The cover stock of the 2012/13 Leeds College of Art prospectus has a cheap aesthetic to it which is made more accentuated by the foil letters on the front cover. When the foil has been embossed it has become translucent allowing little bits of blue to come through which creates low quality aesthetic to it. I believe if they used some higher grade stock it could look different or even use a different colour foil that might not be as translucent.
As soon as you open the first page you are met by this plain ugly powerpoint like page. It looks really amateur and poorly done from the border to the font choice, as a collective it looks basic and has a business feel to it not an art college that produces some of the best graphic designers in the country. To add to the business feel on page 4 the picture of the Principal looks as if it is advertising a solicitors or a compensation company. I can't really think of a solution to the picture but the first page can be changed easily, the stock could be changed, the border could be removed, font changed to a lighter weighted font and maybe some form of image could be added.
On the subject of changing stock the whole book would look a lot less commercial and business like if it was less glossy because when the bold type is printed onto a glossy surface I believe it has a cheap aesthetic and tactile quality to it reminding me of a catalogue. However using glossy paper has its advantages, the photographs have a cleaner more professional finish to them which couldn't be achieved using a matte paper.
I believe the double page spread photos are a success and create interesting visuals and enable the reader to achieve a greater understanding and a feel of what the college is about. However, there are some issues with other photos. The layout on some pages just look as if the photos have been thrown in to position and little thought has been put into placement, scale and positioning. For example page 58, the small image on the left just be of greater scale to illustrate more detail but instead it's lazily positioned leaving a mass of white space in which a tiny photo is floating.
I find the overall laying out of the prospectus a little amateurish, from the centring of the 'Leeds College of Art' logo on the back cover to the randomly placed images, to the odd black page sections throughout that don't follow any set pattern. It feels like it has been rushed or at least some issues haven't been taken into consideration as much as they should have.
The cover font doesn't work, the 'O' is absolutely massive and has been poorly kerned which means it centres the page and is the focus of attention, instantly attracting peoples eyes to a flaw. Also the 'W' doesn't work well with the font as a collective. I think in this situation a font like Helvetica should have been used, even though it is used excessively, it's used often for a reason. When struggling and in need of a simple but professional sans-serif font turn to Helvetica.
I believe the double page spread photos are a success and create interesting visuals and enable the reader to achieve a greater understanding and a feel of what the college is about. However, there are some issues with other photos. The layout on some pages just look as if the photos have been thrown in to position and little thought has been put into placement, scale and positioning. For example page 58, the small image on the left just be of greater scale to illustrate more detail but instead it's lazily positioned leaving a mass of white space in which a tiny photo is floating.
I find the overall laying out of the prospectus a little amateurish, from the centring of the 'Leeds College of Art' logo on the back cover to the randomly placed images, to the odd black page sections throughout that don't follow any set pattern. It feels like it has been rushed or at least some issues haven't been taken into consideration as much as they should have.
The cover font doesn't work, the 'O' is absolutely massive and has been poorly kerned which means it centres the page and is the focus of attention, instantly attracting peoples eyes to a flaw. Also the 'W' doesn't work well with the font as a collective. I think in this situation a font like Helvetica should have been used, even though it is used excessively, it's used often for a reason. When struggling and in need of a simple but professional sans-serif font turn to Helvetica.