32) Research: Preston is my Paris (PPP), Preston Bus Station - 19/4/18

After thinking about how much extra space I have to play around with in a newspaper format in comparison to a zine, I wanted to research different ways of laying out images on the page. 'Preston Bus Station' is a zine made by a group of photographers including Adam Murray, Robert Parkinson and Jamie Hawkesworth who call themselves PPP. It's subject was focusing on the people around Preston Bus Station, to then create a newspaper to be given out for free there. But what drew my eye into it the most was the layout of the images in this layered effect. This is something I would like to look into doing for my own newspaper because I think its a different visual way of presenting the story to the viewer.

One layout technique I took from the above double page spreads is the way larger images are placed on the opposite page to smaller layered images and excerpts of text. I think this balances the available space really well while also not making it look crowded. It also allows the photographer or editor to bring more attention to larger images in comparison to the smaller, less impactful pictures. I think this gives them a lot more control in within the layout, and defines the story it tells with where the viewers attention is most.

Another standout technique is the mix of colour and black and white photographs, with this being a stylistic choice on each page. I really like the use of this because it adds to the composition of the layering, giving each page individual variety and detail. I think this makes the viewer look at the images more, especially if they're smaller or layered on another image on the page because it slows you down more than just looking at clean double page spreads.

As well as this, I like the use of borders around the images layered on top of others, just giving them that extra element to make the image stand out, which is something I'd like to try in one of my own edits.

Overall I'm really glad I came across this publication to look to for inspiration, because I've never seen this layered technique before and it's refreshing to see a different type of layout. It's definitely something I'm going to experiment with when creating my own layout, however I feel it's a difficult thing to get right, so we'll see how it turns out.

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