Brochure redesign by RAIslanders
PDF of outside and inside of brochure, version 1 | PDF of version 2
Critiques of This Redesign
Trinity had this to say about the first version:
"May I just ask what those two shapes on the left and inside of the brochure mean? Just to make the the front a bit more dynamic, I would maybe put those two shapes light (much lighter than how you are using them now) in the background of the "front" third. Make them bigger, even if it means that one side gets is cut off by the edge (actually that would look nice)."
She also pointed out some problems with rivers of white space in the fully justified text that needed to be addressed with tracking, hyphenation, or other means.
Choosing just one of the principles of design to focus on, I'd suggest Proximity. Tie elements together with proximity -- the distance between elements. I'd bring the text on the front cover in closer to the graphic (perhaps enlarging it) and elimnate all that distance between elements. One of the things I find distracting is on the inside. The headings over the various workshop descriptions are set in small caps and underlined with a fairly large space between the heading and the following paragraph. Overkill. Too much separation between the two. Yes, there should be contrast but this is distracting to my eye. What do you think? I would drop the underlining and tighten up the spacing a touch -- more like between the Pricing and Availability heading and the text that follows it.
CHALLENGE
If you were handed this brochure (the featured redesign, not the original) and told to not change the colors or the graphics (other than resizing or repositioning), what specific smaller tweaks would you make that could significantly improve it? In the comments, below, tell us what improvements you would make (and why) without totally redoing the entire brochure. Yes, you might prefer to scrap the whole thing and start over, but that's not the challenge. Whether or not you love the colors and graphics, how would you work with this color scheme? What typographical changes would you make -- keep the full justification or not? Change all the fonts or just some of them? What principles of design need the most attention?
Yawn.
The abstract graphics and their colors (on the inside panels) are the main distractions in this piece, along with the text issues previously mentioned. I’m not really even interested in reading the content because my eye keeps wanting to wander to the graphics in the background.
What I would do is make the graphics more in line with the color scheme of the brochure, really screen them back, and make them bleed off the page….maybe even overlap (again, those curved shapes on the inside.)
With that taken care of, I would then concentrate on the layout of the text and change it’s color. We should never lock ourselves into the idea that text is always supposed to be black. The right color for the copy could really make this piece pop.
I agree with the previous poster about the graphic elements being too distracting. I would also screen them back considerably and try to position/scale them so that they lead the reader’s eye around the brochure instead of distracting from it. I might also try to tone down the hues – I like the colors but perhaps some slightly subtler hues might allow more attention to be called to the information instead of the visuals. Copy is king.
I would also suggest some attention to the design principle of Contrast. The body copy and headlines are too close in size and weight, which is probably why the designer felt the need to underline the headlines. That might also solve the problem of the “white space rivers”. Also, I don’t think the full-justify is necessary for the paragraphs. It contribute to the white space rivers, given the lack of contrast in the typography. Speaking of, maybe some typographic treatments would make this brochure even more interesting.
I know the challenge is not to change the graphics, but even with the original design, I felt it strange that there weren’t more people-centric graphics in this invitation to a seminar about marketing, a people-centric activity. I wuld have tried to convince the client that more relevent visuals would greatly improve the impact and response to this brochure.
well, there you have it. Just my opinions though…it only matters what the client thinks.