Design
Introduction
Design is perhaps the most therapeutic of journalistic endeavors. There's nothing quite like the feeling of sitting in a classroom with AirPods in, adding copy, photo and art to a page until the entire thing feels cohesive. I certainly didn't start out a designer, though — when I joined Ladue Publications, InDesign felt like a foreign entity that I’d never master. But, page after page, I learned how to navigate the software. In doing so, I began to understand that journalism wasn't just story on a page — it was laying out and packaging work so readers were engaged with the content.
Style Guide
Panorama Newsmagazine
Every issue of our print magazine has an in-depth style guide that informs the design choices each reporter makes. This includes common items like QR code templates, headlines and body copy style, but also encompasses broader design elements like sample layouts and image sizes. See below for an example of last year's style guide, created by the 2023-24 Design EIC.
Design Process
1
Sketching Out the Design
To start off every story, I whiteboard or sketch out a rough draft of my design. This allows me to allocate sufficient space for copy, photos and graphics, ensuring that I know exactly what is going on the page and where. With this information, I'm able to report with design constraints in mind, creating content that properly fits within the designated space.
Note: PQ stands for pull quote.
2
Plugging Content In
Once I've finished gathering copy and photo content, I place them on the page to see how they look in relation to each other and make adjustments as needed. In this story, the photo quality ended up being too low to justify such a large image on the page. So, I pivoted, opting to reduce the size of the photo to make the low resolution less obvious, thus increasing the amount of space that typography had to take up.
3
Finalizing the Design
To finish the design, I check everything: copy, photo, text size, font and everything in between. While this particular design didn't end up exactly as I wanted it to be, particularly due to the photo quality, I'm still happy with the typography and photos that I was able to use. I use moments like these — when something goes wrong — as a learning moment. Now, I make sure to constantly communicate with my photographers, and others contributing to the spread, to ensure that the design turns out to be as effective as possible.
Examples
Newsmagazine
For each in-depth package, I look for a motif — something that the audience can understand even without reading the full story. For this story, which investigated political polarization, Ladue Publications' photo editor in chief and I explored the concept of bubbles, using red and blue lights to symbolize the two political parties. Then, through hours upon hours of Adobe Photoshop, I cut the bubbles out and placed them on this page — symbolizing the interspersing of political ideas in modern society. We continued this motif on the cover, page 16-17 and the back cover.
Recognitions: Best of Show Photo Illustration, MIJA (2024)
This page, an in-depth look at artificial intelligence, was my first-ever attempt at infographic design. Having never done anything like this before, I scoured past issues and professional publications hoping to find design inspiration. I worked with 2023-24 ID EIC, going through many iterations — from a block of text to mods interspersed throughout the spread to the version pictured here: a simplistic design that contained information without an overload of content. The biggest challenge in creating this infographic was the data — having never even Adobe Illustrator before, understanding how the platform worked was a learning curve. But, I kept at it, creating charts and graphs that told the story in a visually appealing manner
Magazine
As my first attempt at magazine design, this collection of spreads (pages 36-37, 38-39, 40-41) required iteration after iteration. I was used to newsmagazine mod-style design, doing my best to cram as much information as possible into a visually appealing page. Here, I was forced to utilize minimalism in my designs, relying on photos to tell the story. For the cover page, in particular, I learned how to work around a page's gutter — adjusting the text to ensure that it was still readable even when folded up within the magazine.
As one of four stories that the ID magazine produced within five days (read more here), these spreads (pages 66-67, 68-69, 70-71) forced me and my co-designer to work under a huge time constraint. I had to learn how to sacrifice perfection to meet the imminent deadline. I had hoped to create a stone-like typography effect for the title but couldn't, given the limited time. I wanted to add another image to the second spread, but that would've required arranging and rearranging — things that weren't feasible with the time I had. However, despite the setbacks, I'm still proud of how this design turned out. It was the fastest I've ever worked, and the design's simplicity only served to emphasize the incredible photos.
Literary Magazine
During the 2023-24 edition of Melodrama, we pushed further than art, photo and writing — opting to include multimedia and personal elements that revealed insights into the creator's mind. One way we did so was through QR codes that were placed throughout the magazine, which featured an author reading their writing out loud. We also incorporated signatures of each creator, making the magazine feel very personal to all who flipped through it. These elements tied the page together, creating a magazine that spoke to the work and dedication of each piece's author.
Recognitions: Second Place Magazine Design, NSPA (2024)
As the first literary magazine design I ever did, this spread forced me to consider pre-ordained elements of photo and copy. Previously, I had always curated and created what was placed on my spreads. Designing with set elements forced me to think critically about how to make the spread visually cohesive. Experimenting with colors and photos allowed me to achieve this goal, creating a design that went beyond simply placing the elements onto the page.
Broadcast
When setting up locations to film interviews, my primary concern is the background. No matter how riveting the words of any interview are, audience members will not engage unless there are interesting elements behind the source. For this interview, as the story was about a student's engagement in his town's council, I decided to record right in front of the town meeting hall. This location is famously governmental, so viewers understand and are drawn into the story even before hitting play.
While directing a broadcast segment, I paid special attention to the spacing of each element on the set. Before recording the segment, I worked with each cameraman to adjust the positioning as necessary, standardizing the anchors' positions. Paying attention to these minute details enhanced the broadcast tenfold, helping viewers pay attention to the content rather than the set placement.