The inspiration for my table of contents page came from "allyou magazine". They use chunking and big photos to engage the reader and I really tried that here. I did try to just have a list, but it was very basic and boring and not what I wanted. I'm wondering if there is too much negative space, or if the negative space works. I also am not completely sold yet on having a 12 page magazine, and if I have time, I might make it 16 pages, which means this page could be filled up more. Feedback would be great! I struggled with this one.
Erica – I think you have mentioned exactly what your next step with this will be – add more content! There is too much negative space around these elements. Don’t worry about actually having all the pages you list here in your magazine – go ahead to create some more departments and features to use in this page. I also think that you need to find the right grid for this design, I don’t see any at work currently. THEN, and only then, decide to break the grid with the images that “beg” to be larger, especially silhouettes. Keep the departments together in one column – that would help you initially with the “hierarchy of information” that is so necessary on this page. How about using the middle of a 3-column grid for the smaller departments?
ReplyDeleteWe need to look at this, and know which articles are features and which are the less important departments. That is what “hierarchy of information” is all about. I’m finding this a bit confusing, not enough consistency between them perhaps? For instance, I’m not sure what “10 Healthy Lifestyle…” is – a department or feature? And, “The New Face” and “How our Eating Habits…” are both features… but sizes here are inconsistent so I’m not sure. I know you are trying to avoid “boring” design… but please don’t think about it that way. Instead, think about being clear with your design decisions… and then after you have achieved that, you can take those next steps into excitement.
Also – would it make sense to replace the word “CONTENTS” with either the masthead, or issue theme, or both? The date makes sense up there, good. I’m looking at the running foot, and it seems so delicate. Is it a bit too small, and/or light for your pages?