Layout

So for the past two weeks, we have learned about layout. I have worked a lot with layout and magazine layout so it was nice to revisit some ideas and tips. Layout is extremely important when it comes to designing magazines, newspapers, websites, brochures and even apps. Much of the trick in layout-design has to with the relation of objects in a space. This can be figures, text, images and other visual elements. Know your layout and you will be able to guide the eye of the viewer.

So for our first task this week, we were asked to show the relation of figure and ground. Figure refers to any object in a given space, and ground refers to the background, or space which that the object is seen. We were told to rearrange several shapes cut out of paper, and try to find the point at which the figure disappears into the ground.

So i cut out a number of different shapes using colored paper. The task called for black paper, but I used purple. I cut out some squares, triangles and rectangles in a various sizes.
Then I put the shapes on a piece of white a4 paper. I tried different placement, trying to find the point where the distinction between figure and ground became unclear.

When there is a dominant use of space, in this case the white ground, it is easy to differentiante between figure and ground. The point where it becomes unclear on which is the figure and which is the ground, when putting a shape on a white piece of paper, it seems, depends largely on the size of the shape or the number of shapes.

This may not be the best example, but you can clearly see that when the purple and white are given what amounts to more equal space on the page; it becomes increasingly more difficult to separate what is a part of the figure and what is part of the ground.

For our next task, we were told to draw one or two squares or rectangles in each empty square to achieve the following visual effects:

• Entering left
• Movement to the right
• Movement to the left
• Movement downwards
• Movement upwards
• Balance
• Tension
• Symmetry/asymmetry

Movement to the left/right

Inside the squares on the left side: Movement to the left. Placing a shape beside another shape on the left, suggests movement to the left and creates a line for our eye to follow and interpret.

Inside the squares on the right side: Movement to the right. The same principle as explained above. This is useful in guiding the eye of the reader and can be used in layout design.

Movement upwards/downwards

Inside the squares on the left: Movement upwards. The top left square has two rectangles of varying sizes, but placing the smaller one on the top suggests upwards movement. The two purple squares are different in size and using the small one we draw the eye towards the top.

Inside the squares on the right: Movement downwards. Symmetrical or even asymmetrical shapes can convey movement. The relation of the size between two or more shapes can also suggest movement in a direction, which is the case with the smaller cube under the bigger rectangle.

Entering left & balance

The top left square has two rectangles which appear to be moving towards the centre from the far left. Or in another word, entering from the left. The top right square has two rectangles that enters from the left. Because of this it suggests that the movement is going towards the center.

The bottom left square has a centered rectangle which suggests a balanced of space. The bottom right square has two symmetrical cubes that are equally distanced between each other, conveying balance.

Tension & symmetry/asymmetry

The top left square has two rectangles which are leaning towards eachother. They are not however, touching eachother, which in turn suggests tension between the shapes. The top right square has two cubes in different sizes in a asymmetrical placement. The placing and sizes convey tension.

The bottom left square has two rectangles which are symmetrical in relation to one another but asymmetrical in their placement in the space. The bottom right has two rectangles which seem to be in relation to eachother symmetrically, but the fact that they cannot be mirrored suggests asymmetry.

Each of the pages of a magazine are different, this creates the visual interest magazine readers usually expect (change of pace). I chose an old arts/culture magazine I had in my flat.

I flipped through it and chose a random page to show the use of grid. This is the page I chose:

Then I traced the grid, although I have to say it seems more to be an approximation of the exact grid. But I guess it is close enough, as you can see how the areas of the page are divided into different sections.

Here is an example of a similar page in the magazine:

And an example of a totally different layout. This changes the pace.

For our next task we were supposed to focus on pacing and contrast. Pace and contrast are important in the layout of basically all published text. It tells us how readers will read through material, and exactly what keeps the readers interest. Pace will be controlled by the content and space available. Contrast is closely linked to pace, because when you want to inject some pace into a design, you can create an emphasis by using e.g. large type or unusual cropping. You can also create a «quiet» design by having text-only spreads or using a lot of white space.

The advantage that online magazines have, is that you can expand them without increasing cost which means you can spread information over more pages which allows for more pictures and negative space to give breathing room. I looked at some arts magazines online, and visited their webpage. This is from Huckmag.com:

If you compare this with their published issues, you see that their layout is more compact online. With the magazine using most of the space available. Online it uses a simple grid with three sections. The magazines layout is very varied, keeping the pace always changing, keeping the reader interested.

For our last task, we were supposed to create a travel brochure in InDesign. I decided to have some fun with this assignment, so I made a travel brochure to the forest planet Endor, one of the planets in the Star Wars franchise. The moon is full of dense forest, so it was easy to find cool forest images online that I could use.

I had some fun with the layout, but wanted to keep it really simple. I tried to use some asymmetry to keep it interesting but keep most of the objects inside a symmetrical grid.

The body text is just gibberish quotes from Jeff Goldblum-characters in different movies. So don’t pay attention to that.