A little too close for comfort

I had been flipping through my Rock and Ice magazine the other day and I had read this article entitled "Local Color".  The article was great and there were plenty of stunning photos of non-professional climbers pushing themselves to the limit.  It was really inspiring to read about your average joe, 50-year-old, Chris "G-Money" Goplerud trucking through the snow to brush off his project day in and day out and finally pulling down the route he had studied all winter.  It wasn't until nearly three weeks later that I picked up the magazine again to get a hint of that climbing feel, when I came across the cover page to this article again.  I was stunned by its awful typography. Rock and Ice is a very well known and respected magazine, and I find it hard to see how either A. this slipped between the cracks or B. how someone actually thought this was effective typography. (I hope it slipped through the cracks.)  I'm usually not one to speak so negatively about people's work- I try to find the positives and make suggestions on what I feel could be better- but this, being in such a well regarded and usually well designed magazine, surprised me. 

Take a look at the cropped version of the cover page, notice the tension that is created with the condensed leading.  Th

e lack of space between the lines of type create an awkward overlap on several of the characters.  For instance the descender stroke of the "p" in paradise merges with the "f" in further. If the context clues weren't present to make this legible, this would lead  my eyes to read "turther" rather than "further".  There are several places where this overlapping of the characters creates for awkward negative spaces and uneasy tension points.  For example the "p" and "h" of photos combined with the "C" of Colorado's creates for empty triangles of space closed off by the forms of those characters.  A lot of these problems could be solved by just increasing the leading 

to give the characters room to breath.  Better yet, if the designer really had a purpose for the close leading, choose a sans-serif typeface so that the serifs don't complicate things and add to the tension of connecting the letter forms. There are just too many examples to go into and I hope that this was just an h

onest mistake that was rushed to get to print.  

Otherwise the layout isn't horrible, and the rest of the article gets better.  I'm glad I didn't notice this type before I read the article because 

I may have been less enticed to do so.  Let's hope most of Rock and Ice's readers aren't Graphic Design majors as well.  

Scientific, Functional, and Designed to the T

This advertisement by Sierra Designs is, to me, very effective.  The placement of the jacket in the center of the vertical dominant composition creates an ideal focal point.  This focal point guides the viewer to read the smaller text that uses words to spark their curiosity, like “Drizone”. The designer uses more of contextual directional devices than physical attributes to guide your eye.  The different sizes that are used in the title and body of the text emphasize the hierarchy that they’ve established.

            I would consider this layout to be more image dominant; however it’s considerably well balanced and both elements play an integral part in the overall composition. The designer creates a lot of interesting depth with the different graphic elements throughout the piece. The photograph at the bottom establishes a strong base for the composition and provides some visual weight. This weight is reiterated by the photos placement in the virtual space and acts as a middle ground.  The white negative space around the jacket creates for a strong contrast that allows the jacket to really come alive off the page, further emphasizing it as the focal point.  The designer utilizes repetitive topographic elements very well, to again create depth in a relatively flat composition.  All in all I think this is extremely well done and it entices the viewer to learn more about this product.