Hi Guys,
For my course (again) I have to design a trifold brochure and I’m struggling to get the cover looking good. The text seems to float - I’ve tried adding a drop shadow but that really hasn’t helped. Anyone have any ideas on how I can get it looking less … floaty?
cheers
Julia
In not sure the parameters on your project, but if you ditch the photos and maybe illustrate them…like a treasure map. Then the floaty thing doesn’t seem so bad. However, hierarchy and leading are probably what you need to pay attention too.
Try some word place, typographic studies on the title aswell.
Playing with the hierarchy and leading makes a lot of sense. That’s really good feedback, thanks so much!! Really appreciated. 
The headline is not really participating in the design. You just left a blank space at the top, then filled that blank space with words. Instead of the type being an integral part of the composition, it’s just a headline floating in a sea of left-over red space. The position of that headline is predictable, orderly and totally expected. There’s no tension, there’s no interest, no surprises, and there’s no interplay with the images below. Instead of the headline interacting with the layout, it sits there alone, isolated, bored and floating forlornly in the middle of a sea of redness.
You’ve tried to introduce some fun by using a playful typeface, but that playfulness looks awfully lonely just hanging there in a layout that isn’t especially lighthearted. The subject matter in the photos is of a few fun things, but the layout itself is rigid, geometric, orderly, stiff and calculated.
All the elements need to work together and play off each other. There needs to be an interesting interaction between the positive and negative spaces. The layout, as a whole, needs to have a personality that’s appropriate for evoking the right emotional responses from the target audience.
Also remember that hot colors, like red, advance, while cool colors, like blue or green, recede. In other words, the red background jumps out at the viewer and overpowers the cooler photos. And speaking of the photos, because they directly abut one another, the visual separation of where one ends and the next begins is awkward. It requires just a bit of mental work to separate and see each one as a separate photo.
It’s a brochure cover that’s supposed to be about fun and adventure, but the layout is neither fun nor adventurous. Playful typefaces and pictures of fun thing do not automatically add up to a playful and fun layout. It requires a bit of work for the reader to tease the fun and adventure from the cover, All this adds up to an unintended emotional disconnect with the subject matter and the layout.
To sum it up, if the subject matter is about fun and adventure, make the layout a whole lot less static and predictable — make it playful and have fun with it.
Thanks for your response - it makes sense that there is a disconnect between the orderly images and playful font. You’ve given me a bunch to think about - really appreciate it!!
Do you have options for better photos? Professional photos make such a difference. For example, the slide picture is just a picture of a slide. I’m not feeling adventure. Taken from a more dynamic angle could help marry the headline with the imagery. The same applies for all of the photos. I agree with what’s been said about the headline needing some reworking.
This assignment is now in - thanks to everyone for their comments!
How did it turn out?
Yes, I’m curious how the critiques and suggestions you got here matched up with the reactions in your course.
Taking on board the comments about leading, the red being too strong and the images merging, I ended up playing with the title a bit, adding a coloured bar at the top that reflected the colours used within the brochure, changing the colour to an orange and putting borders around the images.
I took on board the comments about the staidness of the square images clashing with the playful title, but I didn’t have time to go back and have a massive re-think. If I was producing it professionally then I would defintely have reassessed that. Ditto with the professional photography!
I got a B - which I’m not unhappy with 
I think if only you tried hard to look for a fun-type of font it will boost your grade.
Also adding white icons such as trains, toys, anything that represents the park, in that
orange background with opacity 50% to 80% will make it more fun.
About the rainbow color on the top I find it odd, if you replace that with something like “plastic fiesta banderitas” it will look nice.
About the pictures below, I think adding a layer of different color with opacity 5% to 30% in each images will make it more colorful.
Eh, it’s all good - as I said, it’s in, it’s graded, onwards and upwards! 
Cheers!