[debbys]

Please give CC for this LO. I feel like it needs something.. Thanks for your help. Debby

Credits:
AWI_SSPaper
BMU_FTDO_Paper
KME_EarlySpring
SNU_SSEmb_PhotoClusters

Attached File(s)

•  Colton_Two.jpg (474.91K)
  Number of downloads: 21

[AggieB]

It's a neat design and wonderful journaling! The only thing I can see is that maybe the journaling is overwhelming the photos? Could you make the b&w photo more prominent & the journaling a little less so? Does that make sense? I love this, though - you have some great photos of your little one.

[debbys]

Hi AggieB,

Thanks for your reply, I appreciate your advice. Are you thinking I should darken the journaling text or lighten the journaling boxes themselves? I am not sure what you mean about making the B&W photo more prominent. If you can explain I would love that.. I do get what you are saying. I think that is what I am seeing in the LO.. When I finish a LO I frequently know something is not quite right but am at a loss as to figure out what to change to make it better... I keep hoping as I continue to do more LO's that I will be able to do figure that out myself.. I have found that so many people here are wonderful at offering advice it is amazing.
The little one is my Grandson, of course he is the apple of my eye and I absolutely love doing LO's of him.. His book is already so full and he is only two..

Debby

[KFiasco]

I thought it was something with the journaling as well. Maybe make it a softer color so it is not so stark. I think it is a great layout though.

[debbys]

I have done some work to this, I think it is better but maybe could still use some tweeking.. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Debby  Colton_Two.jpg (269.4K)
Number of downloads: 18

[Sara Arell]

AggieB, on 29 October 2010 - 09:25 PM, said:

It's a neat design and wonderful journaling! The only thing I can see is that maybe the journaling is overwhelming the photos? Could you make the b&w photo more prominent & the journaling a little less so? Does that make sense? I love this, though - you have some great photos of your little one.

Great layout - I have to agree with Aggie - agree the journaling is overwhelming your precious layout - (I tend to do that too, so you are not alone!!)

[debbys]

Good Morning Sara,
Thanks for your advice. I agree. I have lightened bg in the journaling boxes and then I had to darken the text and that didn't look right either. Do I maybe have too much text? I am at a loss as to what to do to fix it. Maybe I should try a different layout with the same pictures? Anything you can suggest I will gladly try.
Debby

Sara Arell, on 11 November 2010 - 06:16 PM, said:

AggieB, on 29 October 2010 - 09:25 PM, said:

It's a neat design and wonderful journaling! The only thing I can see is that maybe the journaling is overwhelming the photos? Could you make the b&w photo more prominent & the journaling a little less so? Does that make sense? I love this, though - you have some great photos of your little one.

Great layout - I have to agree with Aggie - agree the journaling is overwhelming your precious layout - (I tend to do that too, so you are not alone!!)

[ArizonaAngel]

Debby, I agree with the CC so far and in the first LO it looked like the journaling was "floating" but you fixed the shadows and took care of that. I really like it, but if you still think the journaling is overwhelming the photos, it may be because they are in circles just like the mail photo. That may be making it harder for the eyes to know where to look or to stop at the photo. You may consider getting rid of the circles around the journaling and just having it go down the page in a thin width, perhaps next to the scalloped border or on the right side of the page.

Now listen to me - talking like a designer, remember it's your LO and you are the only one who has to love it! I really do like it as is.

[Matadors and a Princess]

My eye doesn't know where to look. I feel as if there are two equally important sets of information, as if the design says "look at the photograph in the middle" but the colors say "look at the colors around the edge." So your eye is trying to look at two totally opposite things. I think that you might reverse your coloring. That is; make the circular photograph colored and the other ones black & white (or sepia?). Then you might put a blue circle around the central photograph, too. Design principles say that bright/dark colors seem closer while pale colors seem farther away. So flipping the coloring in the photographs should make the colors & the design both say "look at the picture in the middle." I'm not a professional, but that's my two cents worth. Hope it helps.

[April Showers]

Wow, you have a fabulous page in the works here! I had the same thought about changing the color and black and white images. Try switching the main photo to color and the others to black and white and the page should feel a little more balanced. Another thing I noticed is that your drop shadows seem disproportionately high. They may not appear that way in your psd file, but that sometimes happens when you save a reduced size jpg from the psd. A way to avoid that is to save a full-sized jpg image of your layout and then reduce the size of that one for posting. Another thing I might do is use a little something, like some staples, brads or tape, to anchor your journaling strips. This is looking great!

[Belle]

I am not an expert at all so don't listen to anything I say, but I love the second layout. I love the journaling. If this were mine, I would be very proud of it. Sorry not much use here. You got great advice from the others.