My blog post InDesign project blog by Jess scrivener
Design ideas and design process
My first design for the postcard project was experimental I used rectangles in different shades to make dimension and illusions. I then added the typography to the corners so it would add a frame to the design. This also made it look more even whereas before it looked wider due to the layout of the rectangles. I chose green as it is a calming colour with connotations of nature and peace. Also, it works well with white, making it stick out and complimenting the connotations of green.
In my second idea, I changed the colour scheme and layout. I changed the colour to pink/red the connotations of those are passion, anger, love, romance and danger. Obviously very different to the calming green. This will attach the attention of the audience very quickly as people pay attention to shades of red quite quickly due to warning signs being branded this colour. It is also a similar shape to a cross (x) symbolising no and stop. Not only this it makes the design appear more square and bigger than it is as the layering effect reaches out of the frame. This is balanced out by the typography levelling out the edges.
On my 3rd and final post card, I played around with the typography more. Initially, I kept my geometric theme but changed the shape to circles to create a bubble effect however I was fonder of the squares and thought the text wrapping would flatter rectangles better and appear more post card like. So, I thought about post card conventions and thought this style typography suited abstract postcards better. I used 4 different shades of pink to create the hierarchy between the colours, for example, darkest is at the front lightest
as at the back. Finally, I also chang
ed the font on this one to be more fun and abstract. The curvy, thickness creates a contrast between the sharp edges but the flat edges mean it still fits the rest of the design.
Software tutorials
For this project, I didn’t use many tutorials as I am quite confident with InDesign due to my previous experience with the software. However, I did use a few to help me spiral rows of text around my 3rd post card but I already knew how to use the type on path tool so it wasn’t too helpful. I did learn how to make the stroke colour clear this helped me remove and change borders till I was happy with them. Finally, the tutorial that helped me most showed me how to use the pen tool. I really struggled with the pen tool but I’m now getting used to using it, I found out that you can draw a shape with the pen tool and then put an image inside the shape you just made. Although this wasn’t the most helpful for this specific design, it will definitely help me in the future.
Design resources and articles
During this project, I used a lot of Behance. I personally love Behance it has incredible work from so many brilliant artists, designers and more. I used this website for my inspiration along with experimenting with my own ideas. For example, I saw an illustration of slime dripping down a wall and that inspired me to create my own slime inspired cover. Or for the post card project, I saw kite shapes drifting over a postcard and geometric stairs next to it this inspired me. I saw how the stairs used the shades of black to create dimensions and the way the kites overlapped using the same method and I knew I wanted to try it. All of that thrown together became my final post card.