Brief 3 - Page Layout: Reseach into Books

To get a better understanding of grid systems and page layout I went to the library and looked into a few books. The first one I looked at was 'Making and Breaking the grid' the page that caught my eye was about two columned pages where the page is divided into two with margins around each edge (allowing more for the right hand side/inner margin for binding). The thing that stood out to me on this page was the simple use of just two colours plus stock. The blue grabs your attention and the traditional black and white juxtapose this making for an ascetically pleasing page design.

The second book I looked into was called 'The Layout Book' by Max Weber. I was initially attracted to the book for the interestingly detailed front cover. This drew me in and once I began looking through I found an interesting page using two columns and illustration. It was all printed on newspaper paper with dark blue ink. The magazine was created by the department of Design and Architecture in the British Council with the aim of English as a foreign language. All the illustrations we done by hand by graphic designer, Sara De Bondt. What attracted me to the page was the beautiful hand made illustrations which really took a nice focus. I want to create something with the same idea of it being two columns with illustrations mixed within but with enough surrounding space so that the focus really is on the drawings.

The third book that caught my eye was called 'Good Layout' I found this useful as it really higlighted the basics when it comes to creating a good layout. The piece of design should help the viewer read it with ease - if they struggle they just wont bother. By arranging and emphasising certain parts of text it makes the message clearer and can also change the 
order in which the person reads. 

To organise a layout you must use different type sizes; the header being the biggest, then subheading then body copy. Put colours behind important information to make it stand out. Changing the weight and also leaving white around heavy text draws your eye to it. By putting a photo next to an important piece of text your eye is drawn to it and it re emphasises the point that was being made in the text.