I aimed for the publication to have emotion and context, even without the final images or text to communicate the language, and so I used abstract expressionist artists such as Franz Kline as a seed for inspiration. I created hand rendered, as opposed to digitally rendered (for an organic and more personal effect), aggressive brush strokes, scribbles and splatters to communicate the anger that I feel towards the current politics. I originally designed the publication with a minimalist aesthetic in mind, so that the design could be visually appealing, uncluttered and ultimately, contemporary and current, as these issues surrounding Europe are very much in the present day. However I felt that this clean and sleek design was far too pristine for such a dark and negative subject matter, which is ultimately destroying and affecting lives. To juxtapose this perfectly organised document that had been created entirely on InDesign (making the publication entirely digital and quite separate from humanity), I ripped characters from newspaper headers and created a variety of hand made collages to make up the title ‘States of Europe’. After scanning these, I made the informed decision to whack up the contrast and transform the language of the type by applying the threshold effect. This gave the type some grittiness and a rawness that resembled that of stamped type or letterpress. These bold and organic characters helped the design to feel more anarchist, especially when I overlaid red characters on top of the black.
The use of red and black helps the design to communicate the political narrative throughout the publication without being too colourful and overpowering. I settled on a limited colour palette as I knew the photographs and text would be the main focus, and so I didn’t want to clash with any colours that may also be present within the photographs.
There are place holder images and text at the present, but the design can accommodate for more or less images, if and when the selected and final elements are provided. Images can be repeated by enlarging certain points of focus within the image, as well as displaying the full, credited photograph. Alternatively, there is also the option to remove images so that there is more negative space, which is also suitable as there is a minimalist hint within the design.
The use of courier gives the publication a sense of immediacy which could suggest guerrilla marketing and positive social anarchism while also being modern and current. The use of columns enables the audience to digest the information in more bitesized portions as opposed to large blocks of text that could turn people off, while the exaggerated margins help to bring some space and breathing room to the design, to help it feel less dense and overwhelming. For the headers, I opted for Bureau Grotesque as I wanted something quite heavy to compliment the minimalist style juxtaposed with the bold, emotive strokes. The collaged characters hold similarities to that of the use of letterpress and so I wanted to use a font that was intended for print, to further enforce this.
From an audience perspective I think the information has been divided into considerable sections without being overwhelming or off-putting. The design has enough flexibility to adapt to the clients suggestions and opinions and so I am happy with the current outcome. I think the design is successful in communicate the subject matter, even without the narrative photographs or written language, and so I consider it to be successful from a design prospected.
As a response to designing a newspaper publication that will incorporate photographic essays, I decided to use the subject matter as my inspiration: States of Europe, and as such, the current geopolitical, cultural, economic and socio-political state of Europe.
