Critique: Roll On Columbia

I'm not going to lie... the first assignment was pretty challenging. It was a struggle trying to figure out the most important feature from the story and how exactly to highlight it using the photos. My biggest regret is that I didn't focus on Roll On Premium Smokes' community atmosphere.

I chose photos that focused more on the store itself and the activity of rolling your own cigarettes. Nonetheless, I'm pleased with the overall look of the clean lines and design.

I actually started the designing the inside spreads and saved the cover for last.

Here's what I came up with:

The Cover

 The cover was tricky to design. Considering that this assignment was a photo essay, I wanted to choose a photograph that would highlight the story, rather than making an illustration. With the confusing teaser of "Roll On," I chose this photograph to eliminate any preconceived notion that the story was about drugs, rather than cigarettes. In other words, I played it safe. Looking back, I do regret not taking more risk with it. I guess I'll keep that in mind for the next assignment.

Under the teaser, I created a rolling paper with the turned corner to make it content-driven and tie the cover with the inside spreads.

 Opening Spread

 

 With the opening spread, I thought the photograph of the owner standing behind the tobacco display case would be a good lead into the story. Because I wanted to focus more on the store itself and the activity of rolling your own cigarettes, I thought the photo showed the variety of tobacco choices and the owner at the same time. Therefore, I made that the dominant photo across the spread. 

To demonstrate my focus, I chose the secondary photograph of the outside of the store. I thought the two photographs combined best emphasized my focus. I also adapted the rolling paper graphic from the cover and used it to highlight the headline. 

With the headline, I chose a semi-thick typography that gave the impression of being light-hearted. The headline of  "Roll On Columbia"seemed like a command that would be best illustrated using capital letters.

In addition, I italicized "Roll On" to give emphasis on the rolling cigarettes activity.

Second Spread

 

With the second spread, I wanted to focus on the process of rolling cigarettes. I chose photos that were showed the detail of rolling cigarettes. Then, I tried to lay out the photos chronologically to the process of rolling. I aligned the three smaller photographs vertically to show this process in a "how-to" manner (hence the sub-headline of "The Rolling Process").

Because my focus was completely off, I feel like if I were to redesign this spread, I wouldn't use half of the photographs I included nor would I lay them out like a "how-to."

Last Page

 With the last page, I wanted to end my layout design the same way I started it... through using dominant photographs. Because of my focus, I wanted to demonstrate the end products, such as the showing the owner smoking and the finished cigarette product.

Even though my design focus was off with the story's focus, I believe I still executed what I originally intended. Making content-driven designs has always been my struggle, but practice makes perfect right?

You can believe that my next assignment (Spring Preview) has taken a lot more planning on my part. I'm pretty excited for this one. Check back next week to see what I come up with.