Cover Page Design
Mockup Sample of the Cover Page Design
THE ASSIGNMENT
To create a cover page design (800 w x 1200 h pixels) for a Magazine/book – ‘Nature Untethered’.
The layout to be image based; using Maxi- typography to present the title.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
1. Creating a rough design
I thought of a few ideas about what images to use and how the layout could be displayed and drew a rough sketch using a pen and paper
2. Making the right choice of the following elements:
Image : I used pexels.com and unsplash.com to search for a few images related to nature and animals and shortlisted 3 of them.
Typography : I used canva.com finalise a few typographies.
Colour : I used canva.com and adobe colour to look for interesting colour combinations and themes and tried matching them with the images in my list. This helped me narrow down my choices to three colour schemes.
Elements : I choose a few shapes and kept them in my list to check if any of them may fit well with the design layout after it has progressed a lit further.
Applications/Tools : Canva, pexels, adobe colour, mock-ups, remove.pg were at the top of my list to assist me with this assignment.
3. Converting into an electronic format
I used canva.com to put my physical sketch of the design into digital/electronic format.
4. Sample Design
I tried three sample design copies via canva.com using the shortlisted images, typographies and colours.
Using remove.bg, I removed the background and download the desired images to add on to the design.
I aligned the texts, shapes and made changes to the transparency of the elements.
I made further changes to the text alignment and tried a few colour combinations.
5. Trials and mock-ups
I used the sample designs on book/magazine cover mock-ups using smartmockups.com to review the printed look.
I made further changes to the size of the typography, colour, size of the elements and viewed the revised version via mockups.
I used two hexagon element/shapes that complement each other against the background image. The elements also served the purpose of holding information in text related to the foundation and Penguins.
6. Finalising the copy
Based on the final mock-up images and each of their overall look, I finalised the best of them for the final submission.
MY LEARNING OUTCOMES
Two questions :
1. what is the objective/purpose of the design ?
2. Who are the audience ?
The above two questions helped me plan and progress my design as well as determine if I had designed right.
The right choice of image, typography and colour are all to be based on the answers to these two questions.
It’s essential not to over crowd the design and keep the most vital information only so that it is easy for the audience to read and understand. And, the information becomes pleasing to the eyes.
Certain elements can be cleverly placed and used to highlight key aspects of the design.
Using repeated elements, colours and typography helps the design look organised and conveys the intended message strongly and clearly.
The right alignment of all the elements in the design makes the design look organised and professional and its importance must never be overlooked.
During this assignment, the usage of various applications (canva, pexels, adobe color, remove.pg, unsplash, smartmockups) has helped me improve my confidence and skills.
And, I am excited to experiment and create new designs with these applications.
Photo Credits : Frans Van Heerden, www.pexels.com
