Need thoughts.

The Phenx · 11-14-2012, 04:37 PM

Having one of those designs, where the imagery doesn't make it easy, and the whole thing while ok isn't just what I want to make happen.

The point is to show our Iditarod Racer, and our partnership with him. Which I think I accomplished, but while I like it, I am not in love.

Crit Away.

PrintDriver · 11-14-2012, 04:54 PM

Do you have a more active photo angle?
This is all straight up and centered.

The Phenx · 11-14-2012, 05:18 PM

I do and I layed it in... the only issue with it is it does not have enough breathing room on the bottom for info, and the top margins are a little too short.

I can make it work, but it will need a little shopping to provide the necessary white space. That and he has a VERY stern look on his face in most of the shots, while its honest, not sure its appealing. Stand by ill drop on in, so you can see my conundrum.

The Phenx · 11-14-2012, 05:36 PM

Here is the best shot of the up close series. If I get away from these it becomes pure portrait. Perhaps I am overthinking it because I didn't get the perfect shot this time around.

cornfed · 11-14-2012, 05:49 PM

Can you make the original picture bigger to see more detail in his face and make it look like the dogs are running closer to the end of the page? Seems it would imply more action. If the sides aren't big enough, it looks like a really easy shop job.

The Phenx · 11-14-2012, 05:51 PM

I can blow it up about another 25% before I loose too much detail, and offcenter it a bit yes. The goal was to not show TOO much detail in his face lol.

cornfed · 11-14-2012, 06:00 PM

Oh. I thought you meant the first one had a decent expression on his face. Nevermind! I do still think it would look better blown up with the dogs looking like they are about to run off the page.

kemingMatters · 11-14-2012, 06:02 PM

IMHO the second option works better, and the fact you can read "Coast Guard" on his hat kind of ties it all together.

It's a bit of a shame that the dogs are so blurry, I find it flattens the image on the right hand side, but I suppose that is the photogs choice in depth of field.

Not sure Handwriting-Dakota is a great font choice, I would suggest scanning some handwriting, Dan's if you could get it, as repeated letters like the N make it look fabricated and kill it's organic lustre.

Last thing, watch where the D in Anderson hits the T in IDITAROD, it's making it read as IDIIAROD.

The Phenx · 11-14-2012, 07:27 PM

No worries on Dakota its placeholder. We will be using his actual sig. Unless I cant get it for some reason, then I will be writing it by hand. I tend not to use prefab stuff... Even my lil fancy frame is from my own library.

I dug back thru the photoshoot and found this one, and it honestly feels a little better, and seems to take the feedback into account. I still need to get in and adjust color etc, but as far as the layout I think it works pretty well.

It will be 24x36 so the hat writing will still be legible. Thoughts?

kemingMatters · 11-14-2012, 08:09 PM

I would suggest flipping your layout... by that I mean put the screened coast guard logo on the right, lighten it up a bit and put the "Ken ... IDITAROD ..." on the left. Should help balance out the layout.

I would also (can't believe I'm going to say this) make the logo on the bottom right bigger and bump the URL into the white area so it's not soo close to the trim.

If you got the image area, maybe try rotating it 15 degrees or so to make it a bit more dynamic.