Received 10th March 2010
Hi Aisha
Hi Aisha
I'm very well thanks, hope you are too. I think you magazine looks lovely, I've put a few comments below as to how I think you could improve the layout/text (hope you understand what I've put, I'm sometimes not very good at explaining what I mean lol! if not just ask)!
I think stitching the title will look awesome, one of my friends did a whole stitched book for her final piece at university and it looked really nice. Maybe mix the colours of the thread up a bit and don't always use the obvious black. Bit of a silly question but you have thought about the back of the pages because if you are stitching you'll see the back of the threads etc?!
Try making your subheadings stand out from the main bits of type. You may want to do this by using a bolder version of the typeface, maybe highlight them by putting a coloured box behind them. See the images I've attached I think this again makes the reader differentiate between what is the main text and what are the subheading. Also it splits the page up a bit and doesn't all look too samey.
When you have a lot of text on a page it sometimes looks better justifying the text rather than left aligning it. Try doing this to see what it looks like, maybe this is just personal opinion though?! All text on the same page should be aligned the same, for example on page 7 (Make Do And Mend) if the main text is left aligned the bullet pointed tips bit should also be left aligned not centered. (Hope this makes sense) lol!
Have you tried adding a stand first after every title? Just an idea to introduce each page... like we do on Velvet. This lets the reader know what the article is about before starting to read it.
I love how you've over lapped the images on some pages like the stationary page, maybe see what it looks like making some of the best images a bit bigger to contrast from some of the smaller ones. Maybe even try bleeding some images off the edge of the page.
Feel free to send me it again if you need me to look at it.
Thanks Jess
Actions -
* Readjusted the text so that it is all justified to one side now, it looks a lot better.
* Made the sub titles/heading on each page bold and a slightly bigger 11 font size compared to the main body of text, makes it stand out much more, first thing that the eye notices, doesn't look all the same.
* I will also experiment with having some of the imagery running right to the edge of the page and see what effect that achieves, more for full page images rather than any other size.
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I then e-mailed Jess back about visiting her when I go back home over Easter, so that we could go through the publication together, as I will have about 90% of the content completed by then, this is the reply I got -
Received 11th March 2011
Yes that's fine for you to come in at some point over Easter, if you pick a time and day that should be fine for me. Just let me no in advance!
Thanks Jess
Actions -
* Readjusted the text so that it is all justified to one side now, it looks a lot better.
* Made the sub titles/heading on each page bold and a slightly bigger 11 font size compared to the main body of text, makes it stand out much more, first thing that the eye notices, doesn't look all the same.
* I will also experiment with having some of the imagery running right to the edge of the page and see what effect that achieves, more for full page images rather than any other size.
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I then e-mailed Jess back about visiting her when I go back home over Easter, so that we could go through the publication together, as I will have about 90% of the content completed by then, this is the reply I got -
Received 11th March 2011
hi Aisha,
Glad you understood my comments lol! hope the design is coming along nicely!
Glad you understood my comments lol! hope the design is coming along nicely!
Thanks
Jess
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Following stage review both Tiffany and Josh suggested giving the publication to my intended reader to get feedback on the content and layout, I had initially planned to hold a focus group with the Craft Society at uni but they have since disbanded, so was a little stuck on who to ask. Tiffany suggest I take it to the next Boscombe Vintage Market, however, this is not until the 2nd May which is a little too late to be making any changes to the publication, so I have sent four of the stall holders digital pdf copies of the publication, so far the feedback has been positive -
From Jillian Phillips - JillyP Store
Hi Aisha
Jillian
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Following stage review both Tiffany and Josh suggested giving the publication to my intended reader to get feedback on the content and layout, I had initially planned to hold a focus group with the Craft Society at uni but they have since disbanded, so was a little stuck on who to ask. Tiffany suggest I take it to the next Boscombe Vintage Market, however, this is not until the 2nd May which is a little too late to be making any changes to the publication, so I have sent four of the stall holders digital pdf copies of the publication, so far the feedback has been positive -
From Jillian Phillips - JillyP Store
Received 12th April 2011
Hi Aisha
Dandy-Lion looks fabulous! What a great job you've done on it. Congratulations!!
Just noticed a spelling error on pg8- Stationary should be spelt Stationery (my sister recently corrected me, so I'm always looking for it now!!)
I have a webshop now..
Love the illlustrations on page 40+ and the photography is really lovely.
Especially love the hand written title of page 2...gorgeous.
Well done :)
The girls at the market will love it too..
Jillian
Actions -
I have made the change to the spelling of stationary and inserted her new online shop, which I'd been meaning to do and kept forgetting. I'm glad she flagged up the illustrations that Rachael ha done as I was a little unsure about them. In a bid to reduce the number of pages in the publication I have had to cut one of the illustrations, but I think it was a bit too long in the first place.
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Feedback from Leah at Vintage Per Sempre - Received 16th April 2011
hi Aisha,
I love it!
very cute.
please send me a paper copy when its finished too!
lovelyyyy x
Feedback from Leah at Vintage Per Sempre - Received 16th April 2011
hi Aisha,
I love it!
very cute.
please send me a paper copy when its finished too!
lovelyyyy x
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I sent the final version of the publication to Jess at the beginning of the week to get some final feedback on what she thought of the changes that I'd made to the publication after our meeting last week and this is the response I received -
The Magazine is looking really good now, think it makes a big difference with using the extra typeface for the subheadings. The only thing I would maybe suggest is having a little more info on the front cover, but again that all depends on personal opinion and what your tutors have told you. Maybe look at some other magazines to look at what sort of info they put on their covers.
Thanks, Jess
Thanks, Jess
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The cover is something that I want to keep really clean and minimal with the focus entirely on the image, therefore it has no logo, and is solely the image, due to the fact that it is packaged within a box you will not see the cover, with the logo displayed on the luggage tag attached to the packaging. I have still as yet to decide on the final cover image, instead waiting until I have the images from the land girls shoot which is taking place tomorrow.
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Feedback from Carla Sanders - Received 11th May
Hi Aisha
The publication is looking really good, the shoots in particular are beautiful, it's just a suggestion but the front cover is a little bare, it could do with some text saying what's inside the publication or if not that the logo???
I love the interview with the retired Land Girl and the table for growing your own fruit and vegetables is a really good idea. I hope everything goes well with your hand in, speak soon Carla x
Actions -
Following Carla's comments about the cover as well as those by Tiffany today I have changed the cover so that it is now the 'Welcome to Dandy-Lion' page which I think looks a lot better, and incorporates the logo as Carla commented on. It is a cover that is much more representational of the publication, and gives the reader an idea of what will be on offer inside.
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Received 9th-15th May
I sent the digital version of the Dandy-lion publication to some of my friends back home who are on textiles and fashion courses and all have a passion for vintage and make do and mend, so all potential readers of the publication.
Overall the feedback was positive they all really liked the shoots, particularly the one done on the beach in Sandbanks. They all commented on the hand stitched titles, an element of the publication that they loved, although some said that the page numbers were a little hard to read but this may of been down to the quality of the scans and file that I sent them.
One improvement suggestion was the inclusion of another shoot, that featured more fashion clothing form maybe an upcoming designer, something that I had originally planned to do with one of the students on the Fashion Studies course, however, I didn't feel there were any at the time that fitted with the Dandy-Lion ethos or style, and obviously final collections were nowhere near finished, so decided to drop the idea and focus on the other three shoots.
Another commented that she preferred the traditional double page spread format, allowing for more variety in the layout and also allows for larger scale images, as well as full bleed imagery, something that I did experiment with after Jess suggested it in one of her emails, however I didn't think it improved the layout in anyway, it also added to the cost of the printing as you need a specialist printer to achieve this.
Feedback from Carla Sanders - Received 11th May
Hi Aisha
The publication is looking really good, the shoots in particular are beautiful, it's just a suggestion but the front cover is a little bare, it could do with some text saying what's inside the publication or if not that the logo???
I love the interview with the retired Land Girl and the table for growing your own fruit and vegetables is a really good idea. I hope everything goes well with your hand in, speak soon Carla x
Actions -
Following Carla's comments about the cover as well as those by Tiffany today I have changed the cover so that it is now the 'Welcome to Dandy-Lion' page which I think looks a lot better, and incorporates the logo as Carla commented on. It is a cover that is much more representational of the publication, and gives the reader an idea of what will be on offer inside.
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Received 9th-15th May
I sent the digital version of the Dandy-lion publication to some of my friends back home who are on textiles and fashion courses and all have a passion for vintage and make do and mend, so all potential readers of the publication.
Overall the feedback was positive they all really liked the shoots, particularly the one done on the beach in Sandbanks. They all commented on the hand stitched titles, an element of the publication that they loved, although some said that the page numbers were a little hard to read but this may of been down to the quality of the scans and file that I sent them.
One improvement suggestion was the inclusion of another shoot, that featured more fashion clothing form maybe an upcoming designer, something that I had originally planned to do with one of the students on the Fashion Studies course, however, I didn't feel there were any at the time that fitted with the Dandy-Lion ethos or style, and obviously final collections were nowhere near finished, so decided to drop the idea and focus on the other three shoots.
Another commented that she preferred the traditional double page spread format, allowing for more variety in the layout and also allows for larger scale images, as well as full bleed imagery, something that I did experiment with after Jess suggested it in one of her emails, however I didn't think it improved the layout in anyway, it also added to the cost of the printing as you need a specialist printer to achieve this.
