Different from last assignment of beauty pageant as a photo essay, this one needs to be creative. I spent most of my time thinking about the conceptual frame for the preview.
One thing good about this issue is that I have totally no idea what spring preview should be like. This gave me more freedom to incorporate my understanding into the design.
I came up with the idea of spring roll when I was hungry while thinking about the design work... After I spelt the spring with the spring rolls, I found them did not look like spring rolls at all. - -|||.. so I added "hot" hoping readers will know that's food.
I did think the background is a little noisy, but spring in my mind, is crowded with sunshine and green. maybe if I make the leaves looser will have a better effects.. Also, I do think the "spring" is ugly..
when designing the spread, I really had a hard time to figure out a better way to organized them. There are lots of information. Most popular ways is either by subjects or by date. I used to have a timeline for the events, since there are representative colors for each subjects, I dotted the color on the timeline to show the frequency of the subjects events hoping to make up for my decision to organize by subjects. But the results turned out to be very busy thus I deleted them.
What I learnt from this experience: throw away your first 5 ideas, because that's everyone's idea.
Nice job thinking of a unique theme. I think with a little more work you could have gotten the spring rolls to look more distinguishable. Maybe you could have just used one giant one with the word "spring" on it (kind of like the Chipotle advertisements). You probably could have even left the background the same, because one large object would have allowed for a busier background. Anyway, nice concept, but the execution probably could have been a little better. I know it's hard when you have a good idea and aren't sure how to effectively communicate it.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting and fun idea. I, too, liked using food as a theme! I think the way you organized the feature spread worked well, although the spray-paintish typeface seems completely unrelated to the rest of the design. Also, I think the composition on both the cover and splash pages is strong, yet the actual design elements aren't doing what you want.
ReplyDeleteYou really seem to understand where this design falls short in execution. Basically it doesn't look appetizing, and there are a few things I think you could do to fix this. One would be find photos of the ingredients that are bright, fresh and colorful, whether or not you take them yourself. I can see where you tried to unify everything by applying some type of PhotoShop filter, but in the end it gives them a dingy look.
Another option would be to go with a visual motif that is more graphic - like a takeout box. You could also find a typeface that is similar to what might be on a takeout box. You could show one spring roll and focus on the ingredients inside. This spread would be a fun project to use the studio for!
Overall I really like the thinking behind this spread; there are just a few ways you could improve the imagery to make the idea clearer to the reader.
When I was sifting through all the designs last weekend during my time in the office, yours definitely caught my. For a while, I was thinking egg rolls and didn't get where you were going. Once I was informed they were spring rolls I realized that your genius outsmarted me! Great concept!!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea; it's very unique. The leaves in the background on the cover are a little distracting. I think if they were watermarked they might not grab all the attention. I like how you treated the type on the cover, but I think you may have used too many other fonts throughout the rest of the project. Also, the colors splashed on February kind of clash with the rest of the design. I like the splash page and how each ingredient represents a different category. Just make sure to double check all the spellings next time (There's a typo on sports)
ReplyDeleteYour concept is solid, your execution could have been stronger. I'm sure if you were chosen, you would have tightened it up. Great job!
Chen, your spring roll idea was so original! I sat in on the critique for Spring Preview and there was much debate about your design. Jan loved it, as did many of the other editors present. You did exactly what was asked of us and came up with an original concept that was fun and original.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the background of the cover was a little busy. I understood that the plants were supposed to tie in with spring, but some of your type got lost in the dark green.
I didn't realize that splash page was yours, and now i love the package so much more! That was such a great idea pulling out the contents of a spring roll and making that into the spring preview categories.
You are such a creative designer! You always look at things with a different perspective and I really appreciate your willingness to experiment.