Visual Design: Day 1
Dr. Will Kurlinkus
Everyone Grab
a Magazine
Page Layout
1. Start with the content. Read it, think about what the
most important or interesting or thought provoking
elements are. Think about visualizing through intriguing
pictures. Think about how the content logically divides
itself (where you’ll add subheadings)
2. Create your list of key elements described in step one.
3. Get inspiration. What do the other layouts in your
magazine look like or what style do you want to follow.
4. Start your grid. Create your wireframe of simple boxes
and columns. Think visual hierarchy: Where do I want
text, images, headings, headings, pull quotes, etc. It’s
easier to draw this. Stay within your grid.
5. Fill in your grid. Paste your text into your grid and
consider general visual hierarchy.
6. Style your layout. Think about the contrast between
fonts, images, headings, colors, how much space is
between lines. How big your font is going to be. How
you want your images to appear. Etc.
Margin: The white
Space surrounding
Your layout.
Alley: space between
Columns.
Gutter: space
Folded between
Pages.
Layout Tips
1. The most read, visible parts of the layout are
the upper and outer parts. This is where
provocative words and images go.
2. Don’t split up the text across multiple pages—
keep the eye flow natural
3. Use your subheadings as a way to maintain
interest, break up text, and let readers jump to
what they might be interested in.
Make them consistent, distinct from the rest of the
text (a few points larger, bolded, a different font,
probably sans serif)
Don’t place subheads near the bottom or at the top
of your columns. Nor do you want to place them
immediately next to an image. Vary them—but lace
them internally.
Don’t center your subheads, align them like the rest
of your text.
4. Pull quotes: Try not to place them between
columns—creating one really narrow column.
Instead, have them black columns fully.
Unnatural
Natural
Typography An orphan
1. Body text. Use a popular serif font like Caslon,
Jenson, Chronicle, Miller, Palatino, or Garmond.
Stick with one font and size for your publication.
The size of your text has to do with how it looks in your
columns and how many words you want per column—
ranging from 9-11 point. Don’t go out of that range
though.
There are two options for alignment: left or justified.
Never center or right aligned. I prefer left aligned.
Print a test page to see how big it will actually appear.
2. Columns. To wide and no one wants to read them.
Too narrow and the flow of the text is disrupted.
1-column layouts are rarely used. The column is too long.
2-column layouts are used for the biggest stories in
magazines. 3-column layouts are most common and
easiest to add headings, images, and style to.
Don’t include too much or too little tracking (space
between letters) or leading (space between words)
Take care of your widows and orphans—the small
amount of words that begin or end a new column.
Good Visual
Hierarchy
Bad Visual
Hierarchy
Create a
wireframe of
one of your
magazine
layouts
using our
terminology
Now Create a
Page Layout for
The Provided
Article
Must include:
1. A title
2. Credits
3. Kicker
4. Pull quote
5. At least one image with caption
6. Folio
7. Several subheads
8. Several columns
Visual Rhetoric Basics for
Posters
Focal Point
Vectors/Pathways
Camera Angles
Margins
Negative Space
Visual Hierarchy
Tension
Example Movie Poster:
Making Art
What story does it tell?
How is tension created?
What can we tell about
the movie?
What is the tone?
Who are the characters?
Different groupings?
How is negative space
used?
How do text and image
interact?
Interactivity
Rule of Thirds
Rule of Thirds
Angles
Straight-on/Front facing:
involvement. This is part of our
world.
Oblique/Side Angle:
Detachment. This is not part of
our world. It is foreign to us.
Camera angle looking up: The
object in the image is
powerful, godlike. The viewer is
put in a subordinate position.
Camera looking down: Viewer
is in a godlike position. The
object in the image is passive
and weak.
Eye-level: the object and
viewer are relatively equal.
Flier for my talk
A 2-day discussion of nostalgia
I’m running it: professor Will Kurlinkus
Day 1: An introduction to the theory of nostalgia, april 30, 12-1:15 in the
Cate Center 2 Reading Room
Day 2: Discussing 2 chapters of my book nostalgic design, April 6, 12-
1:15, Cate Center 2 Reading Room.
Free Lunch
To get the readings you should email professor James Zeigler at
jzeigler@[Link]
Sponsored by the Department of English’s journal Genre: Forms of
Discourse and Culture.
This is part of Genre Talks, a Reading group and lecture series open to
OU faculty, instructors, and students.
Include some cool image that’s copyright free and about nostalgia