Design ideas and design process

Idea 1

Figure 1: Idea 1

For my first design (Figure 1) I simply took my podcast cover and made it fit the postcard format better. I added a thick black bar to break up the composition and included the apple music and Spotify logos at the top-left of the page. I counterbalanced the image at the bottom-right by adding a man who is appearing to be pushing the black bar — this adds movement to the design. To make the image fit in better with my original ‘Typophoto’ inspired theme I recoloured it to black and white, using the fact that linked photos automatically update when you edit the original file to my advantage.

Idea 2

Figure 2: Idea 2

Figure 3

This design is the strongest of the three (Figure 2). Not only is it aesthetically pleasing but it is also well planned out. I used the Fibonacci sequence to create a grid: firstly I used rectangles to produce a shape that differentiates with every interval in the sequence (Figure 3). After this I used these intervals as markers for where to place ruler guides both on the horizontal and vertical axis (Figure 4). I then filled in some parts of the grid that I was left with and this produced a modern and minimalistic arrangement of shapes. The composition looked kind of flat at this point. To fix this, when I came around to adding type, I reflected the main text around the corner of a shape — this gives the postcard a sense of multidimensionality as it prompts the viewer to look at it from different angles in order to read the text.

Figure 4

Idea 3

Figure 5

This final variation, just like previous designs is very minimalist. I used black bars once again but this time to assist the viewer in following the flow of the type. I scaled the words in relation to their importance.

Software tutorials

The first software tutorial I used was ‘How To Draw And Use Fibonacci Grid In Your Design Layout’ (https://youtu.be/n6BsmS68uAo). This introduced me to thinking about the theory behind my designs and how I can use useful features of InDesign such as ruler guides to help me do so. Grids are very effective for making sure that all elements of your composition are aligned and are especially helpful when working on editorial projects. I used the grid to determine the placement of shapes in order to create an abstract picture. Experimenting with the grid has opened up new questions for me and I’d like to explore other ways of manipulating your design through theories and mathematical experiments. It would also be interesting to investigate what makes a good balance between laying out page elements by eye and laying them out using theory.

The second tutorial I watched was ’11 Visual Hierarchy Design Principles’ (https://youtu.be/ZXItTIjC0Wk). This encouraged me to think about what stands out most, and the least, in my compositions and why — whether it was in relation to type size or the colour of certain elements. My third postcard design is the best example of this: the less important the text the smaller it is and the lighter the colour. I also decided to make the main text a bright red that stands out from the black and white. The only mistake I think I made, in regards to hierarchy, is making the black lines so bold. They are quite distracting.

Design resources and articles

After taking a look at some of Genis Carrera’s postcards and their purpose of capturing human ideas or ‘isms’ (https://www.designweek.co.uk/inspiration/philographics-postcard-book-by-genis-carreras/) I thought that I should try represent something in my own work. This inspired me to embody the concept of “design” through my second postcard. The black shapes almost represent building blocks that a designer would have to organise and arrange to create order and balance — hence why some of the shapes appear to have parts which seem as if they could slot into one another. It’s a metaphor for the obstacles a designer is presented with when designing. In general I found the geometric nature of Carrera’s designs successful at conveying a sense of modernity — something which you would want to encapsulate in a ‘Typography and Graphic Communication’ podcast. Design, like many things is about new and fresh ideas, and I think a modern design is the perfect way to capture that.