Thursday, 28 November 2013

Draft For My Double Page Spread - Text Styles


As part of the construction of my draft double page spread that I previously created on photoshop I thought it would be a valuable experience for me to gain a direction of the way I wanted the main headline to be presented across to the audience. Essentially it had to be bold, dramatic and instantly grasp their immediate attention,in essence the text had to present the same serious overtone that ran through not only the main documentary but all the elements in correspondence with it such as the colour scheme and layout in the accompanying auxiliary tasks. I began experimenting with different style of text in hopes that give me an insight into the style of font I desired for the completed double page spread article. All of the chosen texts were downloaded from the website 'Dafont' and tested out onto the photoshop document.



The first font I tested was named 'Big noodle titling', already from my first initial impressions of it I am pleased with how it is presented on the page and how it conventionally works with the neutral colours on the remainder of the presentation, most obviously when it is highlighted in the dark burgundy red colour I will be using in the final piece. The font itself is already incorporated in a bold colouring which is something I didn't have to add after installing it - the boldness really aids in emphasising it on the page and ultimately I don't think it will be overlooked by the audience on a quick glance.




For the next stage I re- highlighted and changed to the text to a font called 'Biko'. Almost instantaneously after altering it I disregarded the style, it is far to thin to be a main headline and looks virtually insignificant when presented alongside the image, in fact its literally unnoticeable as the photo completely dominates. Even if I made the font more bold it would not improve the skinniness and overall quality of the letters. It may reflect the thinness of the girls but 'Biko'  is certainly not the font I intend to use as it is not dramatic and interesting enough to entice the audience, they would simply not acknowledge it because of its insignificance.



In my third attempt for the appropriate text I trialled out 'Ever After'. Upon first inspection I do like how it looks on the page alongside the other elements, its not too small to be overlooked and reflects the burgundy red effectively. However I am discouraged with how 'light' the tones appear on it - I don't believe it stands out enough. Sure I believe it looks nice like a conventional headline should I just don't think it has that dramatic edge on gaining interest from the audience.  I'm not going to discard the idea of using 'Ever After' as I do think it has an appeal on the page, I think it would be important to see how it will be viewed in the bold tool to see if this will allow it be stand out better alongside the image.




My fourth text of choice was the 'Empire' font. I had an identical reaction to this as I did to the 'Biko' style, I was instantly repulsed by the skinniness the letters were presented in, in due aspects this one was even thinner and therefore more unnoticeable then 'Biko' which I didn't think was possible. No amount of enlarging and bold colouring will enhance the quality of this text, it is too 'thin' to be incorporated as a main headline alongside a kicker and the image dwarfs it in superiority. 'Empire' will not be considered for the final double page spread production.




The penultimate font I used on trial was 'Monofonto', overall this is the one which stands out most significantly to me. If all the letters were in capitals (like how a mainstream headline would be viewed) it would stand out incredibly well against the image and neutral backdrop, the burgundy red allows it to be highlighted against the black and white tones, on my initial viewing of this text I can clearly distinguish it against the other conventions, which is a good sign to me  as I know the audience will notice it as well.




Finally I tried out 'Strokin' as a last attempt to see what a different font be presented like. This corresponds equally with my dislike for 'Biko' and 'Empire', it may not be in the skinny style they were in but this font i would deconstruct as resenting like 'graffiti' - something you would see in a more urban hip hop magazine/production. For that reason only this will not be considered for the final headline.


Out of all the individual font styles I most prefer 'Monofonto',  'Ever After' and 'Bignoodle thing'. To solve which one I will use I am going to retest them all again in the construction stages of my spread, to identify which one I most peter as I believe I won't get my final impression of them unless I recreate them on the authentic double page headline.

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