Studio Brief 3 - Final Layout & Grid

Below is the final layout I've chosen for my publication about typography in Berlin. The main objective for the layout was to create a grid system that allowed me complete fluidity with the amount of text and images i could implement. The majority of the layout pages are designed in a way to bring up the characteristics of the images. Using what they represent to inform my design decisions of the layout. For example splitting the images of checkpoint charlie down the middle to represent the historical split between east and west Berlin. If i couldn't create and find an effective representation of the image then the images(s) would fall into a default grid system, created to stick hold it's aesthetic appealing but with no layout influences.

As my whole book was based around Berlin, i wanted my book to have a close connection with the city through my design decision and production methods. The red duotone was implemented to represent Berlin's flag. The main benefit of this decision was the production advantage. The red is also a pantone colour. As you can see from the image below, the pantone red was PANTONE 185C. I would of been better to match the exact pantone colour of the red from the Berlin flag but as the colour would be an overlay it would make the image a lot darker so therefore i was restricted to use a lighter red in order for the image to become visible.

In terms of production method, using a pantone colour means that you only need one ink to print the image. This will in affect cut printing cost and save a lot on time. Another benefit would be on a commercial scale. Obviously I would save a lot of money if i was to print thousands of copies but also it allows me to get the same printing results each time as you won't have to worry about different kinds of ink and how will they cope under a laser printer vs a ink jet printer. All is needed is to send over the Pantone code and you know for a fact that the results will be the same any where in the world. This case would be made even stronger by linking the pantone with litho printing cutting the cost even more ad litho printing only requires using the same plates which avoids printing inks altogether.

Even though all the images would be red, one could argue that the publication could come across as plain and not as visually exciting. Indeed that may be true but i made sure to keep in mind about current contemporary trends and to feedback to my target audience. My target audience is young creatives which made it easier to ask for their feedback as they are all around the university and in class, so these are the people who's feedback is vital in order to understand if I'm on the right path with my concept and whether or not I'm sacrificing design aesthetic over production and cutting cost where i effectively can.

So below are some of the layout spreads with annotations about the reasoning behind the layout choice.

Grid system - This is the grid system used across all spreads. It's a 5x5 grid which allows me to have plenty of opportunity to be as diverse and flexible as to where i place my content without only having a few choices.

Default grid - This is the default grid system, only to be used if the images used can't be represented in a dynamic layout style. Often used for miscellaneous and random images.

The second default layout choice to the one above.

The page spread here is about transport. The way i wanted to represent the spread was to show movement. I achieved this by rotating the middle image showing direction that in return guide the readers eyes down the page and onto the text.

What I'm trying to represent here is a personal experience that i occurred in Berlin. So when visiting the Reichstag a protester was ruining my experience by annoyingly shouting in a microphone in french and bothering everyone who was there to see the Reichstag. Therefore my representation of this experience is to have an image of the Reichstag and to annoyingly place the protester on top of it, obstructing the view off what you really want to see.

Checkpoint charlie page spread. The design decision here was to represent the history of the split between east and west Berlin in the 1960s - 1980s. Simply I split the images in half to communicate the separation. I wanted the overall feel to be minimal and stripped back to make the intended message more vivid with greater impact.

Berlin wall images - I represented the Berlin wall but lining up the images in a wall like structure. The first image the type on the wall says 'Madness' along with the last image. This is to communicate how wrong and destructive the Berlin wall had become, it was complete 'madness' from start to finish.