Critique: boys to MEN

The beginning of the semester started off quick and I have to say, I was not as prepared as I thought. As packed as this class is I know I'm going to enjoy getting to work on designs all the time because it's what I love to do. Our first assignment for designing the cover and feature for one of the two stories. I did not have a great time with this spread. One weekend was a short deadline for all of us to work under and I know I did not execute it to the best of my ability, design or idea-wise. I know I could have developed my idea more and pushed my spread a little farther but I felt pressed for time and played it safe so that I could make the deadline. Next time I'm definitely allotting a lot more time for them. One thing I really did not like about this assignment was the photo illustrations. I felt like I should use them since the pictures weren't strong but, as you can see, I had trouble using them well.

                                      

I am usually more of a traditionalist in design and like clean lines, lots of white space, etc. Lately, obviously not with this design, but with others, I've been trying to push myself farther. I plan on doing that in my next submission for Thursday and hopefully I've given myself enough time to execute it well since I've already started.

I'm not sure if I'm going to redesign this spread yet, probably not though given the time restraints my schedule seems to have this semester. I might work on it for my portfolio but not for a re-grade.