- I once was interviewed for a podcast program
by an interviewer who never listened to my answers.
Rather than adjusting and responding to me,
he had a set of questions that he was going to ask in order
regardless of my response.
Now, what, you may be thinking,
does that have to do with layout?
In the same way that words and images
need to react to each other with meaning,
they should do the same with composition.
When we look at a composition, we see this,
a grouping of headline, text, and a rectangle.
However, the reality is this.
The rectangle is not a flat shape,
but an image with content and form,
and these forms contain the lines, volumes of color,
scale, and important content.
I can ignore this and treat the layout
as if it were just type in boxes.
It makes a polite and sensible layout
that works and is legible.
But if I let the form of the content, of the images,
inform my layout decisions,
I create a solution that is more unified
and perhaps energetic.
There are many ways to do this.
One solution is to echo or mirror the shapes in the image.
The layout doesn't need to be exactly the same.
It's a gesture that points to the relationship.
Or one dominant and strong shape within the image
can be used as a device
to guide the placement and style of the typography.
Here, the orange sofa dictates a headline
with the same color and similar space.
I also use the invisible planes within the image
to continue beyond its border.
I extend these lines through the page
and use them to place the text.
The result is a solution that mix
these two elements together.
It's also a layout that could not exist
without the specific image.
We aren't ignoring the grid.
We're replacing it with a structure
based on the content of the image.
This sounds like it may make a mess, and it might.
Using a simple typographic and color palette
will help maintain a sense of order and hierarchy.
The goal and result here is a solution that creates
a symbiosis between the words and image.
This creates a layout that cannot work
without the accompanying image,
and an image that is enhanced with the typographic layout.