Design
When I think about design, I think about something an English teacher once said to me: “I love it when the form fits the content.” That’s my approach to design – it should, in some way, complement and communicate the message of the story as much as the words on the page.
His design – for print and web- keeps his publications in the top tier for every major national award. He has set a high bar and continues to raise it.
"
-- Jenny Dial Creech
Columbia Scholastic Press Association President, former journalist, and my CSPA Design Concepts teacher
Magazine Design
After
Apalachee
I view reverse type as the most extreme design choice a designer can make – it should be used sparingly to preserve its impact. As such, I’ve only ever made one design in reverse type: “After Apalachee.” Because the story – about the mental health effects of a school shooting – was sensitive and serious in nature, I went with a black background and a white text to provide relief. For my spot colors, my choices were just as purposeful. The sky blue used on pull quotes mimic-ed the blue sky in the opening and closing photos, while the tannish-gold was picked from the Apalachee logo (the other color of which is a shade of blue not far from the one I used). Apart from color, the most significant design choice I made was overlaying text on photos. I shot the layout’s cover photo of Apalachee with the intention of leaving negative space to the left, which is where I ultimately placed the story’s introduction. On the final page, I mirrored the effect with the concluding photograph of Clarke Central, establishing a congruency in design while also underscoring the story’s shift in focus from Apalachee to Clarke Central as it went on.
With magazine design, I aim to visually uplift the words in the story. As much as possible, I work with the photographer proactively to communicate what I’m envisioning for the layout – when I am the photographer, I shoot with the express intention of being able to design around the photos. I value simple, accessible designs above all else, with a priority of mine being to provide a readable thru-line for readers.
This was a tricky layout for me for one main reason: because the subject of the story was not alive, we couldn’t get any photos of him. As such, I had to rely on design techniques rather than extremely compelling photos to create the effects I wanted. I did this primarily with the use of a hook on the story’s first page – I set the dominant element as the photo, but the reader’s eye would then be drawn to the three assertions at the end of my introduction, as each increased in size, had a different spot color from the photographs, and was in a different font. I used this effect throughout the story. With the words “Not quite,” a two sentence paragraph signalling a tonal shift in the story, I used the alternate font I had in the intro. Then, to conclude the story, I wrote my final sentence in the font as well to give the reader a sense of closure.
The Impossible
Dream
Football's in
the Family
This was the first layout I ever designed, and it was rough. I spent six hours on InDesign at my computer, getting no less than seven different rounds of feedback from then Editor-in-Chief Molly Harwell and adviser David Ragsdale. Reflecting back, however, I’m still proud of the basic design principles I shower in the layout. I used pull quotes to effectively break up the text, while relying on captivating photographs from the ODYSSEY archives to carry the visual appeal. On the opening spread, I displayed understanding of dominant elements – the first page a full-page photograph, the photo on the second page half the size and the text below that, giving the reader a clear eye-line. Reflecting back, my only regret is not continuing this eye-line on the second half of the spread – the photos are similarly sized, and thus readers' eyes aren’t drawn to any specific part of the page.
This layout was my first ever try at a photo essay, a kind of recap of the year with the best sports photographs and complementary quotes. With this layout, I tried to be as simple as possible, letting the photographs tell the story. The two most important things for me were equitability – ensuring a variety of sports and student athletes were represented – and organizing a hierarchy of photo sizes. The goal with this layout was to engage students. The lack of words and emphasis on photography was designed to bring students into this portion of the magazine so that they could read the rest of the stories.
Looking
Back
What to know about Dr. Robbie P. Hooker
The hardest part of this layout was trying to organize a large amount of disparate elements into a cohesive pattern. The “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” format includes five quotes from one stakeholder, four from another stakeholder, and so on. This format allows the voices of interviewees to shine through, but can be difficult to organize. I tried to control the chaos with the use of dotted lines to distinguish whose quotes were whose, while maintaining visual appeal with pull quotes and large photographs.
Celebrating Black History
With this photo essay, I let the background of the photographs serve as inspiration for the layout’s negative spaces. Because the photos were shot in a dark auditorium where featured stakeholders were lit up under spotlights, I used a black background and white/red text as a base template. For me, simplicity of design was key. I wanted the layout to be accessible to students, so I didn’t try to overload the page with too many photos or quotes. Instead, I used a few compelling quotes and only the best photographs in the layout to communicate the story.
Liggin's
Leadership
Compelling photographs were in short supply for this layout, so I had to make do with a small selection. However, given my constrained choice, I feel I succeeded in bringing readers’ eyes in. The dominant photograph on the opening spread bleeds onto the page, while Mr. Liggin, the subject of the photo, looks at the text on the left page, giving the reader a point of entry into the layout. On the following pages, I maintained the hierarchy of page elements with a dominant photo on page three and two smaller, supplemental elements to keep the readers’ eyeline intact. I also made sure to keep the column widths continuous throughout, thus giving the reader a more cohesive experience.
I wasn’t the original main designer of this layout, but as an editor on the back end, I made significant changes to further communicate the story. On the opening spread, I overlaid the headline on the dominant photograph for emphasis, as the headline reflected what was shown in the photo. On the second spread, I re-designed the entire thing. I’d taken all the photos for the story, and noticing negative space on opposite halves of two photos, placed these photos on page three of the layout to create symmetry. Then, I added a pull quote in the negative space of each photo to increase readability. On the last page, I used a photograph of the dominant stakeholder, Kyra Wade, to round off the story and provide a sense of closure (she was in the opening photo and gave the kicker quote).
The Weight
of the Scale
Cover: After
Apalachee
This cover was all about evoking a familiar and emotional image. We didn’t have an image that could fully represent the importance of the feature story about the Apalachee High School shooting, so instead, I took inspiration from the Apalachee color scheme (blue and yellowish-tan) as spot colors for the text. However, the most striking element was the large “A” that covered the majority of the page. This wasn’t just any A, however – I input the Apalachee logo, by then synonymous with grief and healing, into software that gave me the closest font to it. I downloaded that font to use for the A. As such, when a reader picked up the magazine, they would see something close to the Apalachee logo and color scheme, providing visual intrigue. The final piece was the illustration of students’ broken minds at the bottom, representing the mental health challenges that were the basis of the feature story later on.
With a much less emotional feature story, the most important part of this cover was providing intrigue. The feature was about a drama student, La’kyla Jones, who’d played a variety of roles in her several years in the department. To visually represent this image, I brainstormed photo ideas with our Photographer Editor, and we landed on creating some feeling of disguise in the photograph. The result, a photo with one hand covering her eye, went perfectly along with that theme and birthed the story’s eventual headline: “A Vanishing Act.”
Cover: A
Vanishing Act
Social Media Design
Though Canva is a significantly less technical platform than Adobe InDesign, the elements and principles of design can be applied on both. In fact, during my Columbia Scholastic Press Association Design Concepts camp, I spent the entire time creating repeatable, eye-friendly templates that we could repeatedly use on our social media platforms, particularly Instagram. I’ve since expanded these templates, all-in-all creating more than 40 distinct design templates with more than 150 total posts, not counting those created by other staffers.
Instagram Story Template
Our most commonly used template, this is used for posting on Instagram stories. The layout provides readers with key information – the story genre, headline, and sub-heading – a photograph for visual interest, and a direct link to pull students to our website. The hierarchy of elements and reverse type draws readers' attention. I modeled the basic concept off of professional publications like The New York Times and The Atlantic.
WCP Template
These posts, which I call "Word-Centric Posts," or WCP's for short, are the most technical and design-important posts we make. You can see more in-depth examples in the Web & Social Media section, but the opening slide brings readers attention with a dominant, engaging photograph, while subsequent slides balance information with more interesting visuals. Oftentimes, I employ what I think of as a “swipe to reveal” feature with photos, starting them on one slide and finishing them on the next, so that viewers are compelled to keep scrolling on the carousel. Typically, these posts stick to a black and white color scheme with a spot color, but for more human interest stories, I’ve branched out.
Sports Templates
Sports graphics are oftentimes the biggest pull to our social media, so I wanted to make them distinct. I took inspiration from the Boston Celtics final score graphics to create the template, using a dominant photo, heavy font, and lines to subtly divide the photo. I created a suite of similar designs so that we could work with vertical or horizontal photos.
Breaking News
The nature of breaking news means we often don’t have a photo to post. Once again, taking inspiration from professional outlets like, in this case The New York Times and The Washington Post, I made a single design with red lettering for “Breaking News” and space for a dominant, informative headline to attract viewers attention. Then, if needed, we could include more details and information on subsequent slides, while a photo can be layered on with a gradient when needed.
Learning Design
I’ve taken steps to learn design throughout my scholastic journalism career, including at high school journalism conventions and supplementary journalism camps.
01. CSPA Design Concepts Summer Camp
In the summer of 2023, I attended the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Design Concepts camp with now-CSPA President and St. Marks School of Texas Journalism Director Jenny Dial Creech. Working with Dial Creech, I laid the foundation for the ODYSSEY’s social media re-design and discovered several techniques I would use in the future, such as Pinterest boards and novel covers for layout inspiration.
02. National High School Journalism Convention sessions and Break with a Pro
At the National High School Journalism Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I attended a design-oriented “Break with a pro” with Philadelphia Magazine Editorial Design Director Jamie Leary. Apart from the notes I took about how to plan monthly magazine design and helpful design tips, it was Leary who gave me the idea to use the opening photo for the “After Apalachee” layout on the layout itself rather than as the cover, where I’d originally placed it.
03. In-class Content Re-delivery presentations
After attending multiple National High School Journalism Conventions, ODYSSEY Media Group editors re-delivered design presentations they attended. These presentations, especially one delivered by OMG Managing Editor and iliad Literary-Art Magazine Writing Director Margo McDaniel, gave me some additional insight into how to design more effective spreads.