DESIGN
"There just isn't time to change anything when we've done It, so I have to try and make sure It's right first time."
included was fixed. Steve commissioned a painting depicting the various sports represented which would also allow the addition of his Game, Set And Match logo. The illustration was felt to look a little loose and not strong enough, so when the finished page design was sent off to the repro house that would produce the colour separations for printing, instructions were given to artificially add a mezzotint effect to it. Also, a green and white grid background and a picture of Daley Thompson were added to complete the design, which you can see in the packaging which appears in the ad on page 123 of this issue.
IMAGINE
Picture Four How the result combines to create an atmospheric and highly polished finish. AJI that needs to be added on another overlay are the text elements. The ad appeared in many magazines in this form, although the two screen shots on the top overlay were added to later versions to give more impact as it was felt the original version wasn't plugging the game's screen appearance enough.
Part of any designer's job when he or she works on anything to be printed is to imagine a lot of things: given a finished painting to start off with: what will the lettering that you add separately look like? How will the colour you have instructed the repro house to make the lettering work with the illustration when the two are combined (your typesetting text was only black in its original form)? Will that game logo design stand out like a sore thumb? And so on. So many elements of a printed page are put together mechanically by specialist outside sub-contractors, that to see the finished thing in the magazines is often a surprise - hopefully pleasant! In the case of Game, Set And Match, Steve was not wholly satisfied, and the ad has since undergone more changes, but there is never much time to worry about upsets like this, if next day he finds himself immersed in producing a 16-page brochure for the PCW Show which is required yesterday, and which he won't see complete until its delivery on the stand! The worry of what that will look like has taken over. Does he ever lose his cool? 'Well, the pressure sometimes gets a bit much. You know, where at the end of the week you go out for a pint with your mates - and find you just can't talk to them because you're still mentally in the office, spaced-out somewhere. I'm like that, but it doesn't happen too often.' Picture Five The advertisement for The Neverending Story as it was Drinted in C R A S H Maaazine
"We've got eleven new ads to prepare this month alone • . . there just doesn't seem to be the time to get round to doing it all." 122/148TGM
TX
DATE: 12-87