This is the 4th of 7 learning activities for the two weeks we’re focusing on layout and composition. It’s on the two basic styles of layout: symmetrical and asymmetrical.
The assignment details are given at the bottom of my last post, but in short we were supposed to design 6 recipe book covers with a symmetrical layout (using serif a serif type), and 6 recipe book covers with an asymmetrical layout (using a sans serif type), and one last one that combines both styles of layout. I focused on the text for the different layout styles, the image in each version is therefore not symmetrical. I chose to make up my own recipe book title, publisher and author (me!), and used a picture I took myself. (Scroll down for the PDF versions.)
I chose to create the covers in InDesign.
Here are the symmetrical designs:
All the covers front the title, rather than the author and the publisher because the title here is the most important piece of information. The image is equally dominant to the text in each version, except the last one, where I included more in the visual and shrunk the text.
And here are the asymmetrical designs:
Here, I also tried not to let the visual nor the text dominate the cover. I experimented with the placement of the publishing company in a couple of them, just to see whether it would look good to front it a bit more.
It’s easier to play with the layout using the asymmetrical style, but it was easier to find the right placement for the text elements in the symmetrical layouts. The symmetrical layouts have more of a traditional feel to them, especially with the serif fonts. The asymmetrical layout designs, with the sans serif fonts, have more of a modern look.
A Little History: A reason for the common associations with the two styles of layout (old fashioned/modern), has to do with the fact that asymmetrical layouts cannot be traced further back than to the 1920s and 1930s when “artists such as Kurt Schwitters and Theo van Doesburg experimented with layouts based on an off-centred axis..” The associations with the two main styles of type (serif and sans serif) stem from the fact that until the 1920s, most publications were designed with serif types, and after that sans serif types suddenly became more popular “because of their clean lines and modernity (Graphic Design School, Dabner et.al p.46 and 47).”
These are my favourites in each category, and the combined version at the bottom:
This is the next learning activity:
Compare the design (in terms of pace and contrast) of an online magazine, blog or website to that of a printed magazine, book or journal.
- What differences can you see between the kinds of design strategies used in the two formats?
PDFs:
Cookbook SYM, Cookbook SYM 2, Cookbook SYM 3, Cookbook SYM 4, Cookbook SYM 5, Cookbook SYM 6, Cookbook ASYM 1, Cookbook ASYM 2, Cookbook ASYM 3, Cookbook ASYM 4, Cookbook ASYM 5, Cookbook ASYM 6, Cookbook COMBUntil tomorrow!
michelles blog 