]

I think you should keep the main title as it is in the New One, that's nice, but change the sub-title back to how it was in the Previous One. The lower case looks cool.

 

Saw this too late. I went with the previous one (changed it a tiny bit but not much).

Actually handed this in today. For anyone interested, here's a short video of me flipping through it. There's one mistake in the brochure (text showing where it shouldn't, even though I thought I had fixed it), but I'm quite happy with it.

 

[Haver]

Looks incredible Eenuh!

 

Makes me jealous that you get to go to such an awesome school.

[Eenuh]

Thanks. ^___^

 

Not sure my school is -that- awesome though. The workload is deadly and they really seem to try to fail as many students as possible so only the select few good ones are left. D:

 

Anyway, glad this is over. If I pass this class, I'll never have to do graphic design again (in school)! =D