Indesign - Analysis

I chose to use my touch project for one of my double page spreads. This is because I have more interest in downhill biking than retirement. I looked at several magazines to do with downhill biking such as Dirt Magazine (http://dirtmountainbike.com/#6cAWTUPWxGfYupzf.97) and Im Bike Magazine (http://www.imbikemag.com).

I took the majority of my inspiration for my layout from Dirt Magazine. After looking through many of their pages online and in their magazine I noticed a continuous trend being simplicity. Most of the pages are very simply laid out with a white background. Since I have not used Indesign much in the past I thought it was a better option to aim for a simplistic design and do it well as opposed to doing a  complex design badly.

Through lectures and inductions I begun to gather a simple understanding of how to use Adobe Indesign. From that I could start using simple features such as guidelines to make my pages look professional and neat.

One of the main aspects I struggled with was reducing empty space and making images and text fit together well. I found I was running out of images or text in order to fill gaps. The way around this was to space the images and text out more from each other but line them all up. This gave it a very professional look and didn’t make it look sparse.

I found this image whilst looking generally at double page spreads online. I really liked the simplicity of this one so decided to analyze it and see what features I could replicate.

-          The whole layout and colour is very simply and minimalist. This shows the reader that it is a sophisticated magazine that may be to do with fashion based upon the picture where the woman is wearing very modern clothes.

-          Text is small and in Sans Serif. There are no additions to the text which could prove to make it a less interesting article to many readers. It gives the impression of a magazine for a well educated reader who is happy to read a larger quantity of text. The word, "follow" is written in an unusual combination of upper and lower case, with 3 letters being superscript. This is technically incorrect and gives an artistic feel to the page which fits well with the choice of black and white and the large amount of white space.

-          The title/main heading of the page, ‘Self Obsession’ is intriguing and does not give much of an insight to what the pages are about. Therefore the reader may be inclined to read on to find out.

-          The entire double page spread is in black and white which adds another element of sophistication to the pages. This could seem a boring feature to many. On the other hand it could prove to be rather intriguing to others.

-               The whole top half of the second page is blank which could seem like a waste of space and could have been used to blow the text up a few sizes. The designers may have decided that the blank half page looked classier without some, perhaps, irrelevant images or text.

This double page spread is more linked to my double page spreads of Joeseph Walker, the music enthusiast. I have done the same with this spread as the last, analyzing it in order to take small features from it.

-          All in Sans Serif which makes it bolder and stand out to the reader more.

-          An entire page is filled with a medium close up of an artist. This shows importance and makes the double page more interesting to look at.

-          Very large, exciting title that draws the reader in and means there is less space for text which may appeal to lots of people.

-          Question and answer. This will appeal to fans of the artist because the questions are likely to tell the reader information about the artist that they did not already know, which makes it interesting. It also gives an intimate feel as if they are talking to the artist themselves.The answers are lengthy which could put some people off. This shows that the double page spread is aimed at true fans of the artist who want to find out more about him.

-          The questions are in larger text with a white background which makes them stand out. This helps the reader scan through the text and pick out questions they would like to read. This means that, although there is a lot of text which may not appeal to some people, it can easily be scanned for interesting sections and small bits can be read whilst it all still makes sense.

-          The top left of the double page spread has a caption saying, ‘News’. This makes it easy for the reader to flick through the pages and see what is on each page. It also shows that the page contains something new which readers are unlikely to have heard before.

-          The border is representative of stage lights which are bright and stand out. This being around the edge of the two pages could help the page stand out to the reader. It also reinforces the idea that the person in the photograph is a "star".

-               The page is simple which gives it a professional feel and is particularly effective for a wide audience.

The final double page spread I looked at was also related to music and again I have done the same analysis for the same reasons.

-          Lots going on in terms of colours and contrasting titles and texts.

-          Very modern looking band with a complicated background that draws the reader in. The background and surroundings of the group may hint at their social status, genre and band personality.

-          The page of text has lots of different colours and sizes of font. This keeps the reader interested visually although it could be a little bit confusing.

-          There are 4 other smaller pictures on the page with text, which breaks up the text making it more interesting to read and perhaps more informative.

-          Only half of the right hand page is about the group featured in the large picture. The other information is about 3 other artists. This is a contrast to the previous double page spread I analysed and you could argue that it makes the page a bit confusing.

-            The other pages were completely dedicated to the one artist. Having more than one artist may prove to be a more popular option because it will still draw interest from fans of, ‘The Teenagers’ whist also supplying information for fans of the other 3 artists, ‘Asobi Seksu’, ‘Crystal Castles’ and ‘The Rascals’.

After looking at the analysis of these images I decided I wanted to include these few simple features in both of my double page spreads:

• Minimalist
• White Background
• Black Text
• Pull Quotes
• Modern, classy overall look
• All in the same font

I used what I have learnt from researching magazines and my ever developing skills using Indesign to create 4 simple and professional looking double page spreads.




This is the my first double page spread for Touch:

I achieved exactly what I wanted with this double page spread. I kept it very simple and not cluttered by ensuring everything was spread out evenly and there were clear gaps between each body of text and image.

I noticed a small feature on a lot of the double page spreads I looked at. This is that they use a slightly greyed by line. I tried this on this double page spread and thought it worked really well so kept it.

I don't have an particular bad points on this page. I think the only thing that I could pick up on is that some could find it too simplistic. I asked a few photographers what they thought of it and they agreed. Having said this, the simplisticness was the look I was going for, therefore I didn't change it.

This is the second double page spread for Touch. I included 2 more images in this one than the first one. I wanted to show more visuals to ensure I kept interest. It took me quite a while to organise the text and images in a way that didn't look random and unprofessional. I ended up with this layout which I think works well with the information and images I had.

The downside of this double page spread in my opinion is that I would have like to have kept the text together. When trying to do this, I either had too much dead space or the photos didn't fit around each other without looking disorganised.




This is the first double page spread for my interview about Joe Walker.

I used almost an identical technique with both of the double page spreads of Joe as I did for those of Ben Moore.

One of the main features I added to this double page spread that I didn't have on the previous one is the two simple lines above and below the heading and by line. I saw this on a couple of different magazines when researching so experimented with them myself on this simple design. I tried putting them right at the top and bottom of the both pages and around the text. After trying multiple different options I decided that this was the most effective and helped to give it a professional feel.



This is the second double page spread for Joe Walker.

Again, I added 2 more photos than I had on the first double page spread. This is because if the reader has gone on to the next page after seeing the first, they want to know more, not just through text but also through photography.

In this spread I added just one pull quote because I thought it was quite powerful and since it was quite short another one could have made it less noticeable. Also, I added 3 lifestyle shots in this DPS, this is because the first DPS shows Joe in a very musical scene which establishes the article. The article is all about the lifestyle that goes with a passion for music and this is something I wanted to also show through the imagery.

The only bad point in this spread was that I could have possibly included at least one more photograph directly relevant to music. I had my reason for not doing this as stated above, but after talking to others about it, I think this may have improved the DPS.