Midterm Prep Notes

Hey guys - I hope midterm prep is going well. I will come by Wednesday sometime between 5pm and 7pm to check in with you all.

Some notes and reminders:

COLOR - I have seen a lot of you using a LOT of color. Please be careful. My recommendation would be that you use black + white + 2 (3max) other colors or less. Choose them carefully and make it look like you are using them deliberately.

WHITE SPACE - I have seen some layout grids where the student is trying to fill every single box with something. Remember, white space is your FRIEND, not your enemy. Less can be more here. Use it to give breathing room to important images or text and as compositional element in general.

GRID - Similar to the above, just because you have a grid doesn't mean you have to express it. The grid can take a back seat if you wish. If you are using a grid, it will come through in the overall proportions of the layout even if it isn't explicitly expressed (and example of a grid being explicitely expressed might be a "checkerboard" style layout.)

PRINT - Print in b/w first to check sizes and jaggies - it will save you later in case something comes out funny on the $$ color printers.

LOOK - Check out examples. Look around - Layout is everywhere - tshirts, magazines, posters in the hallways, your friends desk. Here is a link to 1500 architecture competition entries for the Stockholm Public Libarary. Many of them are quite decent and ALL ARE ON 2 BOARDS just like your midterm: http://www.arkitekt.se/s26256

Email me with questions and good luck!
DG