At first glance arranging shapes and words on a page may sound like a cake walk. But in reality that couldn’t be farther from the truth!
I picked the article Songs Sung & Unsung (https://www.lds.org/ensign/2017/05/saturday-afternoon-session/songs-sung-and-unsung?lang=eng) by Jeffery R. Holland because I really liked what he was talking about. I thought it was amazing the way he was able to reach every kind of person you can think of.
Text
For this assignment I wanted to create a layout that would appeal largely to the people that would be reading the Ensign, so that meant it would have to have an adult feel to it while not being overly boring.
One of the biggest challenges I faced was fitting all of the text into three pages. All in all the talk came out to be about 1750 words, which is a hefty amount. I had previously planned to have a bit of white space for the title page but once I got everything placed I was missing a lot of text and the font was very small. So instead of placing the majority of the text on pages two and three, I decided to distribute it onto all three and make the text part of the design on the title page. I made it so that the text would wrap around the musical note I created and left a large amount of space around the title because I didn’t want it to feel too crowded. I also made the beginning two characters larger then the rest so that the reader would know where to start and not feel lost.
Even though it wasn’t what I first intended it worked out pretty well and feel like it creates an interesting beginning for the article.
Color
I chose to use a monochromatic color scheme with a few black, white, and gray accents. While the mood of the talk varies from cheerful to serious I felt like wanted to leave the reader with a more positive feel as they read the article, so I chose yellow. The black and white accents were drawn from the musical analogies used in the talk.
Images and Shapes
As I began to complete my layout I noticed that I had a lot of smooth shapes, like the swoosh at the bottom of the page and the circles that contained the images. To contrast some of these softer shapes I chose to insert lines between the columns of text and also to border the title page. I think this also helped to make the text feel more organized and not like it was just floating in space. I chose the picture of the tall grass in the sun for the title page because I wanted something bright that reminded the reader of the sun, since Elder Holland begins his talk with “There is sunshine in my soul today”.
Conclusion
Although this article may not have been ideal for a three page spread I think I made it work. Perhaps the font size could have been larger or the title page a little less crowded, but overall the yellow color and nods to the musical theme really help to create a setting that will leave the reader with a hopeful and positive attitude.
All pictures were taken personally
Dine ‘n’ dash is meant to be a fun and somewhat abstract take on fast food or takeout. The colors may not be completely accurate and the shapes may not look that natural, but that’s all part of the feel. My target audience is younger people. Maybe mid-twenties or early 30’s.
brycecorning 