Virtual Expert: Douglas Kraus Douglas Kraus, freelance designer for Hobby Farms magazine, was awarded first place in the Two-Plus Page Design - Commercial and Best Use of Typography categories in the 2006 AAEA Design Awards Program. Overall theories of magazine design. Clean design. If the reader can't make out what's on the page or where to start, he'll just turn the page and find something else. White space is essential, even though it's always a battle for space. I'd rather have one good, strong photo on a page than five small ones. Sometimes less is more. Balance between photos, headline type and text. I don't have an exact number, but there should only be one dominant item, then a subordinate, then incidentals. If I use a strong headline treatment, I don't do a large dropcap, or put a photo right next to it. It needs to stand on its own. When and how to use color in type or other design elements. I use color. but limit it to a palate of 12 or 13 colors that are consistent with each publication title. There will be strong colors for headlines, and lighter colors for sidebars and screens. I try not to do reverse type too much for long bodies of text; too hard to read. A little red goes a long way - I only use red sparingly. It's a real "LOOK HERE" color so I don't want visual confusion by using a lot of it. I stay away from fancy "effects" like gradient color in type, bent, skewed, 3D type or anything Illustrator or Photoshop have created as the "must have" tool. They tend to look amateur, since everyone will be using them. Restraint is key. Consistency of design, vs. surprise. Consistency is very important. I use ONE body type, ONE sidebar type and vary headline type but it's mostly the same two fonts. The color palate is the same throughout, the grid system is the same. My goal is to have the magazine look cohesive while still looking fresh and not templated. If you tore out a bunch of my magazines' pages you could put them together by style. Busy, or simple? Simple. I like simple designs. When they look clean, they are easy to read and follow. There may be times when busy works. Say an article on hectic lifestyles. A busy, chaotic layout may work to reflect the story. Personal background. I grew up in New York and moved to California to attend CSULB as a journalism major. I bought an Apple Mac Plus for $1,234.34 at the campus bookstore and thus began my love of design. I enjoyed layout more than writing at school and started doing desktop publishing before it was popular. I learned a lot from working design in an ad agency, and through my love of photography. Visual arts is about more than just graphic design. I started my own business in 1992 and haven't looked back. I stared doing art direction in 1996 for a publisher. I rely on word of mouth for advertising. If my clients are happy, they spread the word. I got overloaded with one big client and the bottom fell out after the dot.com bust. I lost about 70% of my business. Lesson learned: don't put all your eggs in one basket. I try to diversify but it's hard to turn away magazine work. It's the perfect assignment. You know what to expect, when you'll get the material, when it's due (and there's NO pushing dates back on magazines) and how the materials will come in. You don't have to worry about dealing with unprofessional people who don't know the business. That's my biggest problem with doing design work for other fields. I'll get a 72dpi jpg of something from the receptionist and told to make a brochure from it. It's always a mess. With magazines, the editors are usually professional and if there's something they don't understand, I can teach them and next time it will be easier. Hobby Farms magazine is an interesting client. The editor works out of an office in Kentucky, she ftp's Quark templates and photos to me in southern California, I design the magazine and send back to her via ftp, and she sends them to the main office in Irvine, CA. We hardly see each other, but it all works surprisingly smoothly! Douglas Kraus |