Design
"Visual design is about problem solving, not about personal preference or unsupported opinion" Bob Baxley
Design is so much more than just a vessel to deliver information.
The first official position that I held on my school magazine above a staff writer was as the Art Director. I oversaw the art and design that ended up in the magazine, attended as many planning meetings as possible, gave my input on design choices, and distributed artwork assignments to the members of the Art Team. The position sparked my curiosity about communications design that continues to dominate much of my journalistic and artistic work today.
The next year when I was promoted to Editor in Chief, I was able to identify the overlap and collaboration between writer and designer while managing the whole staff. My position as social media director also aided me in connecting design work with the magazine's content.
Because I had the unique opportunity of working on both the design and writing-centered sides of journalism, it became easier to draw connections between the two and identify where they interact and the ways in which they can add meaning and context to each other.
My goal as a designer is not only to deliver information effectively, but in a way that adds beauty and depth to the story being told.
Magazine Design
Redesigning The Whirlwind Styles
During the 2021-22 school year, I was in charge of creating the new official styles of the Whirlwind. At the beginning of the year, I met with the other head editors of The Whirlwind and we created a list of adjectives we wanted the magazine design to emulate, brainstormed fonts, and drew inspiration from professional publications. This section details my process of putting all of our ideas together into a comprehensive theme for the magazine. All page design in this section was done on Adobe InDesign.
Style Sheet
The style sheet is where all of the new fonts, pull quotes, and layout details are combined into one big guide for our reporters to use as they design their pages. One of the guiding adjectives I used while designing the new style sheet was “modern.” I wanted the pages of The Whirlwind to be streamlined and satisfying to the viewer, but also simple enough that each reporter’s individuality could still shine through in their pages.
Style Sheet Before Redesigning:
Style Sheet After Redesigning:
Table of Contents & Letter from the Editors
The first spread when readers open the cover of the magazine is the Table of Contents and Letter from the Editors. When redesigning these pages, I wanted them to accurately reflect the rest of the magazine in style and functionality. Because this spread appears in every magazine, I had the goal of creating a very prominent and recognizable design that readers can rely on to be consistent and easily navigable.
Table of Contents Before Redesigning:
Table of Contents After Redesigning:
Letter from The Editors Before Redesigning:
Letter from The Editors After Redesigning:
Cohesive Print Package Design
A mark of any great magazine is its ability to package content in a way that makes logical sense, is eye-catching to readers, and shows deeper understanding of the topics being featured. Every new issue, I look forward to working with the special report section to design our feature package. During my junior and senior years of high school, I was the designer and illustrator of The Whirlwind's covers, guided the special report section through their packaging and design decisions, and created many of the feature spreads. Below are three of my favorite magazine packages (cover and featured spread) presented with cohesive, eye-catching, and thought provoking design. All of my illustration work is done in the iPad program Procreate, while all design work is done in Adobe InDesign.
OJEA
Single Issue, Print:
Best in State 2021
Beyond the Pandemic: After a year that we're all ready to leave behind, we're looking forward, eagerly awaiting the bright future ahead
Last year was a completely virtual year for The Whirlwind, so most of our content lived online. However, the staff was determined to produce one special issue of the print magazine and distribute it regardless. Thus the idea for this package was born. We focus on the future in this issue, so the design choices reflect a modern, futuristic time period that draws inspiration from the show “The Jetsons.” I wanted the colors and style to evoke an optimistic outlook on the future, something that readers could look forward to. This was The Whirlwind’s first fully illustrated cover as well as the first cover that I made for the magazine.
Cover:
OJEA
Magazine Cover:
Best in Category 2021
Scholastic Art:
Design:
Honorable Mention 2022
Feature Spread:
OJEA
Print infographic:
Superior
2021
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Culture Roads: The path to a more diverse education
Around the time that this issue was conceived, there was a lot of discourse in the Greater Albany Public Schools District surrounding Critical Race Theory and other racial educational curriculum. Many of the public conversations were being had by parents and faculty, and student voices were rarely breaking through the slew of arguments. The special report section decided on creating an issue that amplified student thoughts and opinions and celebrated diversity and progress in our district. The idea for the cover design came to me while I was doodling in The Whirlwind conference room in my free time. This being a heavy topic to tackle for high school journalists as well as our readers, I wanted to make the cover more approachable in appearance. I made the design and colors reflect a more cartoonish style, but I still included symbolic elements centering the subject being discussed.
Cover:
Scholastic Art
Design: Silver
Key 2022
Feature Spread:
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Six Hands, 600 Meals: Meet the three women feeding an entire student body
School lunches became free for students at the beginning of 2021, so the number of kids able to get their food from the cafeteria drastically increased. In this issue, we wanted to highlight the three women that staff the kitchens and work tirelessly to feed all of West Albany. We decided as a team that this issue should be a photo cover rather than illustration to show the humanity behind our cover story. I took this photo during a lunch period, and we chose to use it for the cover. I used Procreate to illustrate the title and make it more dynamic and impactful for readers to analyze. The main spread of the feature also uses large amounts of photography done by Special Report Editor Gabi Emery and I and a consistent color palette throughout.
Cover:
OJEA
Single Issue, Print:
Best in State 2022
Feature Spread:
How I Make Print Design Decisions
I have a developed process and philosophy for effectively and efficiently designing a page or spread. In this section, I'll walk you through some of my decisions and ideas while creating a spread about students bringing their interest in art into classroom settings.
Sketched Out: Who is the kid you always see sketching in class, and what's behind their sketchbook cover?
Final Spread:
OJEA
Double Page Spread Design:
Best in State
2020
Processes:
I try to utilize and reference the elements and principles of art while I design my pages. On this page, notice the symmetry, repetition, color, line, shape, and space. Not taking the power or white space for granted is very important in my designs, as too much or too little white space can skew an entire design. Ultimately, the goal is to achieve unity of elements and make a design that draws the readers' eyes across the page.
The Rule of three is an old but incredibly useful tool for design work. When creating pages, I almost always have either only one or three or more of all elements including color and graphics. The rule of three is prevalent in the use of three instances of the polaroids on each side of the page, the three arrows on the left page, the three quote boxes on the right page, the three uses of yellow, and the three uses of peach for this design.
This page also has a balance of both photo and art. Sometimes one or the other is best, but the addition of a photo background and the showcase of each artist and their work added to this page is something that only drawings couldn’t add.
AP Work in Magazine Design
For my AP art and design class this year, I am creating an entire magazine design from scratch. Each spread is inspired by a different iconic 1970s song. The work-in-progress showcases more of my illustration and design work. Check it out by clicking the button below or going to the "Sustained Investigation 2021-2022" page under "Studio Art Portfolios."
Social Media Design
Rebranding The Whirlwind Instagram
At the beginning of my junior year, I took on the position of Social Media Director in addition to my position as Editor in Chief. I decided that I wanted to rebrand the Whirlwind Instagram for a virtual school year. I re-designed the logo, created an across-the-board color palette and font package, and got to work creating posts to promote and elevate The Whirlwind’s content.
The Whirlwind Social Media Styles
Redesigned Logo
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One of the things I wanted to do for the social media was create a recognizable and reliable aesthetic for every post. Much as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal has easily identifiable social app content, The Whirlwind is more appealing to readers when it has a familiar and consistent design. The first thing I did was redesign The Whirlwind's logo. Before I took over the Social Media Director position, The Whirlwind's profile picture was a photo of the old staff. I decided that we should have a logo that could be recurring on every post while also acting as the new profile picture, and my current coeditor (former opinion editor) Ethan Biersdorff and I came up with a clean, sleak logo. Next, I created a color palette and font package with the program Canva, which I used to designed every post.
Before Rebranding:
After Rebranding:
Posts and Stories
Designing posts and stories was a new experience for me that started out very difficult. I wasn’t sure how to adapt my design knowledge to a platform like Instagram, where there are very few words and a lot of eye-catching and loud content. However, I worked on improving my design throughout the year, and eventually became more comfortable with it. I started with drafting the words on the post and pasting them into Canva to see how much room they took up. I usually adjusted the text a bit to better fit the post. Then I added the shapes, photos, and logo and spent a while moving and adjusting each element until I was satisfied with the result. Throughout the year I learned the optimal social media designs that drove the most traffic to our website.
Instagram story design and animation
Instagram carousel post design
Web & Broadcast Design
Redesigning The Whirlwind Website
At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, my former co-editor and I began the task of redesigning The Whirlwind’s website. Before, there were many color inconsistencies and organizational issues that needed to be addressed. We met with our advisor and made a list of things to fix or reorganize. My former co-editor and I worked on adjusting the website for a few days, and it was a continued work-in-progress through the year. All of our website design is done through Wordpress.
The Whirlwind Site Homepage
Current website in live edit mode:
While designing, we took into account the categories that we should have as widgets. Sports, entertainment, showcase, opinion, news, and from the magazine content are all arranged in their own widgets.
Each widget is in the form that best fits the type of content that section produces. News, Opinion and Sports are arranged in side-by-side columns while showcase, entertainment, and from the magazine are formatted as galleries.
Color palette:
Online Story Presentation and Visuals
When packaging online content, the staff is always required to have a dominant visual or infographic, and encouraged to have multiple. Last year, because the magazine was completely virtual save for one issue, we had to really change the ways we made content appealing to readers. Intriguing illustration and photo, pull quotes, and infographics were all ways that we adapted to the virtual format.
Packaging Design:
Website Illustrations:
Infographic Design:
Broadcast Design
Broadcast design is an important element of video and audio content. Good broadcast design promotes a sense of professionalism and gives the viewers something to connect to. Thumbnails and covers can also be useful in drawing people in and getting them to click on content. Most of my broadcast design is done in Canva.
Thumbnail Design
In order to get people to click videos, there has to be an eye-catching thumbnail that emulates the core elements of the video. I do my thumbnail design on Canva and aim for something that is interesting yet truthful and doesn’t promote clickbait.
Youtube thumbnails:
Podcast cover design:
