Print Design Management
Overall Print Layout |
As Print EIC, I’m responsible for all aspects of our print newspaper. That includes pitching stories, news writing, and design layout. Of all of these, design layout has to be my favorite. When I entered Imua, I’d had previous design experience from working on my school’s literary magazine, so I was familiar with Adobe inDesign and Photoshop. I’m glad that I get to put that knowledge to good use, by leading presentations on inDesign and graphic design. In addition to this I’m responsible for page layouts, meaning I have to organize all of our print articles into the best, most logical order, keeping in mind that the article direction could chance at the drop of a hat. It’s a challenging job, but one that’s necessary and often enjoyable. I’ve found that I form closer bonds with my staff members by discussing their pagination with them, and it gives me a clearer idea of what design they should go with. This has taught me the benefits of open lines of communication when it comes to designing, as I often pick the brains of my fellow editors to gain layout and design advice.
I’m very proud of the final product that we produce, and although I sometimes lament the loss of time I could’ve spent on my own design, I understand that the team’s needs come before my own. Even if that means staying late, taking work home, or designing whilst fielding questions from new staff members, I know that my role is to pass on my design experience to the next group of artists, journalists, and graphic designers. To my left I’ve included two of my favorite designs, the top one for the simplistic yet powerful message shown through the use of negative space and line placement, and the bottom one for its use of color and text type to match the mood of the piece. Both have my favorite element of design: intentional artistic choices. |
While I value my individual layout contributions, as Print EIC I’m also responsible for the layout of the entire magazine. This means coordinating all of the pages so that they fit around a set color pallet, a shared issue theme that fits into our greater year theme, and are content-specific so the entire magazine flows from one article to the next. It can be difficult to control all aspects of this, and I’ll typically go through several color pallets and re-arrange article pagination many times over the course of the quarter. Thus far, we’ve released two issues, “Waves of Change” and “Breaking Waves” and we’re currently working on “Spring Tides.” All three issues have had a similar revolutionary, waves theme that’s explained through my Letter From the Editor. The letter also serves as a place for me to highlight featured articles from the issue and explain how they fit into the theme.
While designing, I enjoy taking inspiration from Pinterest and Dribble, transforming an idea in my head into a fully developed page. Coming up with fresh, exciting concepts that fit the