How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Research Radio Times Double Page Spreads

For the print work I was required to look at existing examples of work. I looked at a variety of different copies of Radio Times magazines as this was the magazine that we were aiming our double page spread to be in. Additionally, I looked at some online copies to confirm my research and gather a consistent theme throughout the online PDF copies and the printed copies.

The first initial part I noticed with the double page spread was that the initial character of a group of type would have a different font and it would be significantly larger than the rest of the type. This was something that was vital to keep consistent as otherwise there would be an inconsistency throughout the branding for Radio Times.

Print WorkMagazine Article

Print WorkNewspaper Advertisement

Research Similarities and Differences

The similarities between our piece and one in the Radio Times are as followed. The initial type at the beginning of the paragraph which is consistent throughout most of pages. I also deeply analysed a few copies when designing the piece so at the beginning of the text I could put in exactly the write type, for example the channel the show is being held on. Furthermore I positioned the type to the edge of the page using rulers / margins to correctly allow an element of bleed, which is common in a lot of their double page spreads and finally to conclude there was a unique typeface for the ‘logo’ this should not be consistent with the type in the film which is a problem that we occurred.

Custom typefaces for the double page spread

Initial type capitalised

Print Work EvaluationMagazine Article

With this particular piece I felt that the branding interfered with the branding of the documentary as we used the same logo on this piece and the documentary itself. If I were to repeat this process I would definitely have re-shot the photograph and framed the items so that the column of type would be on the right as opposed to the left as naturally our eyes read from left to right. This is not a major issue however it means that we are drawn in to read the text before knowing the name of the documentary. I also would have moved the gun perhaps to allow a section of just wood where the text would go so we are not forced to cut off any of the objects.

Print Work EvaluationNewspaper Advertisement

The logo at the top of this advertisement was a simply easily readable type which was intended. However due to some miscommunication we identified that we had used the wrong logo in the documentary as this is the BBC produced work and should have used this logo in the documentary. The newspaper advertisement was a piece which was left to the last minute which straight away meant that it was being rushed. The positives of this piece are that the two images can clearly be recognisable and connected. The logo for this piece was rushed as it was a last minute alteration that was required. Therefore this piece I am very disappointed with this due to the lack of planning. Time management was definitely a problem that I found with this piece. We also recognised after producing this piece that it didn’t illustrate when the programme would be airing which was a huge design flaw and what type of programme it would be such as documentary in this example.

Print Work EvaluationConsistency

The print work has similar imagery so that it is clearly identifiable that they are the same media piece. However, for the magazine piece I had to design it to fit the themes and conventions of Radio Times magazine, and pay particular attention to the fact that they would not share the same designers. However, we wanted to have a similar and clearly identifiable selection of images. Conveying the genre was a slight issue as we didn’t have uniform to use as our primary signifier so we opted for a more subtle approach. We displayed a bullet, dog tags, pen knife and badge to convey the idea of war.