Lay It All (Out) on the Line

Today I took a break from cover design and switched gears towards my table of contents spread. I wanted to figure out just how I wanted to lay this out exactly. I decided to opt for a double spread table of contents because after looking at examples of other tables of contents, I noticed that single page spreads looked like too much was going on. It was as if so much was information was being crammed into one page, and it didn't look good. Especially since I'm favoring a rather minimalistic design for my magazine, I figured I would need all the space I needed to design an uncluttered table of contents. 

To go with the slightly over-the-top brand of Lük, I wanted to think outside of the box for my table of contents. I don't want a boring old design that no one would be interested at looking at, let alone, reading on. At the same time, I also don't want too much going on because I think that overwhelms audiences and comes across as amateur and unprofessional. I also don't believe that I want my table of contents to be too visually-based because I find too many images distracting from the actual text, which is the most important part of the table of contents to me. I want my table to be more focused on informing readers on what they can find inside the magazine because after all, that is what a table of contents is meant to do. Thus, I don't feel that inclined to jam in all my best photos in the first pages. 

Upon researching different table of contents ideas, I came across this design:

I really like how different this design is since it's not the typical orientation for the table of contents. The rotated orientation adds a unique flare. I've never really seen anything like this before in a magazine, and I like the idea of shaking the norm if only just a bit. Such a minuscule detail like rotating the orientation makes such a big difference and makes a basic layout all the more exciting, without a single picture. I like this example because the design takes advantage of the spread's space nicely and makes the most out of what would have otherwise been a bland layout. 

At the same time I also liked this visual-based layout: 

It wasn't really the pictures on the side of the pages that caught my attention, but the photo in the middle. I like the idea of putting one main image in the middle of the spread and then using the text to frame that image. That way, I could still keep my layout text-based since I'd only utilize that one center picture. However, since the center photo is smack dab in the middle of the spread, it would still be able to not become lost in the text, and steal some attention. So, if I do decide to implement visuals in my spread, I think it would favor this approach, with a single image in the middle of the spread. I feel as if the inclusion of an image would also do a good job of making it clear that this magazine is one for fashion. Most other examples in my genre of fashion magazines include table of contents that are heavy in pictures, the main goal of fashion magazines is to showcase clothes (fashion, duh). Thus, it may prove helpful to not lean too far away from genre conventions and include at least one picture in my contents to make it stand apart from a news magazine. 

The next step, after my research, is to try these techniques out on Joomag. I'm going to play around on the site and see what I can come up with. Hopefully, they'll look half as good as the examples above!