As a university prospectus aimed at promoting the college to potential
students and their parents/guardians, the content presents an, almost, mocking
overview of the professionalism and engagement with students offered. Page 30’s
insight into what the college, and Leeds, has to offer boasts more about the
sporting activities than the creative side. The wording; ‘Lets get/Lets go…’ is
so patronising and ‘down with the kids’ one may expect it to be a sort of local
council’s youth outreach programme. Instead, I think the wording should be more
professional, clearer and in line with the aura of the college.
Although an, arguably, uncomplicated and comfortable typeface to use, I
really like the simplicity of the sans serif font. It does not attempt to
divert attention from the content (despite the content being poor in itself).
Instead it offers a clear and minimalist illustration of the words themselves.
As an art college, it is important to present an understanding of typography
and this is achieved in through this typeface. The composition, however,
resembles that of a pre-GCSE PowerPoint; overcrowded and just thrown at each
page. As an Art College prospectus I feel more focus should be
aimed at the imagery, with the written word being there to assist and explain
the visual in the most effective and efficient manor.
One would expect the front cover to be of upmost importance, as it is
the initial impression people get. The choice of a matt dark blue, in contrast
with the glossy dark red of the text, is a terrible display of an understanding
of colour combinations. The two do not make it easy to read the front cover,
except in a certain light, and are not particularly attractive or inviting.
Once again the composition is off, with certain letters being out of place or
skewed, the central alignment of the text not really being central, and the
kerning of words being unequal. I would, instead, suggest the use of two nicely
contrasting colours (or even shades) that are not overly aggressive or bold. A
left or right hand alignment might look more organised and less typical of such
a publication.
I feel that some of the
imagery is quite well considered and gives an aesthetically interesting picture
of the colleges practices. Others, conversely, mimic that of generic photo
stock images that are neither personal nor inviting. A lot of the photographic
evidence of the collage’s produce doesn’t make sense. It appears as though
photos have been taken of any random thing within the building and included as
filler. This is neither of higher education standard nor is it representational
of the college. The photos should be there to provide a insight into what the
place looks like, the facilities it has to offer and the work generated by
students.
I think the
use of a white background for the majority of pages is bland but fitting. It is
clean and provides a non-distracting plate for the content to go on. The use of
a very light and transparent pastel colour may give the book more flavour, but
there is a real danger of over including colour where, possibly, unnecessary. There
is, however, the use of black to colour pages with quotes from the faculty.
While this may be a discernible format, the appearance of such pages is
sporadic and un-formatted. Why have a few pages black towards the back of the
book? It would be obvious what these pages were without the colouration. The
whole organisation of topics is quite confusing and nonsensical. A better
method may be to leave all pages white and allocate colours to each section,
possibly appearing to the right of each page, and with reference to the
contents section. This would enable viewers to find a section they were
interested in straight away, instead of flicking through half the book.
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