Studio Brief 3: crit

Below is what I supplied for the final crit:

For the final crit for our page layouts I asked these three questions:
1. Does the colour scheme reflect retro vinyl colours well? (I chose common colours found on old vinyl albums that I looked at)
2. Are the spreads too simple or do they work being minimal?
3. Any improvements?

I have bolded the useful feedback.

Does the colour scheme reflect retro vinyl colours well? (I chose common colours found on old vinyl albums that I looked at)

• Yes I really like the 'faded red' colour, it reminds me of '60s and '70s music.
• I think it's difficult to sum up colours associated with 'old/retro vinyl lovers', rather, I think you've captured a sense of the time period vinyl was popular in; especially with the typography as well.
• The colour is not a problem. Only use colour if it links in with your work.
• Think the colours are ok. But they don't really excite me as most of the page is a waste of an image.
• Definitely, thought so before I read the question.
• Yeah I'd say it does. Washed Out. Nice stock would help this too.
• Yes, it could be improved by fading them slightly more and printing on a slightly textured, creamy stock.

Are the spreads too simple or do they work being minimal?

• I really like the top spreads (big vinyl and big photo); I think they work well with blocks of colours (like in the first one) and the type. The choice of font for the titles couldn't have gone with some 'crazy' layout so yeah I think it works.
• No I don't think they're too minimal.
• Simple is good as you don't want to overcrowd your work.
• The best one is the far left as it feels the most balanced. The others are hard to read and there isn't much hierarchy to them.
• I think they should be more minimal.
• I think they could be simplified even further. It depends on what the info is you're telling us. The red type over the large turntable photo (v nice) isn't very legible but the use of a whole page as a photo is a good mix up.
• Break the mould slightly - why so regimented and traditional, look at the textures of your subject matter for inspiration.

Any improvements?

• Maybe you could improve the bottom spreads by laying out the text next to the images better? There's something wrong with them that I can't quite figure out.
• Bodies of text all the same colour.
• Look more into page layouts about albums.
• Well all the hierarchy of the type and the positioning of text with your image
• Consider cropping photos to square to resemble an album sleeve.
• Maybe arrange text in squares to resemble record sleeve backings (like a song list) I think a more square layout will evoke a more retro theme.
• Really not a fan of the musical note bars at the bottom and type grid on bottom left needs sorting out, not quite working or me at the moment.

From this feedback I'm going to improve my designs, especially the layout as I didn't put enough thought into it, I focused too much on trying to balance the amount of information. I'm also not experienced with layouts at all so the feedback has made it a little more clear for me.