Recently, my interest in user experience design has expanded to graphic design and layouts. I’m always trying to build up new skills! However, I don’t know how to use Adobe InDesign or Illustrator, let alone design a responsive webpage from scratch. I can do basic HTML and CSS, but nothing fancy or adaptive. To start, I wanted to improve my design eye when it comes to layouts. I signed up for Skillshare and took a quick course by Anne Ditmeyer on recreating a magazine layout in InDesign. Even though I didn’t create the layout from scratch, I learned about font choices, use of space, typesetting, and color by looking very closely at a well-designed layout. Next time, I might try to create my own layout!

The layout comes from Mojo Magazine, a music magazine in the UK. This current copy happens to be in my possession because of its feature article on The Who, the greatest band of all time. The Contents page had some interesting elements that I wanted to try and emulate. I couldn’t find the actual photograph used on the page but chose a similar one of the same artist. I hope to have many more ventures into graphic design and web layouts in the future. My first attempt at InDesign and the original magazine page can be viewed below. Stay tuned for more!