Monday, January 23, 2006
Critique: That Crazy Casino (1.25.06)
For our first assignment, we had a week to create a cover and feature design for the next Vox issue. To sum up the experience, I was rusty. I was nervous about my design, that it wouldn't be good enough, and I really tried too hard, which led to last minute changes of both the cover and features.
Critique: Casino Cover
After looking at previous issues, I realized there had been a lot of illustrations, and I wanted to use a photo. I created a cover design with on the photographs supplied by the photographer with the Patrolman facing the camera. Because just placing the photo and a headline on the cover seemed a little drab, I altered the photograph to create a blurred, more abstract background that made the man pop. Unfortunately, the Missourian has a 100% no-alter policy on photographs. When I showed it to Debbie on Sunday, she suggested I made a new cover, so I did that in the next few hours.
First, I chose the blue and purple colors because after looking on the Isle of Capri website, both of those featured prominently in the layout of the casino. I got the idea for the blue wavy lines also from the pictures of the casino online, everywhere on the floor were neon wavy lights boarding the casino. I created the blue waves on the cover because I wanted to bring an air of familiarity to the design—if people had gone to the casino, they would recognize my illustration as being of that same place.
I wanted to create a picture of a poker table, with chips and someone holding cards, so I featured the five cards prominently in the front to make it seem like the reader were holding the cards. This also went with my Sell line—Ante Up—to entice the reader into the story. I used Glypha for my font mainly because of how the A looked, I wanted something that resembled playing cards, and Glypha was the closest I could find to a bold, wide font.
The whiteness of the cards really pops against the colors in the background, and I thought it was fairly well executed, even if it was completed in an afternoon. I suppose I’ll be doing that a lot this semester, so it’s good I prepare myself now for being able to make drastic changes under a deadline.
Looking back, it looks WAY too clip-arty. We had a discussion about making the cover content-driven, and in all honesty, this cover had nothing to do with the story, which was about a highway patrolman who works at the casino. Unfortunately at this point, i was caught up in the 'card' theme, and carried my redesign over to my feature...
Feature Critique
The feature I also redesigned on Sunday, this time because I was not comfortable turning in my original idea, which centered on the wavy lines I eventually used on my cover. I showed the two ideas to a few of the other students, and the majority agreed they liked my new design better. I’ll post both so you can decide. The reason I did choose my second design was because the first seemed a bit too cheesy or hokey. Also, there wasn’t a good flow between the first and second pages of the spreads. **note: what's really funny now is that I think the second one is WAY hokier than the original. I should have gone with my original instinct. **
My design also used the colors I found around the casino—Blue and Purple. They seemed a bit cheesy, but isn’t that what a casino is? I liked the way my text font (the light green) popped against the other colors. The main design on the first page was using the idea of cards, but abstracting that a little bit. By overlapping the boxes, it gives the page depth and also makes them stand out more than if I had just done symmetrical alternating boxes. I wanted something to anchor the bylines and subhead, and used the icons for playing cards to accomplish that, as well as adding to the idea that the boxes were some abstract form of playing cards. I didn’t want the color to overtake the page, and I didn’t want my text on a colored background, so I kept that area white.
I chose my lead photographs because I saw the story as an interplay between Kevin Hunter and the casino. The craps table was a good shot that really put the reader into the picture, but I felt it needed to be played big. Also, the Kevin Hunter picture has him looking at the craps picture, which helps tie both pictures to my headline ‘Eyes on the Isle.’
One tool I used to tie both pages together was creating poker chip icons to go between the columns of text. Because the second page was in black and white, it was a simple visual aid that definitely told the reader the story continued. I also placed colored boxes over the second page photograph, as well as the pull quote to tie both pages into the overall design. I wanted the pages to be consistent. I used the two photos on the second page because one shows Kevin Hunter at work, watching the slot machines, and the other gives a larger view of the scene around the casino. It has movement to it, and I think it gives a good idea of the actual scene in the casino: a man working in the background while people around him gamble.
Here is my original first page:
Critique: Casino Cover
After looking at previous issues, I realized there had been a lot of illustrations, and I wanted to use a photo. I created a cover design with on the photographs supplied by the photographer with the Patrolman facing the camera. Because just placing the photo and a headline on the cover seemed a little drab, I altered the photograph to create a blurred, more abstract background that made the man pop. Unfortunately, the Missourian has a 100% no-alter policy on photographs. When I showed it to Debbie on Sunday, she suggested I made a new cover, so I did that in the next few hours.
First, I chose the blue and purple colors because after looking on the Isle of Capri website, both of those featured prominently in the layout of the casino. I got the idea for the blue wavy lines also from the pictures of the casino online, everywhere on the floor were neon wavy lights boarding the casino. I created the blue waves on the cover because I wanted to bring an air of familiarity to the design—if people had gone to the casino, they would recognize my illustration as being of that same place.
I wanted to create a picture of a poker table, with chips and someone holding cards, so I featured the five cards prominently in the front to make it seem like the reader were holding the cards. This also went with my Sell line—Ante Up—to entice the reader into the story. I used Glypha for my font mainly because of how the A looked, I wanted something that resembled playing cards, and Glypha was the closest I could find to a bold, wide font.
The whiteness of the cards really pops against the colors in the background, and I thought it was fairly well executed, even if it was completed in an afternoon. I suppose I’ll be doing that a lot this semester, so it’s good I prepare myself now for being able to make drastic changes under a deadline.
Looking back, it looks WAY too clip-arty. We had a discussion about making the cover content-driven, and in all honesty, this cover had nothing to do with the story, which was about a highway patrolman who works at the casino. Unfortunately at this point, i was caught up in the 'card' theme, and carried my redesign over to my feature...
Feature Critique
The feature I also redesigned on Sunday, this time because I was not comfortable turning in my original idea, which centered on the wavy lines I eventually used on my cover. I showed the two ideas to a few of the other students, and the majority agreed they liked my new design better. I’ll post both so you can decide. The reason I did choose my second design was because the first seemed a bit too cheesy or hokey. Also, there wasn’t a good flow between the first and second pages of the spreads. **note: what's really funny now is that I think the second one is WAY hokier than the original. I should have gone with my original instinct. **
My design also used the colors I found around the casino—Blue and Purple. They seemed a bit cheesy, but isn’t that what a casino is? I liked the way my text font (the light green) popped against the other colors. The main design on the first page was using the idea of cards, but abstracting that a little bit. By overlapping the boxes, it gives the page depth and also makes them stand out more than if I had just done symmetrical alternating boxes. I wanted something to anchor the bylines and subhead, and used the icons for playing cards to accomplish that, as well as adding to the idea that the boxes were some abstract form of playing cards. I didn’t want the color to overtake the page, and I didn’t want my text on a colored background, so I kept that area white.
I chose my lead photographs because I saw the story as an interplay between Kevin Hunter and the casino. The craps table was a good shot that really put the reader into the picture, but I felt it needed to be played big. Also, the Kevin Hunter picture has him looking at the craps picture, which helps tie both pictures to my headline ‘Eyes on the Isle.’
One tool I used to tie both pages together was creating poker chip icons to go between the columns of text. Because the second page was in black and white, it was a simple visual aid that definitely told the reader the story continued. I also placed colored boxes over the second page photograph, as well as the pull quote to tie both pages into the overall design. I wanted the pages to be consistent. I used the two photos on the second page because one shows Kevin Hunter at work, watching the slot machines, and the other gives a larger view of the scene around the casino. It has movement to it, and I think it gives a good idea of the actual scene in the casino: a man working in the background while people around him gamble.
Here is my original first page:
// posted by teresasanserif @ 8:14 PM 
