My area of interest in taking DAI has been graphics design - specifically that which relates to printed material. Here are two of my former textbooks which have quite different designs - Great American Prose Poetry on the right, which has a very intriguing and interesting design that works for the targeted audience, and Sudden Fiction international on the left, which is garish and in descriptive.
Apart from the bright, mismatched colors of SFI, the composition itself really leaves a lot to be desired. The placement of the text 'Sudden Fiction' was on the right track, but the slanted 'International', in a different font no less, did not sharpen the effect but rather made it more ambiguous (and less legible). The grouping both at the top and bottom really prevented the words emphasized from appearing especially remarkable - 'edited by' is less noticible than the people it connotes. There really isn't much stress in the design either - all the components feel so mismatched that wherever stress was intended instead feels like an eyesore, or else downright confusing.
GAPP, on the other hand, manages for a more pleasing look. The text is grouped and balanced nicely; the placement of the title and editor just off-center attracts the eye with a smidge of sharpness but still comes off as more-or-less leveled. The lines on the left add more sharpness by reminding the prospective reader of ruled school paper. This provides a comforting, homey touch that carries with it the approachability of the familiar and lack judgment and also draws the viewer's eye back to the text. The image below adds a fine element of whimsy, reminding everyone that poetry doesn't need to make sense in order to be great: the woman with her parrot in the desert thunderstorm hardly looks very serious, yet compels the viewer to probe deeper for meaning beneath the nonsense. Which is, after all, what poetry so often aspires to do.
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