OUGD603: Alec Publication - Initial layout & Sequential story

Grid System 

Inspired by the book breaking a grid system, unconventional arrangement gives a sporadic and contemporary effect whilst still remaining aesthetically pleasing and evolved.

As this is a short brief, developing a layout with the grid meant a quick production turn around as I felt like I understood what Alec was going for. Magazines such as 032C demonstrate unusual contemporary layouts perfectly and I took that as partial inspiration. 

Intro page

• Initial image is the girl, suggesting childhood and innocence. Positioned as the only image on the spread, all emphasis is on the quality of production and her gaze to the lens. 
•  sets tone for clean and simple

• Detail of a statue dedicated to the remembrance of the miners strike, the landscape represents the changing scenes in what was once mining locations, contextualised with the larger image of the inside cabin underground within the mines. The visual and time referential differences represent the changing landscapes over different spaces, compared together with Alecs narrative in mind
• Clear defined style, clear grid system and confident image placement 

• The Pit Stop Cafe, a cafe which represents the local area of the mining town, with the quintessentially working class newspaper 'The Sun' gently lying there. This represents where the town is now, suffering with low economic prospers and people are moving out, both of the cafe and the space in general
• Minimal composition gives focus to images whilst preserving grid system
•  Introducing dark illustrations with dark underground images, reflecting ancient and modernised mediums of the same space juxtaposes the cafe to tell the narrative

Lois and Freya, 2018 Located in Swillington, West Yorkshire, the village was a highly affluent mining area.
• Representing different heritidges of the industry, paired with an image representing the new purposes people are finding for new mining sights 
• Despite being small scale, when printed the images will still be large, and due to the high quality will be perfectly visible

• Jack, 2018 - The day prior to the photograph he passed his karting license and can now participate in races at the recreation ground, showing what childhood is like in the town
• Flipped layout from the previous page to cement grid style

•  Experimenting with different compositions
• All images represent vandalism and destruction of some kind

•  Could be used as a print
• Showing what collieries are like now

•  An observation point of parents watching over their children which are learning to horse ride. It is supposed to represent the new opportunities available for children who are growing up in ex-mining communities which children generations before them may not have had the same luxury.
• Juxtapose that image with an area known for anti-social behaviours such as starting fires highlights the social class struggle going on in these areas due to the economic down failure of the coal industry, and the subsequent jobs which were lost. The transition of images in an upwards flowing motion shows how classes have become more prominent socially in areas which have been effected by these struggles.

• Comparing portraits and landscapes which contextualise each other in achieving a developed understanding of the narrative, and the many areas effected by the demise of the coal industry