RESPONSE: In-class Critiques

It was great to be able to see all the hard work people have been putting in on their magazine prototypes today. I know there's still a long way to go and they were just first drafts, but I think our class is coming up with some fantastic products that I'm excited to see presented in May. As per Jan's request, here's come comments about each of the prototypes:

NOSH: If we had to go to the printer today, I think NOSH would definitely be in the best position. I know they talked about not being happy with the cover photos, but I thought they looked pretty good. I just thought some of the sell lines in black were a little difficult to read and didn't pop as much as everything else in the magazine. There was obvious flow throughout the design and it had a consistent style with the arrows and colored circles. The recipe pages were obviously loaded with text, like most are, but they still looked clean. Great job NOSH team!

Plaid Dad: I really liked the use of the diamond plate along the side on the department pages. It obviously goes well with the theme, but it was contained enough to not be distracting. Also, great job with the typography on the Burnt story. I was a little confused by the title "Stick 'em up ketchup" because it didn't seem to have much to do with the gadgets on the page. I liked the typography, but the color seemed more like a mustard color, which I think would be fine if the headline didn't have the word ketchup in it.

Cupboard: There were some beautiful features in this one that caught my eye, especially the one with the two jars on the left-hand page. I also liked the 10 ingredients one. It seemed like a big improvement from some of the ones from the first mockups. I like the color slash behind the nameplate and even the tilted C, but I thought the slogan or sell line above it was a little awkward.

Shindig: This was another one that I thought flowed pretty well design-wise. Very consistent. I loved the incorporation of the elements like the wide arrow from page to page. The nameplate typeface matches the mood of this magazine perfectly and that theme is carried throughout.