NFL Mock Draft Booklet [update]

[Fifty8_Black O]

I'll try to explain this as quickly as I can so I can get to the nitty gritty of asking for some C&C:

My friends and I are huge NFL junkies and because our teams (Panthers & Browns) have exactly been knocking it out of the park for most of our fan-lifetimes we've become big fans of the draft. We usually spend a good bit of time mocking to get us excited for a trip to NYC each April. This year I thought it'd be fun to make a pdf booklet for each mock pick I make to send to my friends each week, and eventually host on issuu once I feel good about it. I wanted to get some input on the layout and design I currently have before sending them my first one. So here's what I've got:

on the left I have one that I can't decide if its too cluttered because of the extra boxes at the bottom but the right I feel like its more unorganized.

Let me know what you guys think, I know some of yall are really talented with this type of design and I'd really like to polish my skills, so any help or suggestions would be sweet. Don't worry about the players I have mocked, maybe once I'm all done I'll put it up and we can have that discussion but for now lets just talk layout.

Thanks guys!

[Greg_Fryman]

I like the look of the one on the left I believe the extra boxes add a little more organization and eliminate the big empty space of the one on the right. I only really have two issues that I can see. I believe that this needs color and I believe a smaller font would add a nice clean feel to this. Very good stuff though great idea I would love to see it once its finished.

[drdougfresh]

Cool concept! I think you're on the right track, but you're over-complicating the layout with all the boxes. I think in this case, you should approach it with a less is more philosophy. Large player image, organize the facts into a clean list with dividing lines/boxes (again, less is more here), and lose the "last 3" images. A full width player photo would really set this layout off. If you focus on making the photo/team logo being the only color on the pages while the rest of the elements are white and dark gray, you'll get a really solid and clean look out of this.

[Fifty8_Black O]

So I threw out the whole design almost and (with help from drdoug) I landed in a little bit different spot. I tried to make the player the main element by using him over a black and white background, but I cant decide if I would rather have just put the full color photo in there. Also Greg thanks for the helpful c&c I did think the lack of color made the whole thing look a little drab. My hope for this one is it feels more focused and less cluttered. I also kept this one more player centric with their basic info, combine numbers, and a short write up on each. I've finished the 32 pages for each draft pick now I'm working on the inside pages for each team the i think will have some of the information from the last one that I left off like team record, division, needs, etc. So it should look something like

[team info][draft pick]

when you see a full spread, if that makes sense. Anyways, here's 3 examples of the draft pick page let me hear any c&c you guys have, it was super helpful last time.

[Fifty8_Black O]

Also if anyone knows a good source for high res pictures that'd be really helpful. I was just searching google with image size set to large but there were some players who just didn't have very many quality photos which really threw off the whole page.

[GriffinM6]

Also if anyone knows a good source for high res pictures that'd be really helpful. I was just searching google with image size set to large but there were some players who just didn't have very many quality photos which really threw off the whole page.

I would go ESPN and look at game pictures. You can use Snagit or any other screen shot program.

[drdougfresh]

Yeah man, this is a lot better than it was before! Glad I could help.

A couple minor tweaks I'd make:

- Smaller copy type size (Don't make it "fill" the area, if that makes sense). Just bump it down a couple sizes and you should be good. White space is your amigo here.

- If this is on the right hand side, you may want to move the "tab" on the top to the right side as well, especially if you carry that element over to the left hand side with the team info.

Before I give more feedback, though: what program are you using? Master spreads are so much easier to change in ID -- totally understand if you don't have that, though. Just makes layout tweaks uniformly for the whole book, which is a lot easier than going page by page

[Fifty8_Black O]

Thanks man. I played around with the tabs a bit because I had the same thought but I stuck with this way and I still think it works with the other page next to it. I'll try and post a full spread tonight so you can see what I'm going for. When I look at it later I'll take the font down a few points, I can see what you mean there. I'm putting this together in photoshop, it's all I've got right now but I can only imagine how much time I wouldve cut off if I could make slight tweaks to every page all at once. I don't know if I'll ever be doing this type of project again but if I do I might have to look into that. Thanks.

And griff thanks I'll check that out.

any more c&c before I hit this again later?

[Fifty8_Black O]

Well on the eve of draft night I thought I would share how this ended up looking by sharing a few pages. You'll notice I cut out a good bit of the information and just focused on the pick number, player and team. Let me know what you guys think!