Much Ado About Nothing Type Hierarchy Challenge (from Ina Saltz Type Hyerarchy Course)

My first iteration for this brief I tried something a little different. I set everything on the page with the right spacing and columns and arranged everything where I thought would make the most sense. I then used a bold typeface, ITC Avant Garde Gothic Pro, a heavy sans serif font, for all the other information excluding for 'much' and 'William Shakespeare', for which I used 'Abril Fatface', a classic serif font which i felt fit well for a Shakespeare play.  

For this iteration I played with spacing for the title. I think this looks really effective and bold. I centered all the text expect for the bottom quote, address, email and number and William Shakespeare. I spaced out 'much' to be set slightly over 'ado', which I spaced out tobe set over 'about nothing'. 

For the last iteration I kept the spacing inverted the spacing for 'much' and 'ado'. I centered 'William Shakespeare' and kept everything else the same. I really like this iteration, I think its nicely balanced, have intrigue but also tells you what you need to know. 

For this task I choose to analyse Vogue Magazine. I issue I am analyzing is the September 2019 issue featuring Taylor Swift. For this Issue of Vogue, there are three main components, a title, body of text, quotes and photos. The title is centered and scaled up to take up two thirds of the page and is set in a simple serif type. The body of text is split into columns, for this article of vogue the columns represented are two or one if a photo is taking up majority of the spread. Underneath the title is a subtitle, there to give a snippet of what the article is about, mostly there to entice the reader to continue reader, also set in the same serif type as the title, just scaled down, also centered. The body of text on the first spread is split into two columns, that are set to mirror the other column, both perfect rectangles with a decent margin. The second page of text is reduced to one column, this column is made longer to adjust to having no title on that page and to be more weighted to match the photo that has been set over the page, 1 and a 1/3 pages worth. The quotes throughout the piece have been placed either in the middle of a column to be centered on the page or to the side of the column, each one with a one inch border surrounding and the text of the column is wrapping around, making the perfect rectangle for the quote to fit in. There are captions on the photos, not placed under neath where you might usually see them but placed in the corner of the photo scaled down to not distract the viewer. 

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)? 

The designer of this issue of vogue has definitely used scale and weight to inform visual hierarchy on the page. The title is scaled to fit the page, leaving less than a third of space left either side, this immediately draws the eye to the title and because the subtitle is also centered and in the same font, scaled down, you go their second. The contrast of the serif font is bold in comparison to the body of text, the serif used accentuates the decender of the G of the title 'Begin Again' as both drop below the baseline. Where often you see a drop cap used in most magazine, vogue has instead made the first 4 words capitals to welcome the reader. I think because this issue has such a large and prominent subtitle, the use of a drop cap would be too much. When I redesign this issue I think I would like to play with a drop cap on the second page, as there is a beautiful photo of Taylor in a dance like position that could work nicely together. I think overall this issue has been beautiful designed, its simple but effective. There isn't flashy drop caps and it isn't filled with quotes or photos like you would see in a tabloid magazine, its professional and pleasing to the eye of the viewer. 

What do you think works? What doesn't and why?

Redesign the page your way: keeping to the same format, same images, and colours, create a new version of the page you just analysed. Describe your design decisions, and style guide. 

I really like the columns that vogue has in this issue, so I wanted to keep that the same in my renditions. I really like the simply style of vogue, so I wanted to keep that with my design. I added some drop caps in the first three iterations. I really like the third iteration if the IF set to sit under the foot, like it holding it up. I really like the last iteration, I think it's simple enough to fit with the style of vogue but still carries intrigue.