daniellelevitt:

I just got the beautiful hardcover Autumn/Winter 2011/2012 issue of Twin magazine!! Inside is the editorial Meet the Misfits -where I had the pleasure to shoot these amazing kids in Port Orchard, Washington!! 

I also used In Design to make this album cover design for The Fret. Balancing my ideas and theirs was a challenge, now I know how BA must feel.

The Fret are at Underground tonight, come down!

Although I didn’t end up using this image as a part of my ‘Fragile’ In Design work, it did teach me about how much you can do with the programme. When unable to find the ‘The Only Way is Essex’ font online for download, I made it myself using several In Design tools I hadn’t experimented with before. 

In reality, I don’t think it looks great, but again it served as a learning curve. 

Over the years newspapers have changed a great deal in the sense of both their layouts and content. Initially, in the 1700s, newspapers paid little of no attention to their appearance and were only interested in cramming in as much information as possible (Fig 1).

In 1880 the New York Graphic was the first newspaper to print a photograph, although this did not become common practice for years afterwards.

The years between 1930 and 1950 are hailed as ‘the golden age of photojournalism’ with magazines such as LIFE and Picture Post and newspapers such as The Daily Mirror and The New York Daily News building up relationships with photographers and huge readerships based on their work (Fig 2). 

Although some of these magazines declined in the following years photography had become an important part of the news. 

2001 and the collapse of The Twin Towers saw a new landmark for the world and for newspapers. Several papers published double page spreads or front covers showing images from September 11th with little or no text to accompany (Fig 3). 

`in modern times people expect to see images accompanying all of their news. However, the rise in electronic media and demand for as-it-happends news means that the photo story is often less popular than the paparazzi image (Fig 4).

Having said this, there are still newspapers publishing photographic supplements and full photographic stories. Also, the development of online magazines and newspapers means that those papers not wanting to give advertising space away on paper to photographs, can publish them online (Fig 5). 

SDA

For my self directed assignment I returned to Chyan, a self sufficient community just outside of Falmouth. The site spans acres of land on which the community, made up of people from all places and of all ages, live and farm. Converted buses and vans are home, solar power provides (occasionally) hot water and in the evenings, good company provides entertainment. The site is large but busy with people, the sense of community is wonderful.

“It’s great; you have you own space that is really yours, no landlord or anything like that, but there’s always someone to have a cup of tea with if you need it. ” - Sophie, Chyan resident.

fun times with The Fret

This second spread was a little easier as I was working with digital images, so no dpi’s etc to worry about. However, because of this I wanted to try something quite different from my last work. The release of the first issue of Pig House Pictures mad me very much aware of the importance and benefits of negative space. 

As it was in the brief to shoot for our layout this time, I decided to concentrate as much on the relevancy of the content of my images as their aesthetic appeal. I had done a lot of background research for this piece and made extensive recordings of interviews with various people and so had a lot to write about. For this reason I chose to place the images in a simple design and leave space for text, as without adequate explanation the images do not correlate especially well. 

I think this spread is a definite step up from my previous work, I feel the use of a more simple layout gives it a more professional appearance. Although I’ve now gotten to grips with the practicalities of In Design I think it will take a lot more practice until I really develop an eye for what does and doesn’t work in a layout. 

Armed with a basic knowledge of In Design I gave my first layout a go. It quickly became apparent that, similarly to Photoshop, it is easiest to learn by trying things out until it looks right. Youtube tutorials etc were a help to an extent, but everyone has different opinions on the best way to do things; I have found trial and error to be the most instructive way to learn. 

Initially I was pleased with my spread, it was nice to be able to write the accompanying text for my photographs as, let’s face it, I don’t think it’s going it’s happen very often in ‘the real world’. On a basic level my spread met requirements and I think I ticked all the boxes, however in hind sight I’m unhappy with my choice of font, as well as my image placement….so everything really. Also, when it came to printing my spread I discovered a host of technical mishaps: my spread was A4 rather than A3, my negs were incorrectly scanned and I had failed to package and link everything correctly. 

- Spreads should be A3, with a central fold inserted by exporting the spread as a JPEG to photoshop (File, export).

- Negs should be scanned at at least 300dpi, with an output size at A3.

- Spreads should be packaged (File, package) with all links included to ensure that everything prints as it should. 

Despite a considerable amount of faults this first spread was a learning curve, and I will now not make the same mistakes again. 

My InDesign skills still leave a lot to be desired….but I’m getting there!

….I just noticed my centre lines aren’t central, whoopsie!