AFL Booklet

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This booklet will help you understand and evaluate the standard and skills required before making adjustments to your own work.

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AFL Cwork YR12 by MrSmithLC on Scribd

Coursework Tips from the chief examiner

Presentation nov 4

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Colours: Text on Background

When evaluating magazine colour palettes it is important to know which colours work with others. Below is a definitive guide to this.

Black on white is still the easiest way to present type and to read it and you change that colour at your peril. Using coloured paper, coloured type or a heavy type patch often reduces legibility. In tests carried out by Karl Borgrgrafe (cited in Favre and November 1979) to see which colours worked best together, the following taxonomy of colour mixes was discovered, starting with the most legible, and working through to the least legible.

Black on yellow

Yellow on black

Green on white

Red on white

Black on white

White on blue

Blue on yellow

Blue on white

White on black

Green on yellow

Black on orange

Red on yellow

Orange on black

Yellow on blue

White on green

Black on red

Blue on orange

Yellow on green

Blue on red

Yellow on red

White on red

Red on black

White on orange

Black on green

Orange on white

Orange on blue

Yellow on orange

Red on orange

Red on green

Green on orange

As you can see, black and white comes pretty near the top although the list suggests that a yellow panel behind the black type would improve legibility (which is why important warning signs of danger are usually printed black on yellow.)

From: Designing for Newspapers and Magazines, by Chris Frost, Routledge, 2003

Note: though black on yellow may be more striking than black on white, it is unlikely to be more pleasing in large quantities. Magazine designers have to strike a balance between legibility, impact, and reader satisfaction.

Between getting attention, and not being annoying.   CE

Tips and Advice on Layout from Clive Edwards

Below are a series of tips on how a successful magazine should be set out. When analysing magazine front covers evaluate which of these tips they follow.

The first colour is white. The second colour is black. The third colour is red. Calligraphers and early printers grasped this over 500 years ago and experience has proved them exactly right. White for background, black for text, red for accent and excitement. These three colours are the best . Be very careful with all other colours.

Roger Black (designer of Newsweek, Time Out, Esquire, National Enquirer, Rolling Stone)

A cover should be a poster. A single image of a human will sell more copies than multiple images or all type. Always has, always will. Think about why.

Roger Black

Never set a lot of text type in all caps. After a while, it’s just too hard to read.

Roger Black

Use only one or two typefaces. Italian design is the model: a strong sense of a few things that work together. Avoid a free for all of multiple fonts/colours.

Roger Black

Get lumpy! The trouble with most design is that it has no surprise. If you want normal people to pay attention, you have to change pace in your presentation. Monotonous rhythms of picture, headline, picture, text, ad, headline, picture, ad, etc. Is like a pudding without raisins – a stew without lumps.

Roger Black

Break up type to add interest

Chris Frost – Designing for newspapers and magazines

Don’t use too many typefaces. Too much variation will end up looking a mess. It’s best to limit yourself to one font, and variations of it.

Chris Frost

Emphasise your entry point, with larger intro type, bold faces, drop letters, etc. Choose your entry point with care, and make it the focal point of the page.

Chris Frost

Even mediocre photographs attract an audience and a good news picture, even on an inside page, may attract 80% of the readership.

Harold Evans – Pictures on a Page

Just switching type face from serif to sans can result in massive differences in reader comprehension, and response, to advertisements

Colin Wheildon – Are you communicating, or just making pretty shapes? (2005)

There are few major newspapers in the English speaking world today which use the sans serif type for the body text. Conversely, many major magazines choose sans serif. Serif faces have long been regarded as highly readable. One theory is that the serifs acted as tram lines, keeping the eyes on target. Another was that the modulated thick and thin strokes of serif types provided greater opportunity for individual letters, and hence words, to be distinguished and read.

Colin Wheildon

Responses to text in printed colours showed a considerably lower level of good comprehension.

 81% said they would prefer to read the page of coloured type because it was more attractive. But the test results clearly show that in practise, they found coloured text more difficult to read. It was attractive to look at but did not make a good reading environment.

Colin Wheildon

Editors and designers are the missing link between the ape world and man.

Colin Wheildon

Every picture should have a caption. Readers get very irritated if they cannot find the caption. But the caption must not state the obvious. A picture of a vicar pouring a cup of tea, should not have for its caption: Vicar, pouring cup of tea. Captions should add to the information in the photo, not re-state it.

Many music mags use witty, tongue-in-cheek  captions.

Type size for the body of an article should be between 9-14.  (not the headlines, standfirst, crossheads etc). Some newspapers go down to 8, and many would consider that anything above 11 is too large, wastes space, and patronises the reader. 9 is the most common size.

Rule Of Thirds And Golden Spiral

So, the first "golden" rule is the "Rule of Thirds" or "Golden Ratio". It affects the ratio (1:1.618) of a picture size, as well as the placement of the main subjects in the photo. This ratio is close to the 35mm ratio, so you don't need to change the size of the photo in most cases. But you need to consider the composition: main subject should lie on one of the four lines or four intersections (subject's eye for example). Truthfully speaking, these rules are not always the same. Rule of Thirds is a simplified version of the Golden Mean.

Another rule is the "Golden Triangles". It's more convenient for photos with diagonal lines. There are three triangles with corresponding shapes. Just roughly place three subjects with approximate equal sizes in these triangles and this rule will be kept.

And one more rule is a "Golden Spiral" or "Golden Rectangle" (you'll see why it's a rectangle in the tools section). There should be something, leading the eye to the center of the composition. It could be a line or several subjects. This "something" could just be there without leading the eyes, but it will fulfill its purpose anyway.

Comic Sans Criminal

Never, ever, ever, ever use comic sans.


This website explains why