Lessons learned
Article Abstract:
The winners of Publish's Fifth Annual Design Awards, which appeared in the Mar 1992 issue, are valuable for inspiring design efforts, but the designs that did not win awards can also teach lessons. Here is a list of mistakes to avoid in order to keep designs fresh and lively. One entry which advertised a chance to win a train set used a static, uninteresting illustration of a train. More time should have been invested in the art and the theme. Other entries tended to overdo computer 'tricks,' which often yields what might be called 'computer cliches.' Do not use color blends, for example, unless they really are needed. Other tricks that can be overdone include the use of perspective lines, splitting words horizontally with solid and reverse type, or decorating a page with geometric shapes. Type is often used wrongly or in uninteresting ways. For example, books on typography often recommend using Futura or Helvetica in particular circumstances, but with so many designers using the limited sets of typefaces that everyone owns, these faces are overused. Other typography-related problems include overly distinctive body text, overly wide columns, complicated running heads, and use of geometric type blocks. Many entries seemed 'heavy-handed': too many features were outlined; and too many lines were too bold.
Publication Name: Publish
Subject: Publishing industry
ISSN: 0897-6007
Year: 1992
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Cost-conscious color
Article Abstract:
Games magazine, after making a comeback from bankruptcy, still employs many of the same personnel and still uses much of the same software: PageMaker on the Macintosh for production and a HyperCard-based PostScript program for puzzle grids. A new method of color imaging is utilized with QuarkXPress 3.0, which Art Director Al Stark sees as a way to maintain the same amount of color as in earlier issues of the publication, but which also offers cost savings. An acceptable quality color page can be done with QuarkXPress for $200. Due to the fact that the magazine stresses the ingenuity of the puzzle concepts, rather than attempting to appeal to the public with the quality of a color layout, a richly detailed color scheme is not necessary, and QuarkXPress is acceptable. A more traditional method that gives superior quality can exceed $3,000 for a two-page feature. QuarkXPress also allows color experimentation that would be cost prohibitive with traditional methods.
Publication Name: Publish
Subject: Publishing industry
ISSN: 0897-6007
Year: 1992
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The art of understatement
Article Abstract:
In order to grab a reader's attention, the best design approach might be the understated layout, especially when the everything else around is shouting for attention. Understatement works so well because it really isn't fashionable in graphic design in 1990, and is unexpected. An ad designed by Hurst & Phillips agency invites the reader to read because the blurred photograph of spinning tops bleeds off the page, in contrast to the simple, easy-to-read message in the text below the photo. The process of redirecting the reader's eye is a big advantage of simplicity. Simplicity can be refreshing on an editorial page as well, with continuous linear text nearly heresy in periodicals in 1990.
Publication Name: Publish
Subject: Publishing industry
ISSN: 0897-6007
Year: 1990
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