This is my first magazine spread and the first time ever using Adobe InDesign. What a fun product!

Let’s talk about some of the design principles I used.

First, I need to discuss my target audience which is women, specifically women in The Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

This design appeals to my target audience through the pictures and colors used. I used pictures of little lambs to represent the people these women minister to as shepherds as well as a picture of two women hugging. I transition from a woman hugging a lamb (symbolic) to two women hugging each other, sending the message of who the Relief Society women should be ministering to. 

The colors are soft and calm, which should appeal to most women. Together with the pictures of soft, fluffy lambs, the visual impression is one of gentleness, kindness, love and caring.

Design Analysis

Contrast: I used pink headers contrasting with the dark body copy. I also used different fonts, sizes, and colors, different sizes of pictures (hierarchy) and drop-caps.

I pulled the pink from the ear of the bigger lamb and used this color as a contrasting color in my headings and the background for my pull quote.

Repetition: Not only is the pink color repeated in the headings and pull-quote, I also put a stripe along the opposite page from the quote to tie those together and then used the color for the drop-cap letters on both pages to add even more contrast. I repeated the drop-cap from the second page to the third.

Alignment: I chose to justify the text for alignment purposes. I left-aligned all the body copy text including the headings. I right-aligned the title text. I center-aligned the text in the pull-quote. I tried to align everything on the page with something else (margins, other pictures or the pull-quote). I had to play around with font sizes and kerning to get rid of widows and orphans.

Proximity: I put the headings close to their body copy and gave them extra space above to create proximity. I overlapped the pull quote onto the picture of the lamb to create proximity. I thought the quote went well with the picture and I wanted to tie those two together.  I kept all the text from the title together. I either put the picture credits directly on the photo or next to it as close as possible.

White Space: I tried to create white space with margins, space before headings, and a wider gutter. I purposely ended my body text where I did to create a little white space at the end on the bottom of that page.

Fonts: I used Bookman Old Style and Segoe Script in the title. I used a sans serif font (Calibri) in the body text and repeated the Segoe Script in the headings for repetition. It’s always a good idea to mix your fonts to provide contrast and make things more interesting.

Picture Direction and Hierarchy: When placing pictures on the page, make sure people and things are facing toward your text. You don’t won’t your readers eyes drifting off the page. Notice the woman on the left is facing inward and the woman on the far right is faced forward turning the eye back into the page from the woman next to her who is facing out.

Hierarchy refers to the first picture that catches your eye, then the next, and so on. You want your most important picture to be your biggest. Jesus Christ’s example and teachings are the most important part of this article, so His picture is the biggest. As for the spread, the lamb represents those we love, so he’s the biggest (going along with the shepherd theme), then the women caring for Christ’s lambs (literally and symbolically), and finally the hands as a final message to be the hands of Christ in serving others.