5.2 - Front Cover Developments
01.
For my front cover, I wanted to incorporate elements previously used in the contents of my brochure. These elements include the title font - Keep Calm, the use of horizontal blocks and importantly line drawings and illustrations. What is seen in the very first cover to the left, is an attempt to show these. Using a centrally aligned composition, I wanted the focal point to initially be on the title which explains what the brochure is about - gift giving. To make this title the focal point I decided to introduce a bright, vivid orange. From this, I then hope the reader is drawn to the simple line drawing of the figure holding the wrapped gift. This was an original concept and comes from the idea of the person who has bought the gift, then passing it on with 'open arms' to the receiver. Finally, it can also be seen that I have received the horizontal block element. This done to both add a pop of colour in the form a dark navy, but also to help transition the reader through and onto the first page of the brochure.
02.
Going to class on Thursday, I presented the previous front cover to my tutorial lecturers. What advice they gave me, was to be more experimental and to move and add elements on the page. Basically to make the design less static and more fun. To address this, I decided on changing my colour scheme slightly to one that fitted my aesthetic idea for the brochure - the use of natural textures e.g. canvas beige as similar to that on a tote bag, and then to also use a bolder and more vivid colour to help the design pop. The above series is my first developments of this new scheme. Seen in them, I explore isolating and 'zooming' in on the illustration of the figure with a gift; this is done to make the brochure much more clearly evident about what it is about and the whole process of gift giving.
Early in this series, it can be seen that I changed the title. This decision was made as simply saying 'gift guide' was too broad in my opinion and the idea that this brochure aims at providing readers with gift ideas usually uncommon is of more importance. As a result, I chose 'Unique and Unbeknown' as my title, this title uses alliteration to draw the reader in, while using providing an idea of unknowing surrounding what the gifts could be...this hopefully forcing the reader to read the brochure and find out.
In this series, I explored the scale of both the font and orientation of the navy-coloured fill block. Playing around with the profiles of both of these helped me create more negative space on the spread. making white space is important as it helps to not overcrowd the page and this idea has been used throughout my brochure, so was important that I consistently follow this onto my front cover.
03.
Further developing my front cover, I decided to tone down the use of the navy colour. By this, I changed the colour of the fill rectangular blocks to a much more neutral grey/beige. This allows much more of the viewers attention to be drawn to the title and illustration instead.
In the latter couple of spreads in this series, I decided to add the names of each location on top of the horizontal rcetangle.
What was introduced in these developments was the multiple illustrations used on the location double page spreads, they are shown in detail below.
Adding and reusing these illustrations on the front cover helps further enforce this stylistic approach of line drawings, and also ensures that the front cover is engaging in regards to the numerous components on the page.
04.
For my final developments, I played around with all the elements used in the previous series. This included reintroudcing the wrapped packaging illustration. However, a decision I made, was not to include the human hands which were initially seen holding the gift. Doing this enables the gift to be surrounded by those smaller illustrations. I created a sense of hierarchy through the composition of all the elements on the page. I placed the smaller illustration of the tote bag above the main title and its below header, and then finally as a focal point placed the wrapped gift illustration. This wrapped gift works well in terms of its colour as the beige, brown and grey tones pop out of the page, while also being a neutral presence in comparison to the dark navy.
The final development in the series explored a reverse colour scheme whereby the background is dark navy and the text white. This approach although being more visible to perhaps the viewer from a distance is not one I wanted to pursue as I feel whenever this colour scheme is taken up, the text becomes harder to read and 'fuzzier'.
