I would like to know how John would make the Jeff Bazer | Bertino & Associates Brochure more imaginative? If it was me, I might vary the sizes of the photographs more on the inside spread and take out a few. I would maybe try to span over two panels with some text and/or images for visual variety. I am interested to hear what others would do?

It would be interesting to see what all the different designers would come up with on the same project.

As far as what I do to keep learning – stay posted for a post :)

For example, I think John is right when he says he doesn’t want to have to figure out where he’s supposed to be looking for info on the Wedding/Engagement Celebration Invitations from Veronica Domeier; the design is a little overwhelming. So, how can we fix it? Here are my suggestions:

I think a very simple fix right off the bat would be to make the white flowers and dots/circles light blue instead (just lower the opacity, maybe to about 40%?). This makes them less dominant than the type, so because the type is now the highest contrast item, it will stand out the most.

A bolder font might do some good to draw attention to it, too. The thin lines get lost.

Although pink is a “lovey” color, when printed against the periwinkle blue, it blends in too much. Why? Because it’s almost the same value (try looking at this piece completely desaturated/greyscale). Pink might work with this blue if the background was white, but it doesn’t work well sitting on top of it.

I think that brown is an excellent choice for the important details. It stands out well against the blue particularly because of its dark value (yay value! Seeing a theme?). I would probably replace the pink details at the bottom with that brown color and maybe not make them spread out within the dots–it’s not a wordsearch puzzle.

And what’s so awesome about Niki’s BYOM invite?

Strong contrast in color. Attention to the element of texture. Excellent use of direction by way of size (your eye is naturally drawn to the largest type first and then you make your way down to the details). Consistent alignment of elements.

We can always learn from the best as well as the so-so design. How do you keep learning Brian? I would love to read a post on it!