My Analysis/Proposal

My Comparative Analysis of the Current Publication and My Proposed Design

Margins

The current design lacks adequate margin space. My design would increase the margins on all sides to at least .25 in –.5in and the inside margin to at least .5in –1in.

Color

The current design lacks color aside from the images. My design will incorporate more color especially within the typography.

Grid

The current design lacks a uniform grid. My design will function on a grid that will allow the pages to keep an underlying structure in their layouts. The grid will allow for several variations in the layout while throughout the publication to avoid monotony.

Type

The type in the current design could use a lot of work. The lines are too long in much of the current publication. The current typefaces are generic and lack variation. The font size has not been chosen with care, especially in the “On the Side” feature. The leading is too tight throughout My design would incorporate typefaces that are carefully chosen and that are varied to create a design that is clear, easy to follow and read.

Hierarchy

Much of the design lacks a sense of hierarchy. The current pages are full to capacity leaving the eye no natural way to flow around the page. In my design I will focus on developing a clear sense of hierarchy and a natural way for the eye to flow around the pages.

Specific problem areas to be addressed:

Contents

The contents page is lacking in general. It is a simple list currently. In my design I will bring some color, some sort of design element, and possibly some imagery. It needs to excite the viewer to continue flipping through the magazine as well as inform them where to find articles.

Our Chef’s Recommend

This is a fun section of the magazine. It’s current layout doesn’t do it justice. It is a lot of information and I think it would do better if it was given a more structured layout. Right now it is treated like a two column article, but I think it might do well to be laid out in a table so that the information is more accessible to the readers.

Sponsorship Index

This page is another fairly blank page. It needs some color and more structure. The current tabs leave the page numbers floating in space too much. I think a table or a different tab structure would improve this page.

Week 2

This week I went back and looked at the grids that I traced last week. I studied the similarites and compiled them into a unified grid. Then I recreaded the grid in InDesign. Once I had the grid measured out I began dropping in dummy text and gray blocks for image place holders.

I also created some style sheets looking at different fonts and type treatments. Experimenting with leading and alignment. I also created character and paragraph styles in InDesign so that I will be set up once I decide on a look.

Week 1

This week I spent most of my time pouring over cooking, food, wine, wedding and other upscale magazines. I went through several of the most promising designs and flaged different elements that I found appealing or useful for this project. I looked at design elements, colors, grids, recipie layouts, typography, colors mostly.

Some of the magazines I found most useful were:
Food and Wine, The Chefs Issue, July 2007
Everyday With Rachael Ray, June/July 2007
Italia
The Bride and Bloom, Fall 2007
Baltimore Bride, Summer 2007

I also picked some of the magazines, that I found the most sucessful with their grids and most similar to the size of the DC Chefs magazine, and traced over their grids on tracing paper. These magazines were Italia pg. 17 , The Bride and Bloom Fall 2007 pg. 127-149 and Baltimore Bride Summer 2007 pg. 19-27.

I also looked some at colors in some of the magazines. I especially focused on the colors in the foods. Focusing a lot on the vibrant colors and finding CMYK equivalents with the book Process Color Manual by Micheal and Pat Rogondino.