marketing design

Today's session comprises two of my favourite areas within publishing: marketing and design.

We were given two book covers from different titles at Palgrave Macmilan. We were then asked to create a flyer/AI sheet containing all of the specified information on Blackboard.

The exercise was carried out in test-like conditions, and we had one hour to complete it. I found the most difficult area of the task to be the re-reading of the branding guidelines to check for correct spacing and positioning of the logo, and to ensure that all of the conventions were followed.

We were also given a set of swatches on Adobe Illustrator that we were to design with, these were colours agreed by the brand and were not to be altered. Working within these guidelines - although inhibiting creativity - worked quite well for me, as often in design the sheer number of colour, font, and styling options can be overwhelming. To have some rules and guidelines in place which can be worked around allows for much more of a straightforward creative process.

I think the colouration works well, and I also like the use of blocks, with the strip down the middle. I also like how I positioned the text inside the hat. I wish I could have used a more interesting font, as Helvetica is one of my least favourite defaults,  but I was required to follow the branding specifications. If I were to alter the design in any way, I would reduce the font size or change the bold option.