OUGD504: Design for print, Final print crit

We were asked to lay out our work, and the other group would come and anonymously critique our work.

Questions I asked:

Is the text readable & legible? 

Is there too much info on the page?

Does the bright colour steer you away from the content?

Does the colour attract attention?

Is the content understandable?

Feedback:

Student 1:

I like the patterns made by the colours but feel they are too bright & garish and take away too much from the content - consider using matte or pastel colours because they are easier on the eye and more recognisable as background design? 

Consider possible blending of colours because the separation pattern looks a bit like brush strokes - a bit messy & confusing - but then that relates to print

On a cartridge stock matte or pastel colours would look great - especially if contrasted with high quality, possibly gloss, text.

Also make it really apparent the northern words are intended - I think they are a great inclusion but might go over some peoples heads.

Student 2:

Maybe put any 'northern' woods in italics/ bold inside your copy or else it might look like you can't spell, also I personally find hyphens distracting and a bit less readable.

What is the relevance of the colours used for each section, maybe you could make them to do with print or something northern?

The type is legible, maybe look at a different font for the copy as it is slightly boring and your audience might not want to read full pages of text.

Also on your paper size charts they do not actually look the same in reality, I think it's a bit misleading to the young audience.

However I do like your layout + concept, I also like your title font and quotes, they are appropriate and funny, maybe add a few more quotes or sayings either as separate pages or in the copy itself.

Student 3:

It could be useful to include example of at least some of the printing processes within the booklet as some students may not know what these processes look and feel like. Particularly etching, UV coating and die cutting.

Quote in the first few pages of the book - who is it quoting? If nobody specific then I would take out the quotation marks as this is a little confusing - This would also be nice as a poster? Could include this within your print pack?

The tone of voice of the intro page is completely different to that of the rest of the content. I think the friendly tone works well for this pack so it would work better to carry this through to the whole book.

There may be too much text on each page - it could get a little tedious to read it all on each page - Could easily take the content over more than one page for each section so that it is easier to read.

The colour and pattern works well and I don't think it takes away from any of the content - but this needs to be carried through the whole publication for it to work really effectively.