30) Artist Research: Rob Hornstra - 17/4/18

After my tutorial with Amanda I decided to do some research on Rob Hornstra and his project 'On the other side of the mountains', more specifically the layout it's presented in - a newspaper. Below are some images of the layout which I like:

There's a lot of layout techniques within the newspaper which give me inspiration for my own project, for instance in the image above Hornstra has used two contrasting images (an environmental portrait and documentary shot) against each other to create a diptic. This technique is also strengthened by the way both images are the same size, and because of the way the blue colours in the background of both images compliment each other well. This is something I'd like to do in my own final output, because I made a conscious effort to shoot both portraits and still life / documentary shots to use for diptics if they compliment each other well. I really like this way of laying out a project because I feel it tells more of a story to the viewer by showing different subjects of choice next to each other.

Due to the fact that my own project is also going to include short pieces of text, I really liked the above spread. I've never really included text into any of my photography projects so I like seeing different ways of text being laid out on a page. For example in the above spread the text covers the same space as the image across from it, with one slightly lower than the other. I think this is a great way to lay out the page as it looks harmonious and balanced, pleasing the viewer when they look at the pages. I also like the subtle touch of how the text colour is the same as some parts on the map, making them relate and have a likeness to each other, reinforcing this harmonious feeling. This is also something I want to experiment with when putting together my own newspaper.

Double page images are also something I want to incorporate into my own design, to give the whole newspaper variety in layout, keeping the viewer interested. As well as this I think some images should be printed bigger if it's one of your best, or if you want it to be more impactful. I'm not sure if Hornstra has decided to leave a border around his image for choice, or if you cannot print full bleed when making a newspaper, however if possible I would like any double page images to be full bleed.

Another way this newspaper has presented it's text is in smaller clusters at the bottom of pages, under each image (as you can see in the above spread). I think I prefer this way of displaying text because I don't want it to take over from the photograph, but text is sometimes still important to use for telling a story. I really like the clean layout of these pages, however I also want to experiment with placing the text elsewhere, or see how it looks overlapping the images slightly.

What I thought was so genius about the design of this newspaper is that if you use two folded out together you can create your own exhibition (as you can see in the above image). This is something I could look into doing for my own work, however I was going to send it off and get it printed elsewhere so I'm not sure how it needs to be designed for this use. However it's definitely something to consider, and would look great exhibiting it on a wall spread out instead of just having a newspaper on a plinth.

I think Rob Hornstra's newspaper was really useful to look at for taking inspiration for my own work, and it has excited me more about designing my own!

#creativeinteractions #artistresearch