I took a very "less is more/refined simplicity" approach here, with the ultimate product depending on the photography to catch the eye. Perhaps my choice of pink could have been tinted more to achieve that "refined" appeal I'm looking for, or perhaps it's suitably dark enough to be used as a color for type, but either way, second opinions are extremely welcome~ I'm personally a fan of the frames I chose for the photos.
Nat – I understand that you have chosen the audience of young women, but I’m wondering if young mothers and college students do share a lot of the same preferences. College aged women are engrossed in academia and think of themselves as intelligent participants in world causes – maybe very interested and passionately concerned with making the world a better place. Young mothers are very busy with their newborn babies… and often don’t have any time to look up and around at their world. I wonder if you are confusing “new mothers” with “parents of a young family”. These are very different audiences. So… between the 2 audiences… which one makes the most sense for this newsletter? And, what do you know about their lives, and their preferences?
ReplyDeletePhotographs – yes, I like the little corner treatments for the images. But, do you think your color palette supports these photos? Please return to your color decisions, and use the approach we did in class – with an eyedropper capturing lots of dominant and supportive colors of different color values. Then… arrange them in the Swatches panel, and experiment with assembling a 4 color palette of 1 (or 2) dominant colors, the rest neutrals, and make sure you have light, mid, and dark colors. Working this palette out will put you in a better position when you sit down to build your page layouts. Pink is a bit controversial for women, especially educated women because of the reference to Barbie, who is clearly not known for her intellect!
Name and masthead – Please use the words “Women Empowering Women” for the title and “CAI Institute Newsletter” for the subtitle. W.E.W isn’t what is needed here. The logo you have created is copying a part of their current logo. No can do. Please design a new, and different, logo – that is what they have just hired you to do. It can include an icon, or it can be simply a good typographic design.
Thank you very much for your thorough criticism! I will take it to heart. I hadn't considered that difference in audience, so I think that between those two audiences, I'll target the college students. And now that you go into detail about that, I do think I was thinking of "parents of a young family".
DeleteI will also, with my re-calibrated audience in mind, redo my color scheme to fit my photo choices, using that technique.
And while I considered myself clever for the logo, I see what you mean now and will fix it. Once again, thank you for the criticism! It's extremely helpful!