Study Task 2 - A Critique on the 2014/15 Leeds College of Art Prospectus

• Starting with the cover, i'm having mixed feelings. The newly designed typeface is - on the whole - successful at conveying a serious tone, the serifs evoking the historical context of the college (established in 1846) but the 'playful' off-kilter angle of the serif on the 'A' fails spectacularly, looking simply awkward and giving the logo as a whole a highly unbalanced look. The hexagons are slightly more successful, each one slightly askew, giving them a quirky character, and as such, avoiding awful corporate connotations. In addition, the sexual artwork concealed behind the grey hue adds a realness which avoids an age old problem found in art prospectuses, unneeded concealment of real art which goes on within the college.

• The contents page is printed onto a lighter, glossier stock with lovely muted colours. This instant stock change is successful and the fact that the page is cut an inch shorter on the right edge is a nice touch which separates contents from content. This, however, is instantly negated by the fact that the principal's welcome is printed on the other side. This doesn't work for me, as one of the key pages in the booklet, i'd liked to have seen it given more space on the following page (which returns to regular stock).

• The contents page is complemented in the centre by a four page spread on identical stock acting as a further contents page for the following pages centering around the college's courses. I like this quirk, nicely tied in to the original contents and giving the piece a somewhat tailored, one-off quality. These small touches go a long way to making the prospectus not just a bog-standard booklet, and in the context of art and design - an area so focused on print and media - I feel the prospectus needs this to practice what it teaches.

• In terms of overall layout, I feel like the prospectus is far too ordered. Flicking through, it's worryingly easy to forget that this is an art and design college, too often appearing to be a generic college having to cover hundreds of different courses. I feel that an art and design college prospectus should challenge the reader. Much like the work that is made within it. By this I mean the incredibly safe colour palette, the overly crammed pages and overkill of information.