Southern DC3 Newsletter

Group photo, Southern DC3, NAC 60th Anniversary Flight, ZK-AMY, WG–AS–TU–WG, 23/03/2007.

Issue 1, Spring 2007

The multicolumn layout makes for an easy read and a flexible format that packs in plenty of information per page. Photography, illustration and other graphics make the newsletter more visually appealing and encouraging people to either dip into the articles that interest them first or read the newsletter from end to end.

Colour & type, key aspects of print design

The typography technique I used as a basis throughout all the Southern DC3 Trust printed matter was the use of a Retro Typography and colour palette.

Colour is one of the most important and compelling components of typographic design affecting clarity, mood and readability of the design.

Douglas C-47 Pilot Training Manual USAAF (1944).

The C-47 “Skytrain”, the military configuration of the DC3 was a product of the Douglas Aircraft Company. Though first developed as a passenger aircraft in the 1930s the military version became an instrumental component of the American war effort in World War II as the C47 Skytrain platform.

Research revealed that the rare C-47 training manuals for pilots that Douglas produced in WWII for the USAAF were available online. This proved immensely useful as a guide to typeface selection, spacing and other key aesthetic sensitivities. The Futura font family was the workhorse typeface in those documents along with an informal brush script. The type joins forces with colour in the C-47 manual to create the desired effect of pragmatic mood and excellent typographic legibility. Juggling both these qualities of colour and type well optimised the communication potential of SDC3’s marketing communications print documents.

Futura is a geometric sans serif design that is easy to read, has a neutral character and a range of weights and styles that all combine together well with brush script. Along with colour as a communication element these combined fonts create a scheme that integrates type and colour in expressive and clear communications documents.

Timeless design concepts like this can be applied also to interactive and online applications.

The first 8 page newsletter contained the following articles;

Air Operation Certificate
Schedule of Spring/Summer events
AMY makeover project nears completion
NAC 60th Anniversary tour
38th Squadron ATC cadets based at Wigram clean the ZK-AMY
Classic fighters airshow at Omaka
News from Ashburton Trust
Advertising on the Breeze
Brevet Club generous donation
Southern DC3 Specialist Aviation fine art editions
Handcrafted ZK-AMY model

Credits

Design studio: Pionair Propellor Studio in house studio
Printing: Propellor Studio
Font credits: Futura, Futura Condensed