ASSESSMENT TWO | TASK THREE
CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE CRITIQUE & REDESIGN
This week has focused on type hierarchy, and how scale, spacing, type, contrast and heaps of other elements can effect the pace and dynamics of an overall document. First of all we had to analyse a magazine spread of our choice, then redesign it with what we've learnt about type hierarchy so far.
Question One | What is the structure of the content (main titles, subtitles, times/dates, menu, contact information, news text, body text, etc)?
I chose to critique and re-design Classic Rock’s Legends of the 70’s magazine, pages 44 and 45 that introduces the Deep Purple feature. The spread uses a 3 column grid, which is used consistently throughout the mag. The margins are narrow, though slightly broader on top. The left page is a singular image of Richie Blackmore extending to the edges of the page, in the top right hand corner you see the image caption just under the top margin. On the lower third of the page is the main title Deep Heat in a bold and blocky serif font. Below the title we see the stand first (or the deck), followed by the byline. Then lastly the folio in the bottom left-hand corner of the page, including the page number and website. The right page is designated for the body copy, which again is split into a 3 column grid. The drop cap introduces the body copy, which is situated on the lower two thirds of the page: underneath the image of Deep Purple performing. The body copy has paragraph indents and is separated by the gutter, which has a column rule to emphasise the difference between the columns. The body text is interrupted by the pull quote (in the same font as the headline) which cuts across the two columns, resulting in the body copy asymmetrically shaping around it. In the third column is a bit of an anomaly, introducing a different story in a different coloured box with its own heading, subtitle, and byline. I think may act as a box copy, though I’m not certain of this terminology. Again, we see the folio in the bottom right hand corner and the image captions on the image.
Question Two | What resources did the designer use to visually represent the structure of the content, to create a visual hierarchy on the page (typeface, position, scale/size, weight, colour, contrast, orientation)?
After studying the spreads anatomy, I believe the designer has largely used typefaces, scale, contrast, and column rules to organise the pages hierarchy. There are two main typefaces, the block serif font for the titles and the lighter weight, serif font for the body copy. This clearly structures the headline from the body copy. Scale works in combination with the typefaces, with the heading typeface taking up a large space on the page and seeking the readers attention. The drop caps are also scaled very large, directing the eye to the next section of information. Contrast is used with the left hand page being completely visual and the right page using mostly text. There’s lots of information on the page and the contrasting fonts, scale, contrast, and entry points (drop caps) help with the eye tracking and flow of the document. Because of the large textual elements on the second page and the thin margins, the gutter is also thin, so the designer uses a column rule to enforce the existence of the gutter, avoiding confusion on how to read the article.
Question Three | What do you think works? What doesn't and why?
Upon first glances the spread looks pretty good and is relatively easy to read. However, upon further examination there are elements that over crowd the page including too much text, narrow margins and gutters. Especially for the first page of a feature, the spread needs to be impactful and clean. The addition of the side story in the third column (right-hand page) is confusing as it’s a large amount of text to interject into the middle of a broader story. The drop cap, heading, picture and beige coloured rectangle demand more attention than the main body copy. This throws off the hierarchy of the page and over crowds it. I don’t think this works well in terms of reading a story and visual aesthetics. This brings me to the lack of white space. They’re clearly trying to fit in a large amount of information on one page, which is hard to accommodate for as too much looks tacky and interrupts the pace of the document. The hero shot of Richie Blackmore is what caries the weight of visual aesthetics of the spread. Additionally, what I find interesting is that the hero shot extends into the gutter of the right hand page (the scan above doesn't show this), I think this may be a matter of opinion as to whether this works, though in my opinion the more white space in this spread the better and this takes up too much of it.
Above | A little mood board of other magazine spreads for inspiration and reference. Most of these are from Rolling Stone (the big dog of music mags) who set the standard pretty high. I like how the Mark Ronson and The Arctic Monkeys spreads have large titles that brings the two pages together. I also like the vintage Rolling Stone cover with Mick Jagger on it, the retro typography and the action shot together.
Above | Iteration 1; I couldn't get the same photos but settled on this hero image of Blackmore by Fin Costello from the same gig. I started simply by using wider margins and columns and introducing more white space. I Decided to use the font Blenny (Black) for my headlines, Bell MT for my body copy and Acumin Variable Concept (light semi-condensed) for my optional san serif typeface. I wanted to make the red feature colour stand out more rather than just being on one random headline which looked out of place. The red rectangle ties the two pages together and lead the eye directly to the body copy.
Above | Iteration 2; I played around with flipping the image to see how cropping and direction can effect the pace of the spread, Blackmore looks more like he's kicking into the spread this way. Though I struggled to get the stand first (or deck) to be legible on that part of the image. I introduced the actual text, changed my body copy to Alga (light) and played further with spacing and scale.
Above | Iteration 3; I worked on further refining the space, broadening the bottom margins and ended up flipping the image back to accommodate for the legibility of the text. My problem was how to fit in the random story in the third column. The brief didn't specifically say I couldn't leave out elements that didn't work, only to keep the same style and formatting. So I decided rather than have some whole new story interrupt my spread, I just put a little box copy thing to introduce the story on a later page that I've seen in news papers.
Above | Iteration 4; This is my final iteration of the redesign. It's mostly the same I just spent more time refining the placement and added in a slug. The 'Made in the Shades' title placement creates more dynamics in the spread and also doesn't over power the actual story like the original spread.
To reflect, I do believe that my redesign allows the spread to breathe more and introduces the rest of the feature better. I think the Blenny headline font looks more reminiscent of the 70's typefaces used on Deep Purple's albums at the time while maintaining a clean and modern finish. I would say the editors wouldn't approve of it due to completely leaving out the side story but for practice sake I'm I'm happy with the outcome. I think it's better than the original but I don't think it's the best spread I've ever seen. Though this is my first attempt at editorial design so I still have a lot to learn and experiment with. However I definitely enjoyed the challenge of this task. It's very different to what I'm used to as a visual artist which has no specific rules our boundaries.
REFERENCES
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