group feedback

Qianqian Li                http://qianqianlihnd.blogspot.com/     

Editorial Flow

Countryside       These are very nice layouts you have here but im not too sure on the type, consider thinking of a different font or even a different place for it to go, your title should be noticed not cluttered around all your context.      

China Town        very nice layout but don’t forget about your margins, it looks like your work may be clipped when printing due to your images being so close to the edge. 

Abakhan              very suttle design, i love the layout and the colors reflect on the advert itself, also good use of imagery. well done

Typography

No problems at all i really like this piece. The body text might work better in columns

China Town heading could probably find a better typeface, the body typeface is great though. Bottom right section is abit hard to read because of the colour

Copy

Countryside       No mistakes, great thought        

China Town        No spelling mistakes, great punciality    

Abakhan              Well done! No complaints

Grid

Countryside       The layout is very good we like how the text and the images are balanced and work well together.         

China Town        The grid used is very similar but effective to the first with a good balance of text and images on either side of the DPS          

Abakhan              The advert grid is very central with good use of colour, also we like the text and how it has been placed at the side of the image.   

Image

Countryside       no problems with the images in this design, looks good.               

China Town        same as countryside looks v-good. nice one.      

Abakhan              prob my fav out of them all since you made the cloth dress(like) thing yourself, very professional.          

               

Final editorial design and advert

Layout for article 1 (Manchester Countryside)

Layout for article 2 (Manchester Chinatown)

Final advert of Abakhan

Final layout

So..this is the final layout for the Chiantown article.Although I think it looks nice,I still want to try to do it again in In Design.I think it will be more helpful with doing editorial designs.

More images

I selected these images on line and I think they are showing very strong Chinese atmosphere,I think it's easy for the audience to recognize the article is about Chinatown.

Chinese lanterns

Characters made of mud

Chinese Mammon

Chinese Dim Sum

Images from: http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1G1SMSN_ENUK403&biw=1579&bih=649&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=Manchester+chinatown&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1G1SMSN_ENUK403&biw=1579&bih=649&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=Manchester+chinatown&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Manchester Chinatown

All images above are found from

http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1G1SMSN_ENUK403&biw=1579&bih=649&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=Manchester+chinatown&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Based on some datum and information of Manchester Chinatown.I came up with this article.It is about introducing the appearance,shops,history and significance to both oversea Chinese and local citizens of Manchester Chinatown.

 Manchester Chinatown is a small self-sufficient block with rich Chinese atmosphere. Right at the front of the town, there is a typical torii decorated with roofing tiles and painted by festive colors. The drawing of dragons and phoenixes in the arch convey a sense of auspiciousness. The torii is a symbol of Chinese culture in the foreign land that binds the Chinamen together. It is a widely recognized indication of Chinese enclave in the city of Manchester.

Densely-populated with restaurants, supermarkets, clinics, law firms and so on, the town has everything needed for a comfortable life. The clusters of Chinese restaurants would fill the town with appetizing fragrance everyday. And the streets would be flooded with tourists in weekends.

The diverse cultural activity is also a magnate. You could buy newspapers that are transported here by charter planes from Hong Kong or mainland China. In lunar New Year or other traditional Chinese festivals, the streets of the town would be filled with people, both Chinese and others. They would participate in dragon-dancing and lion-dancing, laughing and singing for the celebration of a new year. The firecracker, the gongs and drums create such a joyful atmosphere that the wanderers would feel at home again.

Manchester Chinatown first appeared in early 1970s. With the support of local diners and the great effort of the owners, the Chinese dining industry gained great momentum at one time, the popularity of which also provided business opportunities for other service industries. The success of traditional Chinese service such as acupuncture attracts a lot of Chinese businessmen to settle here. It took only about 40 years for the Chinese here to build such a thriving community—Manchester Chinatown. It demonstrates the great diligence of Chinese people.

The industries, hard-earned by the Chinese people, were severely damaged by the financial crisis. Yang Juwen and Yang Jusen from Hong Kong, who are the founders of Yang Sing, the one praised by the English media as “the best Chinese restaurant in Europe”, saw their first high-end hotel in Britain going bankrupt in just 8 months after its establishment because of the financial tsunami. The economic crisis presents a grave challenge to the Chinese people in dining industry or other service sectors.

The population expansion of overseas Chinese gives new features to Chinatown all over the world. For a start, immigrants no longer restrict their choice of settlement to old-style Chinese communities. Therefore, many Chinatowns face the dilemma of population loss and aging. In fact, most of the Chinatowns is packed with people and squeezed in old city district. Ethnic conflicts and security issues arise time and time again. The Manchester China town is no exception. Today, the town is more like a “showplace of Chinese culture” for the reason that the initial purpose of Chinese people settling down together has been weakened and the town serves as a culture hub that attracts many local citizens.

Final layout for article 1

article layout design

Before starting to make the layouts,I did want to do it by In Design to learn more skills,but I found that I still got too much to learn and there's not enough time for me to practice.So I designed this layout in Coreldraw which I am a bit more familiar with.Based on some introductions of Manchester countrysides I found on line,I did this article which mainly introduces the road maps for visiting and I organized a list of scenery which people might be interested.

layout drafts

 

layout draft for Manchester Countryside

 

 layout draft for Manchester Chinatown

Manchester Countryside (illustrations)

The first article is to introduce some beautiful contryside areas around Greater Manchester.Advised by Lizz,I decided to make some illustrations instead of using photographs only.Inspired by the blossom images and jelly bean blossom paintings,I designed two illustrations with oil pastels and watercolour.The reason why I chose to work with them is these two materials can not be mixed. I was happy with my drawings as they show petals flying into the sky,and that is the effect I want.

Final advert

This is the final advert I designed for Abakhan.I was happy with it as the collage dress and the lady figure matches nicely.What is your opinions?

First advert and problems

This was the final design for the advert.I was quite happy when the effect came out but I didn't realised there are some detailing problems.The image blow is the feedback with notes from Lizz,she picked out the problems of my design.

final character design

I painted the female body in green and cut out the edges in photoshop.So..this is the character for my advert and later I will designthe background of it. Any comments?

Precesses

Firstly I drew a sitting female figure with a long dress.The reason why I designed the character in a sitting position is I later will use the logo of Abakhan as a "chair".After finishing the outline with pencils,I started to make the collage piece of the long dress.I cut the ribbons and fabrics in small leaf shapes and pasted them regularly along the edges of dress.After that I added some small buttons and bowknots on the top as decorations.

Inspirations

I bought some Fru lime flavour cheese cakes last week and this is the packaging design.The illustration really appealed to me because of its simple and elegant style.I got a strong inspiration from this and I decided to design a female character for my advert as the mainly consumer of Abakhan are females.

collage illustration (materials)

Based on the green & white logo of Abakhan,I decided to make a collage piece using some fabrics and accessorize I bought from the shop.I want my collage piece suits the logo so that I selected the fabrics and accessorize which are in different depths of green.

New idea for advert

Well..after spoke to Liz I realized that the target audience are graphic students!!So obviously Jolie Ann's photography is more suitable for visual sources but not for an advert..Unfortunately I spent a whole night last night creating an illustration of babies and now that makes me cry..

Anyway I come up with a new idea which is to advert for the Abakhan farbric shop in Manchester.I bought different types of farbric there for the patchwork project and I think I can use the rest of them to creat a collage piece for advertising the shop.

website links:http://www.abakhan.co.uk/acatalog/Fabrics.html

Idea for advert

Jolie Anne is one of my favourite photographers and her photographs of babies ,mothers and families make me cry! I love her photos so much and I want to design an advert for her blog.

"Jolie Anne is a natural light photographer that specializes in Maternity, Newborn and Children, Her style is Modern, Fresh, and bright for fun and creative images you will treasure for a life time."

Here's the link for her offical website.http://www.jolieannephotography.com/
Blog http://jolieannephotographyblog.com/
Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/joliem6201

And these are some of her photographs which are really appealed to me.

magazine formats I like

These are some examples of DPS formats from Blackboard which I really like.Apart from their well organized and creative layout,I also inspired by their eye-catching illustrations(especially the first and second design),they match with the grids and make the whole page more stand out.

How to use grid systems in graphic design

This is a basic introduction of grid systems I found on line which I think its quite useful.

http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/layout/a/grid_system.htm

 The grid system in graphic design is a way of organizing content on a page, using any combination of margins, guides, rows and columns. It is commonly seen in newspaper and magazine layout with columns of text and images. One grid, or a collection of grids, may be used across an entire project to achieve a consistent look and feel. In a finished product, the grid is invisible, but following it helps in creating successful print and web layouts.

Types of Grids

There is really no limit to the grid layouts that can be created. Common types include equally sized two, three and four-column grids with a header across the top, as well as a full-page grid of squares. From these building blocks, the variation of column widths, borders, page size and other features of the grid will lead to unique page design. When starting a project or even just practicing, try using a grid system to help position the elements of your design on the page.

Breaking Out of the Grid

Once the grid is established, it is up to the designer when and how to break out of it. This doesn’t mean the grid system in graphic design will be completely ignored. Instead, elements may cross over from column to column, extend to the end of the page, or extend onto adjacent pages. Breaking out of the grid can lead to the most interesting page designs.

Idea 2 : The Manchester Chinatown

My second idea for the article is about the Manchester Chinatown.The reason I chose this topic is the chinatown in Manchester is familiar to me.I had been working there as a Chinese store cashier for 1 year and I am familiar with shops,restaurants,consuetude and celebrations for Chinese events there,and these are what I want to introduce in my article.Besides,I also want to look at the history of Manchester Chinatown and the meanning of it to the overseas' Chinese.

This general introduction of Manchester Chinatown blow are from Wikipedia.

Chinatown, Manchester is an ethnic enclave within the city centre of Manchester. It is second largest Chinatown in the United Kingdom and the third largest in Europe. It is located in east central Manchester, and situated next to the Gay Village. The Chinatown, which is spread out over streets in the city centre has an archway, situated on Faulkner street, once the largest in Europe, which was completed in 1987, now dwarfed by the Imperial Arch in Liverpool.It not only contains many Chinese Restaurants, but Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean and other Pan-Asian restaurants, shops, bakeries and supermarkets, most of which have their main trading times on Sunday mornings.

Manchester's first Chinese restaurant, Ping Hong, opened in the area in 1948, on the eve of a Chinese immigration wave that would commence during the 1950s.Manchester, being neither a port city nor a capital city, such as Liverpool and London, respectively, did not have a significant Chinese population, reaching only about 2000.However, after World War II, there were severe labour shortages, and in response, the government passed the British Nationality Act 1948, which allowed easier access into the country. Additionally, Hong Kong's rapid urbanisation meant that many farmers and traditional residents' homes were being destroyed by the urban sprawl, so many decided to migrate.

The area's beginnings are rooted in the restaurant business, as many Chinese restaurants surfaced soon after the immigration boom. By the 1970s other Chinese businesses began to emerge, such as medicine shops, Chinese supermarkets, as well as financial and legal services, all serving the employees of the expanding number of Chinese restaurants in the area.There was even a Hong Kong government office and a branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation during the 1970s.

Inspirations: Jelly beans cherry blossoms

There are some cherry blossoms original watercolour paintings by Angela Vandenbogaard.She drew the petals look like jelly beans in her paintings which is very beautiful and inspiring.

photograohs of cherry blossoms

I took these photographs in Stockport, spring of 2009.There was an ocean of beautiful cherry blossoms,the dense petals and blue sky made a very eye-catching contrast.Based on these photos I wanted to design one or two illustrations for my article by either drawing or adding digital effect in Photoshop.