Social/Cultural Feature
We consider the progress we’ve made thus far and the different factors that go into a successful system, from colour and scaling to typography and layout.
Specifically, we develop a magazine spread and an Instagram post for a social or cultural feature. Through these, we practise maintaining a cohesive visual style and message while thinking critically about effectively communicating across physical and digital mediums.
Pen Tool, Pathfinder
What use is a good idea if there is no way for us to implement it?
We first explore tracing figures to make a cutout in Adobe Illustrator. Here, we use the pen tool to outline an image of a penguin, where we play with anchors and handles to bring the curves as close as possible to the true shape of the penguin.
In addition, we want to learn how to use the Pathfinder tool to create new shapes based on existing objects, for example by removing overlapping areas.
We attempt to replicate the robot below using squares, circles, and curved lines:
Using the four shape modes on the Pathfinder tool, I pair the building blocks together and create the image below:
Ideation for Social and Cultural Feature
We were encouraged to find a topic or movement that aligns with our interests and areas of expertise, so I explored the world of classical performance. As a pianist and violist, I’ve learned a lot about performance practice and historically-informed interpretations, which has helped me better stay in touch with recent developments.
Hence, I considered the new album released by Greek violin virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos. He recorded Bach’s set of sonatas and partitas for solo violin, which is perhaps one of the most seminal volumes in classical music. Kavakos took over 30 years to refine his interpretation, and perhaps the most notable difference between his and more traditional interpretations is that his is much lighter and more buoyant, seemingly even contemplating the divine.
It is very clearly different from popular recordings, for example those of Midori (with whom my teacher studied at USC’s Thornton School of Music) or Evgeny Kissin (one of the top concert pianists today): Midori recorded this version of the Ciaccona from the second Partita, and Evgeny Kissin’s discography includes a performance of the Busoni arrangement of the same movement for piano.
The Strad, a popular magazine for strings, published ‘The most perfect music ever written’: Violinist Leonidas Kavakos on recording Bach’s Solo Sonatas and Partitas, which discusses the approach Kavakos takes and his journey.
A few words I associate with the feature and his interpretation are “reflection”, “refinement”, “journey”, “personal”, and “inspired”.
I used this perspective to come up with a few design systems:
The first design direction was inspired by the idiosyncrasies of the new album. The interpretation is much lighter, more buoyant, and more open than a more traditional or conventional performance. I associated his versatility and musical freedom with calm and soothing open spaces in comfortable weather, and considered both a clear green and classical architecture as possible inspirations. I liked Gotham for this, which had very gentle, round curves and higher kerning. It captured the airiness and the lightness of the music well.
In the other direction, I considered the overall atmosphere and context of classical music to which this album release belongs. There is a great emphasis on authenticity, social hierarchy, and grandeur. These can be seen through a copy of the manuscript for the volume, the interior of a major concert hall, a royal navy, a rose gold ring, and a picture of pedagogue and violinist Aaron Rosand (who recently passed). I also chose to use Optima as the main typeface, which showcased that professionalism and class with its sharper, more elegant strokes and more substantial character (pun intended).
However, both fail to capture the interactions between this album and the realm of classical performance at large. They instead focus on the unconventionality of the album and the traditions of the space, respectively.
Hence I proceed to create a fusion of the two. Conceptually, I was aiming to portray the refined focus characteristic of classical performance that constrains radical exploration. In an academic environment, one might call it “ethical innovation” — designing and building within strong ethical frameworks so as to prevent dangers or abuse of technologies, for example.
At first glance, this seemed to work — with less purple in the red and a brighter, warmer, and more saturated orange/brown, the colours were more vibrant and played together in an interesting way. However, it soon became clear that using Gotham for the headline was not effective, because it was not substantial enough: the weight (or lack thereof) of the headline did not help the reader understand the proper hierarchy of the text. So, I changed the fonts used to Optima and Avenir, which is similarly versatile but slightly bolder and more substantial. In fact, as my previous research told me, the strokes are heavier intentionally so that words printed in Avenir would look the same regardless of being black on white or white on black. This way, the font would be very suitable for signage and large promotional materials.
I also looked at different font families and album covers for inspiration.
I therefore presented the following revised design system, moodboard, and text layout to my classmates and instructors on 2022 March 23:
My classmates left tabs indicating which of the concepts were most successful so far. The green tabs marked which systems best communicated the intended ideas. The yellow ones were for which type systems best helped the reader identify the most important information. Finally, the red tabs went to the colour schemes that most related to the concept and intended look/feel.
According to the class, the concept was captured well, and they also thought the type system and colours worked.
In smaller groups, we dove deeper into my work. The hierarchy of the text styles was very clear and well-received. The heading works very well in Avenir, and the content is very legible. In addition, the styling of the typefaces matched the concept very well.
However, the design system was less solid. While my classmates as a whole thought that the system communicated the concept effectively, we in a small group noted that per my mood board and the natural, open, worldly atmosphere I wanted to portray, it would be more reasonable to include a soft blue, perhaps even a cerulean. In general, my colours could use some playing with saturation and brightness, and my concept could play more with the ideas of being classical and being modern/breaking tradition by taking in more elements from the posters I included in my mood board.
For example, the Musica Angelica poster used a few translucent shapes and Gestalt principles to outline a violin. Similarly, the horizontal BACKGROUND DESIGN poster overlaid simple shapes and played with the saturation to create a sense of innovation and depth.
I was also advised to consider more variation of scale in my work to better increase the range of perspective and depth. Furthermore, for more artistic and creative inspiration, I was introduced to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and also the style of postmodern architecture. These resonated so much with me that my friends and I are planning a visit to Fallingwater, a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Pennsylvania.
Per their suggestions and my own experimentation, I came up with this design system:
Working with Layouts
Before applying this concept to create a magazine spread with this concept and framework in mind, I had to first understand the possibilities and structures of page layouts and systems.
I worked with two sample articles (four pages total) to understand their layouts. I overlaid blue rectangles to break each page down into its modular/column grid.
I compared my idea of the layout to the actual layouts (in red):
Here, I overthought the layouts and tried to force a modular grid when columns fit. I also see how the cleanliness of a layout is conducive to legibility and digestibility. We apply these conclusions to our own designs.
Sketching
With these concepts and nuances newly familiar to me, I proceed to designing some initial magazine spreads and Instagram ads.
Because the article covered is on the shorter side, I took that as an opportunity to instead focus more on graphic elements such as photography. I was able to consider a larger spread, then, instead of individual pages. So, the columns and grids are much more spaced out and the layout is less formulaic than one might see in, say, TIME magazine.
I digitised these spreads using Adobe InDesign to see a more realistic version of my concepts. This helped identify many issues with the designs.
For example, having all of the text so spread out would restrict the flow of the spread. In addition, these designs ignore the split between sheets of paper when considering the spread instead of page by page. This would be extremely uncomfortable, especially if I have Kavakos in the fold.
In addition, having a manuscript on the back cover would be too heavy and dense in relation to the spread out, lighter material making up the majority of the spread.
At this time, it seemed that going back to the drawing board would be more productive. There were many ways to consider revising, for example my instructor’s thoughts:
With these ideas in mind, I came up with these newer versions and got some feedback:
With these designs and feedback in mind, I went to InDesign. I prioritised keeping the minimalist yet expansive feel that accompanies the open and warm interpretation in the album, and hoped to embody that through full spreads, displaced grid systems, etc.
For example, I started with this:
Along with this, I also developed an Instagram ad in the same style.
We started with some rough ideas of what to include:
I started off thinking that I wanted to emphasise Kavakos and space everything out to keep the image very clean and straightforward. I realised that I would have to rely on a caption/links to share information about the album, which is counterproductive.
The second version resembles the middle spread of my magazine spread. It turned out like so:
Unfortunately, this looked like a meme and nothing as classy or sophisticated as I would have liked. Also, a black background was a bit bleak and dark for such a hopeful, contemplative album. The information was also too dense and the hierarchy was not clear.
I decided to keep the same approach with focusing on a large picture to capture the personality, but instead of including basic information, include novel attributes such as an album review.
I found a review of the album from The Strad magazine, reading, “Not so much music as a contemplation of the divine”. Fittingly, I found a picture of Kavakos sitting on an armchair that matches the “contemplative” mood very well. I positioned his name and the title of the album in his line of sight, and chose to use a softer brown for these words to be more consistent with the greys and browns predominant in the picture I chose. Similarly, I used an off-white for the review. These warmer tones help each element meld with each other.
I brought this version of my Instagram advertisement and my magazine spread to interim critiques.
During that critique, I noted that I could show Kavakos in different scalings to generate a dynamic feel and motion. It was also a good idea to make the violin continuous on the front and back covers as it generated a strong sense of cohesion.
In addition, we were prompted to think about how seeing the printed magazine would help us understand how effective our designs were. From this, we reflected on what we enjoyed and for what we would like to receive feedback. For example, I realised I should think more about keeping consistency across my spreads and play with the circularity of the designs (i.e. going full circle with the density, theme, etc. of my design).
The design had good breathing room and use of space and was not content heavy. However, the spreads were not very consistent in that the content was not very spread out: the text for the article, for example, was very back-heavy. Rather, I could put one of the big images in the back. With regards to balance, I could also move the quote to the bottom of page 7 to make the page symmetric about the horizontal middle line (with the manuscript and the quote mirroring each other). Even better, I could have the manuscript on the bottom and the quote on top — this way, it would not feel too empty on the bottom and be unbalanced.
Furthermore, I could try for a three column grid in page 5 and leave the left column of text empty. This would be more consistent with the other text boxes in the penultimate spread. An example of ineffective consistency would be with my two large left-heavy pictures: this was overly repetitive and did not mesh well with the rest of the design.
In addition, I also realised that I was not respecting the design system I set for myself. This could be addressed in part by having only one full page spread and using other pictures as small elements with different scalings, therefore allowing me to have more flexibility in the styling of the spreads. Also, I would be able to emphasise the dynamism alluded to earlier.
On the other hand, the information included in the ad was very good, and in fact, the picture used in the ad (contemplative) should be included in my magazine spread as well. However, I should keep in mind that the text in the ad will be read on a mobile device. Therefore, I might want to consider putting the review in the caption if I decide that the text will not be easily readable.
With these thoughts in mind, I proceeded to create this iteration:
The first thing to note was that the last spread from my previous iteration was easier to digest and less busy. For this version, though, to help delineate sections and facilitate cohesion across sections and spreads, I can also add musical symbols and lines throughout. I also need to go back and make sure that things are aligned properly using the guide lines.
To add in colour and respect the design system I created, I could work in colours in text. For example, I could also tie in more red hues by changing font colours. I could also experiment with a background behind text blocks and change the font to white text.
I could also have a stronger grid system here. For example, at an extreme, I could make the introduction to the article a full page here and emphasise the three columns:
One way to moderate this change would be to break this right page with the quote. I could also add the review used in my ad to the next page to be more similar to my ad, instead of having the quote from the article there.
For my article text, I should also keep the font size smaller (at 11pt instead of 12pt) and I should keep my leading at 16pt.
After playing with the designs further and experimenting, I ended up with my final iteration (below). Here, I made sure the front and back covers aligned (they did not match perfectly in my interim version). I also decided to make the spreads warmer with the smaller title text on page 2 and review on page 4 (to emphasise the negative space) and having the manuscript paper as a background for page 3. I also emphasised the hierarchy between bodies of text, particularly the quote, review, and the subtitle.
For the body of the article, I decided to maintain a grid layout. However, I wanted to break it up to escape any possible rigidity and be more playful. So, I ended up displacing the lower grids on page 3 to spread out the text, and I decided to match that upper-left/bottom-right layout on pages 6 and 7. These helped me space out the article text and created continuity between the different spreads. This is particularly helpful because having no article content on pages 4 and 5 can cause a disconnect between the spreads before and after.
After figuring out the placements for my text boxes, I began to manipulate my text so that the rags would complement and accentuate the grid structure instead of making it awkward. Here, I learned not to manipulate the kerning and column width as I had been previously, but rather to use soft returns to manually fix each line. This was more effective and faster than experimenting.
Overall, I think this final design was effective in maintaining a robust yet warm atmosphere. In addition, the content was not dense and was very balanced across all possible points of symmetry. The “circular” flow of the document also was consistent, since the covers were similar and the first and third full page spreads were similar in density and grid structure as well.
Similarly, my final ad is below:
I also emphasised the negative space here and made the text smaller. This helps put the focus on Kavakos in the armrest, which should make the concept more personal and human.
With these versions at hand, it was time to revisit the design systems I had neglected. I reflected on what I had been trying to accomplish with my magazine spread and Instagram ad.
I started with revising my moodboard, actually, because I needed to revisit the concepts I wanted to convey. For example, the nature images I wanted to include to demonstrate worldliness and openness were not particularly relevant. I could better demonstrate that through my open layouts and warmer, earthly colour scheme.
Now, since I was using the pictures in my magazine spread as a substantial design element, I thought about their consistency with the tone I have been building. Indeed, they do match well with my concept, as did the violin on the covers and the manuscript paper I used. So, I took these together to try to consider the overall effect I have made.
I pulled these colours from different parts of the pictures I used and created blends to describe the keywords I included. For the font, I realised that Optima was more than able to capture all I wanted as long as I was savvy enough to secure a strong grasp of the font (e.g. playing with weights, font size, placement).
I presented these to my classmates at our final critique. My classmates noted the removal of the natural elements from my designs and also appreciated the inclusion of the manuscript paper as a background for page 3, which helped set the atmosphere and allude to the classicism my article discusses.
At this critique, we also shared some thoughts on not just what we had attempted/accomplished with my topic, grid system, colour scheme, and styling, but on a larger scale, what we learned from this endeavour and what we hope to take with us.
I shared that I had a very productive learning experience especially with the typesetting, in particular learning technical components such as working with hanging quotes and playing with leading/kerning. It was also a very good way for me to practise the concepts we have discussed in the past few projects and see them work together. Before this class, you see, I have not had experience with design systems, grid layouts, etc.
I am thankful for the insights that my teachers and classmates have shared with me this past semester, and I am proud to say that I will be moving forward with a keener eye and a more robust technical foundation. I am more comfortable with verbalising my thoughts on designs and I am able to generate more insightful, useful questions to help me understand my goals and achieve them.
This foray into design concepts and immersion into InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop has been extremely illuminating and I am happy to have a broader and more thoughtful understanding of communication design.
