New Cover Comps

After getting feedback from Joyce on my wine glass cover (which got good feedback on our field trip), here are the two latest comps I just gave her. I really love the simplicity of them both. Next on my list for the weekend are to do a layout for the Chefs Recommendation (3 pages), dedication and the sponsorship index. I will have them keep the same feel as my other pages. My only concern are the mass amounts of type that go into these pages. This is going to be my biggest challenge when creating these.

Field Trip + Reworking everything

After reworking my layouts I started by redoing my front cover. I ended up finding a very good stock photograph of a wine glass on FLICKR. Here is what it looks like:



After showing Julien's old teacher my new layouts at GCF, she gave me really good feedback on my layouts. She really liked my covers (above) and told me to make my titles smaller. I also had an element on each page that she didn't like (a filled square that reminded her of National Geographic). I really loved the firm and could see myself working at a place like that when I graduated.

After the field trip I came home and reworked my new layouts. Here is what I have at the moment:

Critique with Joyce

My critique with Joyce didn't go too well. She totally didn't like my color scheme and ignored my layout. Here are minutes that Sam took at the critique about my feedback from Joyce:

"Joyce Lavery:

Cover:

Because the cover contains a food photo, it cannot be used. No food on cover. She did not like the color choices of light blue and yellow/gold. She looked to see if the colors chosen were “matched” to the food in the photos. Again. She could not understand why Cristian chose the colors he did. …they didn’t match anything… While she liked the use of type in the masthead, she said she would prefer that colors used for type be those found within the adjacent photograph, preferably food.

Publisher’s letter:

Liked the way that the “callout” was treated, but again, did not like the color choices of light blue and yellow/gold.

Says the appearance is too “ happy”. She wants “classy” instead. Suggested that the layout resembles a TGIF Friday’s or “Olive Garden” theme. She would prefer “Ritz Carlton”.

Table of Contents:

Thought the table of contents placed over a full-page photo of a restaurant interior was interest and innovative, however whatever photo used here would need to be a “stock” photos so as not to promote one restaurant over another.

Spread Layout:

Warned against cropping photos—“photographers have provided the composition that they want you to use…
Aesthetic is too “Happy”.
Joyce admitted that blue is not her favorite color. “Keep in mind that, in the mind of a chef, that the food provides the color” Implies that we should keep colors to a minimum, at least to such a degree that they do not “compete” with food photos.
Suggests that we not use more than one food photo with the recipe.
Michel Richard will prefer a minimalist approach to layout."

... After her critique I knew that it was time for me to start all over and please the client. Mr. Julien told us to change my colors, increase my margins (A LOT!), and make things more simple. He also gave us all a style guide with typefaces to consider using.

"We are looking like "Food and Wine" and not like the Ritz Carlton" - Mr. Julien