TYPE AND GRID// Lorenzos Task

Today I used all of my 18 type and grid dps plans to develop my favourite further in Indesign. I chose the story about HMS Dauntless because I love the way I could fit the image and text together like a jigsaw but also because I think I could do some interesting things with colour and shape.
First I set up my document to tabloid size, 430 x 280mm dps with a fair amount of bleed around the edges to keep it realistic. I also added 4 columns with a 4.2mm gutter to keep it in line with my plan.

I found the same Hi-res image of the ship that The Sun had used and imported it into photoshop and fixed the image to the correct dimensions so I could place it into indesign at 300ppi. I also cut out all of the background landscape to make way for the text and header.

I then placed the image into the layout and added some tester text, forgetting the ship name here for some reason.

I chose to draw a shape out that some knockout text could fix into. This red colour is too simple/ common in my opinion and the text is too decorative for any real value.

Here I change the shape to a full 100% cyan and switch the text to Steelfish Bold Italic, one of my favourites. I also add some back highlight to the text, am interesting feature in Indesign that add some post-modern quality to the dps.

I darkened the tone of the blue shape slightly so that the knockout text can be read without getting a headache. Here I experimented with leaving the text in solid blocks, covering some of the ship. I also added a Difference filter to the text box. I did this because I've made too many 'safe' designs recently and want to start exploring colour more. I'm aware that the orange and blue are complimentary colours and they shouldn't really go, But I think they do stand out nicely, and fit the post-modern vibe.

I made the decision to alter the levels on the photo of the ship. I felt that the clean, saturated image of the ship was too conflicting with the rest of the design so I restricted some the colours here and boosted contrast to make a more fitting image.

Here I have implemented the text and image. I have also altered the paragraph layout to hug the ship, however I have avoided wrapping the text around the ships masts which I think would be a mistake. The text is basically made up of placeholder stuff I have taken from wikipedia. I have arranged it to fit the central 6 column, making it sit dead centre and in line with the tail end of the title, which straddles the top left corner of the dps into the far left column.

Here is the final dps. I have changed two main things. Firstly the tone of the blue shape has been brightened, I felt that on the previous version this was far too dark. Secondly I have altered the shape of the paragraphs. They now sit as pairs in terms of height. I think this neatens up the look of the dps while also allowing the whole ship to stay in view.