Well folks I hit a brick wall. Even google couldn’t give me a clear answer when googling “what is a lead in magazine spread?” I’m furiously researching this because I happen to have a lead in spread due tomorrow afternoon for class. I’ve scavenged the internet and found resources for how to write a lead in spread, but nothing on how to design one. I’ve looked at Linkedin Learning and haven’t found anything directly relating to lead in spreads.
My basic understanding of a lead in spread is that it is a spread that mainly has a large image across one page and a blurb of writing that teases the article.
Here are some Fast Company magazine lead in spreads below
So it seems the formula is simply
large image + banner+ title and introduction blurb= lead in spread
Here is my finished lead in spread
If anyone else has any resources or clarifying information, please let me know in the comments below!
Making my first product spread was a rollercoaster! It challenged me to beef up my photography skills and problem-solve.
My magazine is all design-centered. So I wanted my product spread to align with that. I decided to make the theme of the spread: things designers need. (That way I could scavenge my apartment for things I already had)
The (Pinterest) Inspo
The Trials and Tribulations of The Product Spread
My intial thought was that I could take one picture with everything laid out in the lightbox. However, I had trouble getting a wide enough shot. It was also tricky to get enough height to take the picture.
So, I pivoted to taking individual pictures of my products. This way, I could place everything on the spread wherever I wanted it. I had a hard time taking a picture of a mug. When I placed it on its side, it rolled, and angling the camera was a bust. I ended up with six product pictures of tea, coffee, pens, a sketchbook, a planner, and a journal.
I took my pictures into Photoshop and got rid of the background, fixed the brightness, etc. Placement was difficult to pin down. I wanted the spread to resemble a semi-messy desk. But the finished spread had the products more centered and neat.
Honestly, at this point I wasn’t too happy with what I had. I didn’t consider all of the colors of my products. The colors didn’t really go together, so I ended up finding a different planner and teabags to reshoot.
Then I tackled the background. I wanted it to have some sort of texture. I found two different brown paper bags and some wrinkled wrapping paper. The wrapping paper ended up being the wrong color and a bit too wrinkly. But the brown paper bag worked out just right. I got inspired by a Trader Joe’s bag and took pictures of the illustrations. Then I removed the backgrounds in post and added them to my spread for some fun.
The Evolution of My Product Spread
The early iteration with the old planner and tea bagsAfter talking with my teacher, I moved some things aroundI moved the kettle behind to allow more space for the text (the final form)
That’s all she wrote! Comment your design roadblocks and how you overcame them.
In my New Media Class, we are making website mood boards for a fictitious client. The website is for Chef Jaqueline, who specializes in making cakes and baked goods for big events. I first started off with making up a moodboard template in Photoshop and then filling it in. There are various mood board templates online that you can find as well.
I love color and decided to hop onto color.adobe.com. They have all sorts of color palettes. I searched up terms like bakery, cookies, and cake to get some potential color options. I ended up going with a pink French bakery color palette.
For fonts, I wasn’t too sure. I looked at other local bakery sites for ideas. Most headline fonts were bold, readable, and sans serif.
I found a font I really liked for headlines, called New Kansas. I usually get my fonts from Adobe fonts. I went with a sans serif sub headline font, Elza. And then a simple serif font, Dolly Pro, for the body copy.
I also had to make sure my navbar colors were easily readable. I experimented with my different palette colors to find the best option. To make sure, I used this color checker website.
Ta Da! The finished mood board
Read more posts for design insights. Until next time 🙂
Chip Kidd is a book jacket designer, associate art director for Alfred A. Knopf, certified comic nerd, freelancer, and novelist.
Kidd’s Career
Kidd got his start in the design world with a graphic design degree at Penn State in 1986. From there he moved to New York, and became a junior assistant in the Alfred A. Knopf publishing art department. He worked his way up the company ladder, becoming the Associate Art Director in 2013. Kidd has created book covers for David Sedaris, Neil Gaiman, Cormac McCarthy and many more authors.
In 2001, Kidd published his first novel, The Cheese Monkeys. He wrote a sequel, The Learners. He has helped write and design other books, as well as writing his own children’s graphic design guide, A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design.
In 2014, he was awarded an AIGA medal. He continues to work at Alfred A. Knopf and has also given a Ted Talk on design philosophy.
So this semester is all about making a magazine, quite literally, from scratch. We have to write the articles, conduct interviews, photograph interviewees and products, design our own advertisements– you get the idea.
I kinda dove in headfirst, working on assignments as they were given. Because of this slapstick approach, I haven’t really fully thought about the vibe of my magazine, colors, spreads, etc.
So over my weekend, I wanted to cement the foundation of my magazine. I took to Pinterest and made a mood board with spread design ideas. I went online and used this website to generate color palette ideas. For my fonts, I used Adobe Fonts and browsed for potential body copy fonts. Indesign was my chosen software.
Some spread ideas that I liked (above and below)
I wanted to keep the magazine minimal but with a sense of design with colors and layout.
The finished scrappy mood board
The mood board will make it easier for me to design future elements and spreads of my magazine, musings.
Welcome back ya’ll! Today I thought I’d walk you through my current challenge: creating a graphic design portfolio. I am by no means an expert, but with the power of the internet and my teachers, I think I can handle it.
Where to begin?
The most important part of your portfolio is the contents. You want to show off your best work, what you’re most proud of. So gather up your portfolio pieces and edit them as needed. I needed to edit some of my projects after getting feedback from other graphic designers. Do this and then we can start designing the portfolio.
Designing the portfolio
For some reason, this is the most daunting part. I’m opting to create my portfolio in Indesign, but there’s a lot of other options such as Adobe Express.
My itty bitty screenshot, I couldn’t figure out how to make it bigger 🙁
Navigate to New File –> Web tab –> and then look at some templates. You can use those or create your own!
I started with a business proposal template and began to customize it to my portfolio needs. I wanted to include sketches, process images, final product pictures and design explanations.
A rough idea of my portfolio layout!
And that’s it! Design your portfolio and then export it as a PDF, or an interactive PDF if you have links, etc.
After what seems like actual AGES, I’m almost done with my ten-piece campaign for Layout 3. I’ve finished I only have the festival map left! Thank goodness. Here are some snippets of my finished products.
After all of the advocacy work I’ve done for the library, I was hopeful that I was done. However, with the shutdown of the Institute of Library and Museum Services (ILMS), I am far from it. A lot of South Dakotans (myself included) made numerous calls to our SD legislators in hopes of restoring the…
After way too long, I’ve finally finished the ten-piece campaign poster. Deep down, I wanted to create more of an art-centered poster. But with all of my classes and working part-time, I’m left with minimal time. I opted for a simple and sleek poster design. I scrapped most of what I started with. Throughout a…
Paula Scher is a painter, album covers, educator, layout artist and renowned graphic designer.
Her Work Through The Years
With a start at the Tyler School of Art, Scher graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts in 1970. She then became a layout artist at the children’s division at Random House. Switching gears, she worked at CBS and then Atlantic Records. Her album covers received four Grammy nominations.
In the 80’s she sought out freelance graphic design, before starting a firm in 1984 with Tyler Koppel. The firm dissolved during the recession and Scher went to work for the design firm, Pentagram, in 1991. Currently, she is the principal at Pentagram.
As well as working Pentagram, Scher taught at the School of Visual Arts, Tyler School of Art, Yale, and Cooper Union.
Iconic Work
What put Scher on the map, was her identity creation for the Public Theater in New York City. Through her unique, graffiti-inspired typography, Scher was able to inspire the graphic design world.
One of Paula Scher’s poster design for The Public TheaterScher’s rebranded Public Theater Logo
Other notable logo designs are Tiffany and Co., Citibank, Windows, and the Metropolitan Opera.
Album Covers
Album Ginseng Woman designed by Paula Scher and Andy EngelBoston’s album designed by Paula Scher and illustrated by Roger Huyssen
That’s really just a snippet of her expansive portfolio. Here’s a great book of her work! Preview it here.
Rulebreaker, Father of Grunge Typography, prolific surfer. All things that aptly describe David Carson.
Carson started out as a high school teacher in Oregon, where he caught wind of a graphic design summer program at University of Arizona. Soon after he was off to Switzerland to another summer program under the instruction of instructor Hans-Rudolf Lutz. He began working at various magazines such as, Transworld Skateboarding, Beach Culture, and Surfer. In the early 90s, he landed at an alternative music magazine, Ray Gun, and really developed his style. Working at Ray Gun in the peak grunge era, Carson was able to lean into it and make it his own. After three years, Carson left Ray Gun in pursuit of his own design business.
What makes David Carson so unique is his fresh perspective on design. He tosses out the traditional design rules and forges his own. This take on design is what gives him his edge and personality. That’s essentially his brand.
Some of his work
poster for his 2014 AIGA lecture (not my pic)dvd navigation design for Nine Inch Nails (not my pic)obama election design from 2009 (not my pic)
A really great interview article to better understand Carson and his philosophies: click here!
I was able to go to the SD AAF (American Advertising Federation) student day! It was such a great opportunity and I thought I’d share what I learned with you guys.
Some recurring pieces of advice that kept coming up during different panels were:
Keep learning
Graphic design is a vastly evolving practice. You need to learn relevant skills and keep up with new software to survive in this industry
Check out free online classes, local conferences, and webinars!
Just start!
Whether it’s a project, application, or class, just start. You can’t figure out your strengths if you won’t try things.
Ask questions
Questions are great for clarifying things or learning more about a certain topic. You’ll never know if you stay silent. So speak up and stay curious.
Most agencies/designers/professionals are willing to help students
Industry professionals shared that they are open to job shadowing, portfolio reviews, and questions. The worst people can say is no, so go for it! What do you have to lose?
Explain
Communication is key in this field. You need to be able to explain design processes and reasoning.
Overall, I learned so much at this event. Hands down the best $35 I’ve ever spent. I was able to network, learn about different parts of the design and marketing industry, and get a second portfolio review opinion, headshots (and lunch!).
