Above is my first attempt towards laying out some spreads for Good Design is for Everyone. I was very indecisive on making certain decisions, so I threw a lot of them on the page to see what was working and what was not. After obtaining some feedback, I decided to check out the layouts from way back when inside some old LIFE magazines (that I obtained for VISLANG). I found some very visually pleasing spreads that also fell into the format for this project...using a grid. I thought the examples below had a very well use of space as far as making the grid "not look like a grid" although they were used. (as far as placement with picture and text.
So this first sound, I did some field studies at a bowling alley and captured some raw bowling sounds and put them together in this nice compelation. I still need to replace some of the filler with different cuts, but I think you might get the gist of it. I also thought the food ordering call out was a nice "bowling alley" touch.
This clip is a cut from The All-American Rejects song titled "Breakin' ". I really like the way it built up some exciting moment with the music getting louder/closer.
This is a clip from David Phelps "End of the Beginning", and once again, I liked the built up anticipation of instrumental work it had. This has a more subtle approach to the smashing of the pins. If you pay attention to the "shimmery" kind of attribute in the background, that is what I had used. It's kind of like "i have finally climbed this mountain" kind of feel to it. I also picked it because I think after the pins smash, the song highlights the pauses of the pins flying through the air.
I only had one upload left, so I compiled these two into one. The first is me running a cocktail shaker against the kitchen counter to get the "ball rolling" sound effect. The second part is a box of candy emulating the shaking pins.
So here are some type iterations I came up with. I did mix and match some of the type treatments between the imagery. It was interesting for me to see that one type approach looked ok, until I set it up with a different image, and then I thought it worked more successful with that image. (As far as readability and such). On a couple of the covers, I did try and interact the imagery with the LIFE title logo. Below is an example of how they have done them in the past. My approach may be a little too ambiguous; however, my hope is the magazine is so iconic I don't need to show hardly anything...but we'll see. Also, I checked prices online as far as how much the actual magazine is. It was a little difficult to find a consistent price. (I didn't find any prices on Life.com surprisingly, but I checked amazon and barnes and noble, then called barnes and noble. The lady I spoke with told me weekly issues are $4.99 and special edition issues are $12.)
I ran across this oddly enough through the Starbucks website at work. This is a long video, but I think she has some interesting points of view and things to think about. Check it out. Maybe it will change the way you think.
(And sorry about the aspect ratio...it's a little too horizontal...couldn't figure out how to change it)
NA: SOUND I have to say, I really enjoyed how we began class today. Nothing better than starting the day with something to make you laugh. For me, seeing all those examples of how sound can alter how a video is perceived really got my brain moving. Below are some approaches I am thinking of pursuing for sound: -I would like to create a voice over from the pins perspective. I will probably voice the whole thing and play around with the tone and the speed of the recordings.
"oh, that was fun" "look at this guy" "he thinks he can knock us down" "ppppppsssssshhhhhh" "he's got no chance" "never doubt" "here we go" "Oh Geeze" "getting closer" "almost here" "i hate you" "YIKES!" "aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh (distorted & drawn out)"
-create my own bowling sounds....kind of like a kid i guess...or just for humor -rollercoaster sounds (tick tick tick tick tick...trickle down...then easing in screams) -some music clips -19sec-29sec of David Phelps "End of the beginning" -1sec of Janet Jackson-pins flying -0-17sec of The Cinematics - the whole movie - has anticipation -a history of bowling - a series of saying - poem version - fragments -recited voice over - deep voice -NeYo - "closer"
VISLANG The small group crit went well. It was nice to know that I at least have all the parts needed to create a successful piece. -large life size title -green computer angle or white computer angle -copy - "Digitizing how we do things" -browser illustration
I do still have to shoot some images one last time, and once I get that perfect image...it's off to type iterations. I also have to do some research on the actual price of a life magazine.
Alright, below are some pushes of integrating the image making onto the actual cover. Successful?....I'm not sure what to think of it. It's growing on me. Anyway, there are a couple different treatments, as well as copy throughout these 9 covers.
I have to say, I really had a lot of fun shooting these the photos for these. Like you said Jamie, I am the art director (but also the designer), and getting the shots I wanted was not as easy as I thought. Some of the ideas I had in mind did not come out visually pleasing, so I decided to not move forward with them. They also were too close or too far to where, it didn't make sense to leave that much space...or move that closely if I couldn't even get much of the browser in the picture. (Whether I need to show the browser active...I don't know.) Some of the ones below may look like the same composition...and they are...just with minor camera angle and perspective tweaks.
These are some of the "Life" objects I brought to shoot and go along with the computer. (gloves, checkbook, list, tape measure, yogurt, jar of change, bulldog clip, playing cards, bolt/paperweight, dry erase markers) After shooting a couple of the items for 2 hours, I began to think that some of these items did not have value, so I did not go through shooting a couple of them.
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