DESIGN
Design was never my area of expertise. I was a ride-or-die writer all the way. I never thought I'd deviate from that path, until this year. With the prospect of college looming, I began to doubt my "marketability." I decided this was the year I would learn design. Below are my favorite designs from this year.
01
Kind of Blue
1st Place - KSPA October Monthly Contest
I spent a lot of time creating draft after draft of this spread and, in the end, I could not be more proud. There were definitely some challenges with this design: aligning the cutout of Houser over the original photo to give the spread depth; ensuring text wouldn't get cut after wrapping it around Houser's hand; spacing the sidebar to keep it from cutting into the photo, and more. I walked away with a better understanding of InDesign. I am glad I saw this spread through to the end.
02
Sports Recap + Profile
Issue 4 - This year I wanted to create a bit more consistency in our paper to keep our readers coming back. My staff and I decided chose to create a recurring sports page (with recaps and a feature) as well as an arts page following the same format. This was one of the first designs where I utilized an action-esque cutout. It was a bit of a challenge to make it look professional, but I am very happy with this spread.
Ads Page Designs - Marketing
Along with all the Print Editor-in-Chief (EIC) duties, I am also Ads Manager for our paper. I facilitate communication between our staff and the market students who sell the ads space, as well as manage and periodically design ads for each issue. The challenging part of Ads Manager/EIC duties is ensuring we have enough content to balance out the number of advertisements. For our February issue, we may have to increase to 32 pages rather than our typical 24 due to increased advertising sales. We have a small but mighty staff who always gets the job done, even if it's by the skin of our teeth. Below are some of the ads pages I have completed this year.
