ELLE october quick redesign

 I was going through my iPad's newsstand today and realized how out of touch i've been (once again) and all the good stuff I've missed out on! The first cover that actually grabbed my attention was the ELLE U.S cover for October. This cover feels very light with a strong summer feel, a little odd for an october issue. 

Let's start with the photography. This feature was shot by Ruth Hogben. This cover is not that striking, it's pretty but it looks a bit average and the type bothers me a lot. For me, it doesn't match Gaga's unique personality and feel.

So, here the headlines are just crowding up around Gaga's face which is just too bad. I wish things had been laid out better, this makes it hard to enjoy the photo and well…type wise it just looks like what Vogue has been doing, crowded, overpowering, busy, not good enough. therefore, I took about an hour,  and tried to tweak the cover to air out her face a bit. What was bothering me the most was the way the "Lady Gaga" type was almost on top of her eye. Used basic fonts for this, Futura and Baskerville, trying to stay as close as possible to the actual Elle design and layout.

It also seems this issue has a double cover (love those). The second one feels a lot more appropriate for an october issue, everything works, the colors, the pose, it just draws you in. Not loving the type but oh well...

Vogue UK december redesign

Here is a 30 minute redesign of VOGUE UK's December 2012 cover, using the same copy and basic layout, only adjusting the main color and of course changing the photo.

SO as I have done before, here is a 30 minute redesign of Vogue UK's december 2012 cover using a picture from inside of this issue to give you an idea of how this could have been way more interesting (and pop since this was clearly what they were aiming for...).I am using pretty much the first typeface that I stumbld across in my font library for this as the type isn't the focus here. I don't know about you but I absolutely cannot tell that these two pictures are of the same woman...

VOGUE UK's december mess

In one of my previous posts I said Vogue could do much better but it also seems they can do MUCH worse. Vogue UK has the gorgeous Natalia Vodianova on their cover for their December issue and this mess makes me want to weep for designers everywhere...

The past two issues of our British neighbors have been disappointing but this one is just plain ridiculous. The photo on the cover (by Mario Testino) is not what anyone could call a Vogue picture nor a good picture. I'm not sure who was in charge of the styling but oh dear! Especially considering when you look at the gorgeous and colorful spreads of Vodianova inside! The pictures in this issue are great, vibrant with all the pop you could want but who could get a chance to see those with a cover so bad? This outfit combined with the grey background makes the whole scene very dull and Vodianova's face and expression is just not right. I have seen her on may covers (including vogues) and I didn't even recognize her on this wreck of a cover. I am being very harsh but it is so disappointing to follow a magazine who did such amazing things just a few months ago and is now daring to publish a cover that looks like this.

The cover photo is not the only thing lacking work, the typography combinations are not that good either. I don't even think I can go in and comment on it, the hierarchy is a complete mess and the line "an explosion of fashion and fun" makes the magazine sound like a cheap version of cosmo.

My biggest concern on this is how can they make the inside layouts so decent and detailed and leave a cover like this? Come on Vogue, please don't keep disappointing like this...

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here are the gorgeous spreads/photography of Vodianova once you are brave enough to flip through this issue after seeing the cover. The saying about not judging a book from it's cover does not apply here folks, I'm judging whoever is responsible for this humongous difference between the design inside the issue and outside. Shame on you. shame on you.