Italy Travel Brochure

Benvenuti amici!

Have you ever been to Italy? I studied abroad during my undergrad in Florence, Italy. It was such a dream and I can't wait to go back someday. For the final week in my Visual Design class, I was tasked with creating a travel brochure. I have to compile everything I've learned into one last project (no pressure). I have to use all my own photos for this project, and I know I have a ton of photos from Florence, so that's where I decided to start. Let's get to it!

Here is my brochure! Let's examine the details.

Type

Before I started working on the brochure, I researched type. The Type Family I used was Requiem. This typeface is Venetian Old-Style, modeled from a Renaissance Roman calligrapher. I wanted to make sure I was using a typeface that was true to the origin of the brochure. I only used Requiem typeface in the brochure, which just comes in Roman and Italic. This made things a little tricky because I couldn't bold anything so I had to get creative. The white and black blocks of text are made from a special font called RequiemOrnaments.

A few ways that I "broke the grid" and made sure the pamphlet wasn't totally blocky, was I text wrapped some of the images. The text on the main, open brochure pages are wrapped around the photos of the grapes and the Duomo. This way the text leads your eye around the images as well instead of being separate entities.

Color

The main colors here are cool colors. The background of the blue-to-white gradient acts as the sky as well as a backdrop to the images. These cool colors give off a very calming and relaxing vibe; mirroring what your trip in Italy would look like.

Images

I had to use all of my own images of course. I have hundreds of photos from Italy but I had to narrow that down! I thought a nice architectural image of the Duomo from the middle of the city would be nice. None of my food photos look "good enough" for a brochure, so I used a photo of grapes that I took (in California shh!). I didn't like the blocky look of the images on the page, so I cut them out in photoshop and was very happy with the results. For the front image of the outer city, I actually wasn't planning on using that photo, but when I saw it on the page I loved it. The map image is not mine, but used from a map website. I put the map on the back because it's a good reference and easy to access when traveling.

Composition

The overall composition feels really balanced. I have spacious margins for the text all around to make sure there's no crowding or accidental cut off. For the images, though, there's no margins on the edges. I'd want full-bleed for printing, because I'd want the images to print all the way to the paper's edge. I did the same thing for the "Travel Guide" text.

Above is the pamphlet with the "rule of thirds" lines on it, or a basic grid. Instead of lining up my images in each block and making everything nice and even, I lined them up on the "thirds line". The long, vertical images lead the eyes up and down the page. Some of the headers like Classes and Tastings and Travel Guide are on the "thirds line" too.

Overall

I've never made a tri-fold brochure before, except maybe for a high school project. I wasn't sure where to start when looking at two blank pages before me. What helped me the most with this project was to not treat it exactly as a brochure. When I think of a brochure, I think blocks of text and blocky images. But I didn't want that! I decided to look at the pages and design them as whole, but keeping the folds in mind. That made it a lot easier for me to "break the grid".

The biggest challenge for me was the text. Not the font or the typeface, but the written text on the page. I'm not very good at content (yet). So it was hard for me to figure out what to actually put on the page. I divided the content into 4 categories, one per fold: Architecture, Art, Wine & Food, and Visit Florence. I ended up taking ideas from www.visitflorence.com/, which is why I put their logo on the travel brochure.

I think the travel brochure turned out better than I envisioned it to and I'm very happy with it. I usually don't go for gradients, but it worked out channeling the sky. This visual design class was amazing and challenged me to create things I've never done before. It also boosted my confidence in the design world. I can't wait to put more of these skills to the test in the day-job and for fun!

Stay tuned for my next class, and ever-changing blog! Coming up: Understanding Your Audience.