Individual Blog Post #1, Design Critique

I seem to see quite a lot of media in the form of pamphlets, brochures, and newsletters. In light of this I thought I would critique one of these mediums. I choose a cosmetic pamphlet produced by CHANEL. I work in cosmetics and see a great deal of not-so-pretty media design. I choose this particular pamphlet because it appeared to be daring and bold.
The inside of the pamphlet is a wonderful display of the design element proximity. Notice how all the text is evenly spaced, which helped me as the reader view it more clearly. However, I would have like to see the cover a bit more centered. I felt as though the extra space at the bottom of the cover distracted my eyes.
In addition, the inside covers display pristine alignment and repetition. The text is centered in all the same as not to distract the reader. The heading is bold and in caps, which tells the reader the pamphlets purpose. The subheading is in bold typeface, and really is just an elaboration of the heading. I also noticed that all the actual make-up tips used bullet points. Another element I was impressed with was the repetition in capitalization and underlining. The names of products are in caps, and the colors of particular products are underlined. This created recognition and flow throughout the pamphlet.
The color used in this pamphlet I felt is what gave it character and made it bold. White and black are high contrast colors; and the gold ties back to the ultimate goal of introducing gold in the fall cosmetic collection. I most appreciated the placement of the gold at the borders and center. This placement made the pamphlet appear softer.
One thing I did not like about the pamphlet was the cover. At first glance it appeared to be ‘to busy’. I felt that the flower pattern accompanied by the high contrasting colors made it quite overwhelming. From far away I do not believe a viewer would even be able to tell the cover had flowers on it. I would have rather seen a more demure flower pattern.
This CHANEL pamphlet I felt contained stronger design elements rather then weak ones. It was unexpected and loud; and really stood out from its counter parts. I enjoyed the play with contrast, and appreciated the attention to repetition.