Showbiz time!

I sought advice from the course leader Jeff leak, who advised me to explore a site called 'fontsquirrel' which proved to be extremely useful for the development of my work. He suggested that I should perhaps reconsider my typeface choices, as they did not seem suitable for my theme. Jeff looked at my initial layouts and advised me to alter my alignments, and perhaps take my theatre theme into more consideration. I drew up some potential improved layouts, and then created them in Indesign...

I decided to explore some of the exciting typefaces on the Fontsquirrel website, and download them for my own personal reference. I then incorporated some of them into my layouts, which enhanced the appearance and overall composition of my ideas. I feel that I have been able to progress much more this week with my work, and I am more confident when experimenting with new possibilities.

I wanted to reflect the showbiz glamour and excitement of the theatrical experience through my layouts. I started by experimenting with the curtain lines in photoshop, using gradients to give a more realistic impression. This gives the entire piece a more themed, professional look. I added subtle elements that are reminiscent of theatre architecture such as spotlights, and I incorporated bordered boxes outlined with dots for text. This design is much more imaginative than my previous ones, however I think that compositionally it is weak. The layout of text could be more well considered.

For this layout, I used a fontsquirrel typeface called 'Impact label' which places a dramatic poster-style black box around text. I wanted to enhance certain keywords, like the titles 'Grease' and 'theatre experiences'. I chose the 50's style 'brush script MT' main title typeface because it brings a fun, quirky quality to the appearance of the layout. Each section of words is presented at a certain angle on the pages, communicating a dramatic 'broadway advertisement' impression. This layout is the most exciting, and the most successful. However, I still feel that it needs to be adjusted slightly to fit the brief criteria.

The next step is to tackle part two of the brief, which will involve creating an A4 size front cover for my DPS spread. I will experiment with some thumbnail visual ideas this week!