Thanks Dave, you are a great example for "by all means, break the rules, but you'd better know the damn rules first!". Something a lot of current "disruptors" should learn.
Thank you so much x I’ve just got a little job compiling newsletters for local councils.. and I know they want the aesthetic to be in the first layout, but I’m itching to get to at least layout 2 with them. I wanted to thank you for your content and book recommendations, you have helped me immeasurably. Have an excellent day my friend.
Dave brother, I love you. You make these affinity tutorials awesome you got my back in the swing. I attribute a lot of my renewed freelance work to your enthusiasm. Cheers brother keep doing it
Surely the two guiding principles for editorial design are, 1) know your audience, and 2) don't put style over content. Music, fashion or "lifestyle" titles can be a lot flashier with lots of design embellishments, whereas something with lots of information to impart needs less distractions. I design a magazine about Wing Chun (about to publish our 10th anniversary issue), the Chinese martial art (sometimes called Kung Fu). It is a very pragmatic style of self defence; simple, direct and effective. I designed the magazine to reflect that. It is closer to your first "boring" design, but the copy is the most important, with the photos a close second. There are very few embellishments (like the fighting style), so my main attention is on making the typography clean and easy to read. I get the feeling that too many young designers today don't pay enough attention to the typography, especially in the main text, and just let their software run it through the columns. Maybe a video on typography could be on the cards? BTW. I also love Carson's work, especially with Raygun, but I'm buggered if I could ever read the articles. Now that is style over content.
Of course you should definitely consider your audience, but there are still plenty of ways to design pages that are both fluid for reading and stimulating visually. I worked for very large magazine publisher, one that held some serious blue chip magazines, especially in the automotive and outdoors genres, and the publishers would often say things about how flashy wasn't accepted by the readership. So instead of trying to reinvent the old books, they built new mags like Recoil, OffGrid, and Roadkill, all of which looked vastly more progressive than the older magazine, and they took off in popularity. Now when you go to the newsstand, all the older mags are trying to emulate what Recoil did. As far as Carson goes, he has a quote he shares often that reads, "Don't mistake legibility for communication." Which is best exemplified in this Instagram post of his: instagram.com/p/CPRBecBLBF_/
It might be boring for some, but for someone like me with zero experience, this helps a lot. All I have used is either Canva or Silhouette, tried trial versions of Corel and Adobe but cannot get over the expense of it.
I did this entire design in Affinity Publisher, which is only $25, and it's a solid program. It's not drag-and-drop like Canva, but it's a much more powerful app overall. I have quite a few tutorials on the topic too.
Thank you for all your content, I have been looking for a long time for design software that is good and at an affordable price. I bought all three of the affinity apps and I am enjoying all the good and the bad lol. I am not a designer and I am learning this from scratch! Thanks again Dave and keep it coming.
So, I’m certain I fit none of your desired audience demographics. I’m not young, not a designer, not an artist (although I dabble at art). I’m just the person that in my former jobs and current volunteer circles has the most computer skills to create a page that looks like your first example BUT would love to make pages that look like 2nd example.. Purpose of my comment is to mention I am a subscriber, even though the grunge look does not appeal to me at all…because you are a good instructor. You’re calm and funny and know your craft. I can learn from you, don’t get discouraged, you’ve got skills, (said with a Tom Cruise voice over). I used your affiliate link, not much, but thanks.
Thank you, Pam. Best advice I can give is to do what I did in this exercise. Make the layout as you normally would, and then make another layout that tests your comfort level. It may not work out well the first few times you try, but you'll get the hang of it. Another option would be to find some designs that you admire and appreciate, and then try to replicate them. Walking in someone else's footsteps can often lead you to your destination quicker.
I really enjoyed the class. There's a few modules about building a freelance design business that don't really apply to me, but other than that, I appreciate Carson's point of view on design. He's very mild mannered for being the legend he's become. As far as my thoughts on his work and his influence, it's not really a secret that I took a lot of cues from him and probably still do. End of Print is my most favorite book on design, and between Carson, Rudy Vanderlans of Emigre, and Neville Brody; they make up the majority of my knowledge base when it comes to design. Maybe throw in a bit of Wim Crouwell for that Swiss influence and excessive use of Helvetica in my work.
Though depending on the intended audience I prefer the second version, not the third one . And I recommend the Affinity Publisher Workbook which has an excellent twenty pages of illustrated design principles.
Alright. I'm no artist or designer. But, I am willing to learn (maybe). I want to design postcards, t-shirts, and hard goods. Anyways. I bought the book on eBay for $5.26 w/ free shipping. Thanks for the free advice.
![Method Writing: The First Four Concepts - Jack Grapes [FULL INTERVIEW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ba9jAVzADY0/mqdefault.jpg)
What did you think? Did I make the page better or worse?
Thanks Dave, you are a great example for "by all means, break the rules, but you'd better know the damn rules first!". Something a lot of current "disruptors" should learn.
Thanks, I appreciate that.
Thank you so much x I’ve just got a little job compiling newsletters for local councils.. and I know they want the aesthetic to be in the first layout, but I’m itching to get to at least layout 2 with them. I wanted to thank you for your content and book recommendations, you have helped me immeasurably. Have an excellent day my friend.
late reply, but thanks for watching.
Dave brother, I love you. You make these affinity tutorials awesome you got my back in the swing. I attribute a lot of my renewed freelance work to your enthusiasm. Cheers brother keep doing it
Not sure who Kevin is, but I’m stoked to hear you’re reinvigorated to do cool stuff. Cheers.
@@DaveConrey LOL my bad man lol I have a friend named Kevin Conroy lol I always mix yall up
Surely the two guiding principles for editorial design are, 1) know your audience, and 2) don't put style over content. Music, fashion or "lifestyle" titles can be a lot flashier with lots of design embellishments, whereas something with lots of information to impart needs less distractions. I design a magazine about Wing Chun (about to publish our 10th anniversary issue), the Chinese martial art (sometimes called Kung Fu). It is a very pragmatic style of self defence; simple, direct and effective. I designed the magazine to reflect that. It is closer to your first "boring" design, but the copy is the most important, with the photos a close second. There are very few embellishments (like the fighting style), so my main attention is on making the typography clean and easy to read. I get the feeling that too many young designers today don't pay enough attention to the typography, especially in the main text, and just let their software run it through the columns. Maybe a video on typography could be on the cards?
BTW. I also love Carson's work, especially with Raygun, but I'm buggered if I could ever read the articles. Now that is style over content.
Of course you should definitely consider your audience, but there are still plenty of ways to design pages that are both fluid for reading and stimulating visually. I worked for very large magazine publisher, one that held some serious blue chip magazines, especially in the automotive and outdoors genres, and the publishers would often say things about how flashy wasn't accepted by the readership. So instead of trying to reinvent the old books, they built new mags like Recoil, OffGrid, and Roadkill, all of which looked vastly more progressive than the older magazine, and they took off in popularity. Now when you go to the newsstand, all the older mags are trying to emulate what Recoil did.
As far as Carson goes, he has a quote he shares often that reads, "Don't mistake legibility for communication." Which is best exemplified in this Instagram post of his: instagram.com/p/CPRBecBLBF_/
It might be boring for some, but for someone like me with zero experience, this helps a lot. All I have used is either Canva or Silhouette, tried trial versions of Corel and Adobe but cannot get over the expense of it.
I did this entire design in Affinity Publisher, which is only $25, and it's a solid program. It's not drag-and-drop like Canva, but it's a much more powerful app overall. I have quite a few tutorials on the topic too.
Thank you for all your content, I have been looking for a long time for design software that is good and at an affordable price. I bought all three of the affinity apps and I am enjoying all the good and the bad lol. I am not a designer and I am learning this from scratch! Thanks again Dave and keep it coming.
AND I just saw this comment after leaving my other one. Sorry, glad you got on board with Affinity.
Another gold mine. GEEZ!
Glad you enjoyed it.
I bought the book - thanks for the lead on it!
my pleasure
I like how you design things. Better for sure. Thank you for your insight. Any plans to do more content on Affinity Designer? Eric C.
We'll see. I don't do a lot of vector work normally, but I know I should dabble more. I definitely will once 2.0 comes out... whenever that is.
So, I’m certain I fit none of your desired audience demographics. I’m not young, not a designer, not an artist (although I dabble at art). I’m just the person that in my former jobs and current volunteer circles has the most computer skills to create a page that looks like your first example BUT would love to make pages that look like 2nd example.. Purpose of my comment is to mention I am a subscriber, even though the grunge look does not appeal to me at all…because you are a good instructor. You’re calm and funny and know your craft. I can learn from you, don’t get discouraged, you’ve got skills, (said with a Tom Cruise voice over). I used your affiliate link, not much, but thanks.
Thank you, Pam. Best advice I can give is to do what I did in this exercise. Make the layout as you normally would, and then make another layout that tests your comfort level. It may not work out well the first few times you try, but you'll get the hang of it.
Another option would be to find some designs that you admire and appreciate, and then try to replicate them. Walking in someone else's footsteps can often lead you to your destination quicker.
I really liked this video. Good insights and very well demonstrated by examples.
Glad you liked it.
Great insights - Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
You mention the David Carson masterclass… would love to hear yer thoughts on it, a video review and or reflection on his work snd influence?
I really enjoyed the class. There's a few modules about building a freelance design business that don't really apply to me, but other than that, I appreciate Carson's point of view on design. He's very mild mannered for being the legend he's become. As far as my thoughts on his work and his influence, it's not really a secret that I took a lot of cues from him and probably still do. End of Print is my most favorite book on design, and between Carson, Rudy Vanderlans of Emigre, and Neville Brody; they make up the majority of my knowledge base when it comes to design. Maybe throw in a bit of Wim Crouwell for that Swiss influence and excessive use of Helvetica in my work.
Though depending on the intended audience I prefer the second version, not the third one . And I recommend the Affinity Publisher Workbook which has an excellent twenty pages of illustrated design principles.
I have that book. I wish it went deeper on those topics. Making and Breaking the Grid goes much deeper on the subject of page layout.
Bought the book. Let’s go!
Right on. I think you'll dig it.
Stoked. Just picked up gig laying out 2 books
Bought the book. Ordered 9:15am, delivered 6:10pm. And only 7GBP for 240 pages of inspiration - what a bargain!
That's serious delivery service. Enjoy the book.
Alright. I'm no artist or designer. But, I am willing to learn (maybe). I want to design postcards, t-shirts, and hard goods. Anyways. I bought the book on eBay for $5.26 w/ free shipping. Thanks for the free advice.
Even better at that price.
One of the best designed magazines I layed my hands on recently is 46pages from croatia. You should check it out, I think you might like it. @46pgs
I’ll check it out. Thanks.
Sorry but the third version would make me ignore the magazine completely!
Totally ok. I didn’t make it for everyone.