Songs Sung and Unsung – A not so musical but still entertaining journey.

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

Coca-Cola Olympics: #THATSGOLD

http://www.johnnyjet.com/10-best-commercials-from-the-rio-2016-olympics/r a caption

Introduction

As we all know the Olympics are always buzzing with sponsors and ads, Coca-Cola, certainly at the top of that list, is among those striving for gold. Featured in the 2016 Olympic Games this image is from Coca-Cola’s ad campaign for the Olympics. #thatsgold.

Color

While the classic red and white of Coca-Cola are recognizable in almost any country in the world. Coca-Cola chose to utilize a few different color schemes, including those of the Olympic logo.

As you can see the white and red are present most everywhere, including in the text. But if you look closely to the flowing stripes on the right they feature the colors also found in the Olympic rings on the top of the image.

Alignment

The alignment of the piece is fairly simple because there are only three larger bodies of text in the whole image. However “A Refreshing Finish” and “#Thatsgold” are aligned so that when someone reads them together they will tweet or post using the hashtag.

Proximity

Coca-Cola is trying to say a lot of things with this add. One of which is that drinking Coca-Cola will put a smile on your face, as seen by the man holding the bottle.

Contrast

While the white and red of the logo will certainly stand out against most any background. The designers of the add chose white for the feature text as well.

Repetition

The most repeated aspect of the image is the Coca-Cola logo which is featured three times. They certainly don’t want you to forget it!

Summary

Overall, it’s a professional looking ad, done by professionals. It succeeds in many aspects including, color and repetition, and using subtle proximity to suggest what you might feel if you chose to pick up a Coke.

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