Glove package - comments requested

Well, the plan was to use Photobucket to make these images bigger. Clearly, that didn't happen.


A quick background: We decided to do a series of stories about gloves, kind of piggybacking (OK, no kind of about it) off of the Denver Post's baseball preview tab.

I was trying to find a way to do the love/glove thing that they did, while at the same time not doing the same thing. I tried to come up with 'love' icons. I flirted with the Philly statue before settling on the old "I [heart] New York" campaign. So that's how I tied the three elements together: the player cutout as the "I" (in retrospect, I should've ditched the cutline, which was supposed to be the bottom anchor of the 'I'), heart-shaped copy and "GLOVE" as the second line. I was hoping the "LOVE" in a fiery red would help drive home the point.

The border was created by taking three colors of glove samples: a light, tan color; a middle-of-the-road brown and a deep-red dark color. I then created four overlapping boxes (since the linear blend doesn't use more than two colors), grading them from the light to black. The frames also utilize the glove colors, depending on what closest replicated what they had in their picture (or, in the case of the two elements on the first page, randomly selected).

We were told several weeks ago that we couldn't do a doubletruck. I - and I am mostly to blame for this - believed we would have three color pages, giving me enough room for a front-page CP and two color jump pages; obviously there's no use in running that border in B&W. Last week, I found out we'd have only two color pages. So I had to rearrange the first page to fit in the critical elements (the CP, a timeline and glove styles) and to add a subhead to give some sort of explainer to why we were doing this. Again, in retrospect, the subhead should have been much more definitive: 'We talked to players in pro and amateur baseball to find out why their gloves are so special to them' or something.

It seems to look fine as it is, but I can't help think I could have done more (and better). Maybe a sort of paginator's remorse, I don't know.

What could I have done differently?

(If I can get the pics bigger, I will do so.)

 

First, I wish I had your design skills.
Secondly, I think that the overall design is really good.
One thing is the type in the heart shape, it's almost seems to read backward just because the beginning of the type starts on the right and goes down diagonally.

I like the pictures in the middle of the text on the second page. I also like the subhed... It's conversational, and light. The other one that you mentioned is more here's what we did and why, which isn't as important, IMHO.


Wonder if a thing like my in parenthesis (my) would have worked? So instead of saying "I love glove" it would say I love (my) glove. Since you talk to people asking that question , maybe it would have made for a subtle part of the design.


I don't claim to be a great designer, just one man's opinion.

 

All of the cutouts either needed drop shadows or to be anchored to something. On white space, it just looks like they're floating in nothingness.

 

You are entirely too kind, first of all.

I toyed with the idea of the text several times; I was pretty much committed to lobbing off one 'lobe' of the heart and using the rest as copy space. So I have one of two lobes to use. My thought process was this: if I used the left one, I'd worry about the drop cap compromising the shape of the heart; it's hard for me to picture an "T" working well on such a rounded corner. It certainly doesn't work any better in the right lobe, but it is hidden a little more. Plus, I thought with the byline on the left, it would serve as a more natural lead-in to the story itself.

You're right about the 'my' part, which would have explained things. As it stands, I showed the proof to our features editor, who was reminded of Steve Carell's line in Anchorman, "I love lamp!"

DC: I agree wholeheartedly. I got the cutouts straight from our photogs, but you're right, I should have modified them.

Which immediately makes me glad I started this thread, as I'll keep that in mind next time.

 

I would of swore I saw this exact same thing before. Not sure where. I'll try to think of it.

 

The Denver Post's baseball preview. That's where we got the idea.

 

OK, I thought I saw that somewhere.

EDIT: Wish I would have read your description. What can I say, I just like to look at the pictures.