Whilst working with this shot on the establishing pages of designs 1-3 I was aware that there was enough space in this image to use it as a full bleed to place text over the top of it.
You may remember from my posts whilst researching editorials and designing Longevity that I was fairly against the idea of placing text over the top of image. I find it’s often done badly and as a result is really distracting to both the image and the writing, making me as a ‘reader’ too aware of the design elements than of the story/image.
BUT…I need to give it a go and I did shoot certain shots with this in mind to see if I could achieve a design that was a little more out of my comfort zone in terms of aesthetics and design.
In fact, placing the text over the top of this image does not bother me at all and I think it works really nicely.
Never Lazy Magazine, ISSUU
Below is a similar head and shoulders portrait that has been used as the establisher to a photo story. In this example, I find that the headline kissing his face and quote that overlaps his shoulders is distracting, despite the portrait being decent.
What I do like is how the headline mirrors the tones of the picture, so I’ve tried some for my own:
Although the colour below looks more fitting with the tones of the picture, ‘Photography and words: Amy Romer’ gets a little lost in the picture. Looking back at the black headline, it certainly looks more defined and jumps out at you more than this.
I left the title of the magazine at the top as I like the design element but also because there isn’t enough room at the top of the image to place it within the frame.
The problem I faced when designing this was thinking up a headline that made up for the absence of Paul because this picture alone does not really tell us too much about the story. The headline therefore needed to be descriptive.
I’m still unsure as to whether this is enough to lead someone into the story. I think the picture is strong but I wonder if there are too many questions without Paul in the frame? Or maybe the focus on Joshua is a good thing and it’s as though the viewer is looking from the eyes of Paul?
I think it’s something I’m going to get some opinions on before deciding.