Brief 3 - Page Layout: Design Research

I want my design of the pages to be synced and relatable to the design history of the cards.

Searching around I have managed to find a free downloadable font which is used and referred to as ' card characters' http://haroldsfonts.com/portfolio/card-characters/ 

I am really drawn to this slab serif font as it fits in so well with the theme of the cards. It has an element of looking like a typewriter but the fact that it is thicker removes this. When I first see this font I immediately think of cards. This will be appropriate for headers and titles within  the page layouts, however since there is no lower case it may not be appropriate for body copy. It would be too loud and overpowering and would distract from the words themselves. I will try and find a simpler font which will compliment it.

Although this is an online page layout I loved how the text overlaps the image and the text colours compliment certain aspects of the image. The article as a whole is simple to read and you don't feel bombarded with information or adverts. They have used a simple colour scheme and with two main type faces; a san serif gothic for the titles and buttons and then a serif roman font for the body copy. The light grey/ cream background provides a good base for the typography.

The thing that attracted me to this page layout is how the page follows so nicely from left to right. You could imagine opening this in a magazine and seeing it as one spread. The use of block colours really stands out and the title works great in complimenting this. I am unsure of the yellow text on the right hand size as i feel they would have been better sticking with black and white. However the theme as a whole is something I could incorporate with patterns found on the cards being used as dividers of colour.

I loved the idea of having the images and type separated but with the lime green, black and grey linking the two. The bright colours keep your attention and the use of typography and the chosen fonts make the piece easily readable. It is a risky move having the title so far down the page but the white boarder really balances out the design and links nicely to the pictures.

The colour of the backing images really contrasts against the grey background with black boxes. I completely love the colour scheme used here and there is a great balance of image with text. This way you have something to keep your focus whilst guiding your eye around the page. 

Before I create my page layouts it would be useful to have a decided on theme. I really want to incorporate different aspects of the playing cards such as the typography and colour schemes when it comes to designing the layout.