This collection features two different settings for a magazine spread featuring text from Thomas Tapper’s Music Talks with Children. The spreads were created using copyright-free elements found on Pixabay, edited in Adobe Photoshop and compiled in Adobe InDesign.

Tapper’s text deals with the concept of empathy and doing good unto others in order to embrace the goodness or light in oneself. The story is about a child’s journey to find enlightenment with the advice of their teacher.

The first magazine spread features an image of a young girl walking away from the viewer along a path through a grassy field. In the distance the sunset on the horizon blends into the night sky with an image of the moon in the shape of a heart. The imagery reflects the text of an innocent young child on a journey to find light and love in herself and others.

Both images were duplicated and blended to serve as the background of the magazine spread. Gradient feathering effects were used to blend the images at the seams. The text boxes have a pale yellow background to complement the color of the sunset and help the text stand out against the dark blue night sky.  The text consists of two columns on page one with a pull quote in dark blue that matches the color of the sky. The second page has the remainder of the text in a smaller text box with one pull quote outside the box that draws attention to the meaning of the imagery. And finally a small text box in the lower right corner reminds the reader of the subsequent article. 

This design uses color and line to support the meaning of the text. The straight line of the grass along the horizon and the blended line of the night sky both contrasts and parallels the lines of the text boxes.  The color palette is soft and inviting while the imagery balances the text boxes in a supportive, not overpowering capacity. The empty space on page two is filled with the heart moon image which is also reflected in the divider line between the author’s name and the text. 

The second magazine spread takes a more mysterious approach to the imagery featuring a young child walking through a dark and eerie forest. The child in the text feels lost and is searching for the light. In this image, the child is walking away from the viewer towards the green glow in the distance while fireflies support her journey. The color palette of this piece has an aesthetic of enchantment and magic.

The text boxes have a light green background to match the green forest image and the pull quotes outside the text boxes have yellow text to reflect the light. The double stroke on the text boxes mirrors the lines of the trees in the forest. The pull quotes in the text boxes feature drop caps to add an interesting contrast in proportion to draw the viewer’s eye.