magazine layout - Christmas inspiration

Don't you just love when a design just comes together after struggling with the concept for a few days? After finding out that my local library offers access to digital magazines, I finally decided to flip through one and simply fell in love. Design, specifically fonts and creative layouts, are near and dear to my heart--I must have been a graphic designer in another life.

Shortly after my digital magazine experience, David Anderson posted an Articulate E-Learning Heroes Challenge on digital magazine layouts. *SWOON* The hard part was figuring out how I wanted to put together my own layout. When faced with designing a course, I usually find inspiration from templates, the Articulate community challenges, pinterest, or now digital/print magazines. But this time, I kind of wanted to find a layout that just worked with my eye.

I set out to find elements that would go into my magazine layout. First, a little inspiration from holiday magazine reading:

Next, finding photos to compliment my design. I LOVE FOOD. I absolutely love eating food, looking at pictures of food, talking about food and most of all, EATING FOOD. Based on my magazine viewing, it was a no-brainer to do a food layout specifically with recipes for avoiding holiday stress. I must admit (before you see the demo) that I didn't find actual recipes to contribute.

You know, even though Microsoft Office clip art gets a bad rap and it will be going away--I found all of my pictures in the clip art vault. There were some very yummy looking photos! I knew based on a mock hand drawing that I'd use appetizers, salads, entrees, and desserts for my food choices.

How delicious does this food look!?!

Photo credits: Microsoft Office

Before the designing fun began, I needed to decide on a color palette. Design seeds to the rescue with this beautifully inspiring color scheme. I used the first three colors in my design.

Photo credit: Design-seeds.com

Click on the image below to view the final result.
Here's a download of the .story file.