You have been given a subject matter (an animal) and you are required to produce a visually considered double page spread based upon it.
The content for the double page spread will be gathered from your research and investigation about this animal. The purpose, tone and audience are to be determined by you.
The article must have 500 words and contain at least three images.
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| Background / Considerations |
Think visually.
Explore layout/type/image/colour and how they relate to each other.
What tone will the article take and who will the audience be? How will this visually affect your design(s)?
Legibility is to be considered carefully.
One of the problems with software is that everyone has access to it but not everyone knows how to use it creatively. Abode InDesign is primarily used for the generation of compelling print layout and breaking down the barriers between online and offline publishing. The possibilities of which can used as a springboard for further visual research.
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For my subject Matter I was asked to research 'Dog'. Although at first I felt quite uninspired when I compared my given animal to others who had gotten seemingly more abstract animals such as flamingo's, Leema's and Koalas. However I realised I could make my project just interesting to myself as it would be had I received any of these other animals, as I had as much to learn about dogs, as I did about these exotic Animals.
In order to make the project exciting I considered writing for a few different audiences with alternate purposes. I considered making a factual publication to help children learn about dogs and the plan of care if they were ever to gain a pet dog, as often children can be rough with pets.
However I found that when looking at young children's magazines, there are minimal amounts of text used.
Another Idea I had thought of was designing an article for what could be assumed as the Modern man/woman. Researching my topic, I found myself on Modern Dog Magazine. Modern Dog focuses a lot on the social aspect of having a dog, mixed with Celebrity Articles, and fun appearances such as photo contests. I thought I could be able to write quite a humoured guide on training a dog, when new couples bring them home, That would appeal to a young audience, looking for some quick tips.
Below are a few images that I have screen shotted from the website, that show to likeliness to interactive aspects such as entering photo competitions. Often taken part by younger adults who like to have fun with their dogs, rather than look totally for companionship.
More evidence that the magazine aims to communicate with a younger audience through use of motif word Modern and adjective cool, often linked with the younger scene.
Below shows the kind of celebrities that are involved in articles in the magazine, due to the nature of these celebrities, their jobs, culture, age and demographic audience, It can be further evidenced that the suspected audience is of a younger generation (20's- early 30's) who may be more interested in these artists.
However before going any further I decided to research more into the dog and how they came around.
Instead of trying to read this information, I watched a documentary from the National geographic called 'And Man Created Dog'. I took down notes for what could possibly help me with my double page spread.
After I had taken the notes down, I typed them up in article format as shown below:
'The
wolf was the original ancestor to the dog. More than 15,000 years of
human tinkering, first by accident and later by design has led to the
creation of dog. In this process man created one of the most varied
specimen on earth, shaping dogs to help make our own lives easier.
45,000years ago at the dawn of the ice age, wolfs ran rogue with the
world at their command. Millions of wolves populated the Northern
Hemisphere, travelling in packs. Our ancestors would have admired the
wolves stamina and superior senses, they were the perfect killing
machines, once they had sniffed out prey it was already too late. As
a pack they were able to take down animals much larger than
themselves. The pack would be led by the alpha male, the alpha male
would get first pick of the catch, followed by the rest of the pack
whom were left a share. The pack acted as a family, many of the
wolves in the pack would help to raise the alpha females pups.
32,000
years ago, at a time when the earth's human population was less that
one million, wolves were at a peak of curiosity. The wolf has a nose
that is 1000 times more sensitive than that of a humans. These wolves
found food on the edge of our camps, this food was our rubbish. The
wolves recognized that by being less aggressive, they were rewarded
in living close to humans. Our scraps, became their fast food and the
camp wolf was born.
Wolves
started following humans because they provided a resource, wolves
were no longer territorial, or hunting prey. There was a reproductive
divergence between the camp wolf and its predecessor. Camp wolfs
living with humans became genetically isolated from those living in
the forest. There developed a new social order, here began a dance
between two species that would change the world forever. Camp wolves
became familiar around campsites and we became more comfortable with
them. This small amount of time in which the transition between wolf
and camp wolf took place were perilous times for our ancestors, we
were surrounded by animals bigger, faster and stronger than us.
When
night fell we huddled around campfires anxious of the predators that
could surround us in the darkness.
The
camp wolfs first alliance to humans was when wolves would alert
their camps of danger, in protecting their own young from predators
that camouflage in the fierce surroundings, they had unintentionally
protected the humans of their camp. The pups of the camp wolf that
had been killed by predator, were now orphaned. The cries of the wolf
pups triggered the clan mothers brain chemistry urging them to nurse
the pups just as they did their own. The brain chemical 'Oxitosa' is
made by all mammals and is released through suckling and warm,
repetitive touch. Today we are just beginning to understand how such
simple acts of kindness can ignite the social brain chemical that
makes us less fearful and willing to develop social ties. The pups
and the clan members first felt this connection more than 32 thousand
years ago.
As
new generations from the orphan pups were born, the camp wolf evolved
into the proto dog, the precursor to mans best friend. With these new
litters our ancestors kept the tamest pups and shunned the rest.
Instead of natural selection guiding evolution, human intervention
changed the very nature of the proto dogs. Long before there was a
word for it our ancestors became geneticists. They created the wolf
that did not bite and set the stage for all of our dogs. We needed
dogs to protect us, to later hunt and even heal and they did all of
this for us because they needed us too. Our relationship with our
dogs may go back over 30 thousand years, but what our dogs look like
today is a fairly recent creation. Around 80% of dogs derived within
the last 3 hundred years within The victorian era. At the end of the
ice age, at it's last cold snap, Western Europe became much cooler
and dryer, within this time our ancestors were forced to adapt to the
new climate. For hunter gatherers hunger was an everyday occurrence,
primitive hunting could be very much hit and miss. Our ancestors
discovered dogs could kill game much better than we could, they had
the speed, agility and senses to run it down. Wolves were specialists
in cooperative hunting, some ancestors learnt that many dogs learnt
to hunt for food as did wolves and share their hunt with us, their
pack.
We
began the process of selective breeding by mating only pairs of good
hunting dogs, our ancestors were creating the perfect partner for the
hunt. Such great characteristics can be seen in our modern day dogs.
Saluki's are sight hounds, over the Millennia Salukis were trained to
spot prey in the open landscape through their 270 degree vision.
There effiecient gape meant their stride at top speed was 12ft. From
these first sight hounds came Afgans, Borzoi, Irish wolf hounds and
the fastest of them all, the greyhound.
Today
most of us no longer need dogs as hunting partners and cherish them
as part of the family. For many taking care of a dog is now often
referred to as the same process as raising a child. Humans and their
relationships with their pets are commonly the longest and strongest
during their life span.'
I found that In watching the documentary and learning about how the dog had evolved, I was a lot more interested in comparison to any of the earlier stories I had considered.
With doing an article in these proportions I began to think of where it would be showcased. What publication? What magazine? What audience?
Then it came to me in an obvious way, the documentary I had just watched was one created by the national geographic whom also had a magazine.
The National geographic boasts a binding of pages whose first priority is to educate, students, teachers, and those who are just willing to learn on a calibre of subjects relating to - geographic.
The National geographic boasts a binding of pages whose first priority is to educate, students, teachers, and those who are just willing to learn on a calibre of subjects relating to - geographic.
Culture, Language, population, habitat, animals. This seemed like the perfect back drop for such a story to be set.
needing both text and images, I began to research the type of images that can be found in the national geographic.
needing both text and images, I began to research the type of images that can be found in the national geographic.
I found that when culling these images, The national geographic liked to use a lot of, not only photography, but dramatic photography. The articles also pursued lengthy amounts of text and was mostly written in columns. I found that the typefaces used had an elegant vibe, furthering the magazines aesthetic of intellectual knowledge.
With these points in mind I began to draw up a few possible thumbnail ideas using 3 images as the brief has asked, and space for 500 words.
The thumbnail I decided that I wanted to pursue for my layout was number 3, I was very interested in the way that, the images (which create a band across the middle) emphasise the horizontal of the page, where as the columns emphasise the vertical. I began to input this idea into indesign, marking up generally where things would go.
I then followed the idea of making the article seem more elegant and therefore decided that I would edit an already existing typeface and give it an elegant appeal. To do this I took the typeface Bodoni and added some ligatures, as to me ligatures perceive a vast amount of elegance. Taking out the two outside pictures, I found the black and white image perceived the most elegance, and so I worked solely with this one for the next set up.
However I thought that when put into indesign, the ligatures did not work very well and lost the professionalism that the National geographic perceives and so I went back to my collection of thumbnails.
One of the aesthetic qualities that I really enjoy about the National geographic is the use of full page images, I feel that the photography in the magazine is one of the strongest points. I thought that if I used a full page image, I would have to overlay the header on top. For this reason I chose to work with thumbnail number 8.
I liked the style in which the designer had overlayed the text over a double page image in this spread of the national geographic and so I decided to follow the same set up, choosing a font of reflective elegance and colours to match the image in which stood behind it.
I also thought to break the image up, It would be nice to include a pull quote, which would summarise the purpose/ intentions of the article.
For the facing page I decided to use the same 'L' shape set up for the columns flushing this around too images that would be placed on the right hand side. These images emphasised the aesthetic of the modern dog as we know it, displaying the metamorphosis of dog through imagery as I define it in the body copy.
I then added the additional text which consisted of 900 words, this does seem quite a lengthy amount of text, however this is what the audience of the national geographic expect to be reading in light of its other articles.
For a couple of finishing touches, I added a band across the bottom and top of the right hand page with the words national geographic. This was in the same elegant font as used for the headlining to keep consistency and further reflect the finess of the magazine.
The final spread:
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