As a designer for Atlas, Emerson College’s graduate student-run magazine, the task was to design three feature articles spanning 16 pages. Each year, a new editorial and design team reimagines the magazine’s visual direction, providing both creative freedom and brand guidelines. The project involved working within this framework, with a week design sprint to complete the layouts.

The role was to design custom layouts that reflected the tone and content of each article while maintaining overall visual cohesion throughout the issue.

The design team was given one week to design layouts and visuals. My role was to design 3 articles spread over 16 pages. I was provided with a Google Drive folder filled with format guidelines, page style presets, articles, fonts, colors, and images.

All graphics, color usage choices, design layout, and graphic elements on the page are my design choices.

When designing print layouts, I follow a design process to ensure visual continuity, adherence to any brand specifications (if applicable), and visual appeal.

Research & Style Integration: Previous Atlas issues were reviewed to understand the magazine’s evolving design language. Key visual elements, such as color blocks behind images, graphic embellishments, and pull quotes over photos, were incorporated into the new designs to maintain continuity while introducing fresh creativity.

Planning & Layout Sketches: Layouts were initially sketched by hand to plan placements for titles, text, imagery, and graphic elements. This pre-design step ensured each spread had a clear, balanced structure, and allowed for creative solutions while maintaining visual cohesion across the issue.

Design Execution: Using Adobe InDesign, each layout was crafted with attention to creative flow, readability, and editorial direction. Design choices, from color palette to graphic elements, were customized to enhance the article’s tone and support the overall visual aesthetic of the magazine. Final adjustments were made to spacing, alignment, and content hierarchy to ensure consistency and polish.

Production: Upon editor approval, the InDesign files were packaged and prepared for print, ensuring all assets were linked correctly and the layouts were print-ready.

I repeated the same process for the Fall of 2023 publication; design guidelines were adjusted, as well as color schemes. Below are the final spreads.