Embedded Files
Representing the Underrepresented
Representing the Underrepresented
Sourcing and Perspectives
Sourcing and Perspectives
At the start of each magazine cycle, there's always at least one person who asks the same question: “What's even happening right now”? It’s easy to pick the same things over and over again because that’s what’s familiar. But if we’re always reporting on the same topics, then it isn’t reflective of the community that we publish for.
Overtime our publication increased in size, and we as a staff started to be more intentional about the voices and faces that were being published. When my co-head editors were redesigning the recurring pages, it wasn’t just about making it look good or pretty; it was about highlighting diverse voices through personal columns, Q&As, club and event highlights, and more.
Recurring pages in the magazine
Recurring pages in the magazine
The Whirlwind Issue 2 | 21 named and/or quoted different sources, and an image highlighting several members of the boys' water polo team. Typically, any given story should have upwards of 3 sources; sometimes, there would only be one source for a Q&A or two for a slightly shorter story, but this trend of diversity continues throughout the magazine.
Audit Sheet
Audit Sheet
Our publication is also in the process of establishing an effective audit sheet to ensure our staff members aren’t continually returning the same familiar faces every 5 weeks. It forces us to pause and consider whether we are representing convenience or our community.
When reporting, I follow a simple rule: Three people who don't look like me. That being said, I also look for sources that add meaning to the story, not just anyone to fill space to meet my word count. By doing this, multiple experiences and perspectives are represented.
Our audit sheet has sections separated by grade and staff, and is typically updated after each magazine cycle to ensure new faces are in the magazine each cycle.
Accessibility as Intention
Accessibility as Intention
For most of my life, I’ve known that I am legally blind. Requiring accommodations such as needing larger fonts, sitting closer to the board, bolder texts, and more time for digital tests. For a long time, that felt abstract, something to be noted in a file that is only viewed by a few people. But only in recent years has my vision impairment fundamentally altered the way I move through the world, and more importantly, how I plan my content for others.
I think about accessibility not as an afterthought, but as something to build from at the very beginning. Our website includes vision-accessible features, our Instagram offers subtitles, but print design requires a more deliberate attention to detail. High contrast, clear hierarchy, and readable spacing. Those features don’t just make a good design, but they are essential.
When I design a page, I often screenshot the spread as I’m designing and convert it to black and white or apply a filter to simulate red-green or blue-yellow colour blindness. If I can't tell where one element ends and another begins, the page isn’t accessible enough. If I struggle to read, I know someone else will.
But there are always obstacles that can’t be avoided in print. There are certain elements that cannot be changed, such as font size for our main body text, which is why it is imperative that all content ends up on the website to ensure that the intended audience isn’t reduced due to the shortcomings of accessibility.
Original Image: No filter applied. How those without a vision impairment would view the spread
Monochromacy: Total color blindness. Can only precieve things in shades of grey
Blue-Blind Tritanopia: difficulty distinguishing between blue and green, yellow and pink, and purple and red
Red-Blind Protanopia: red-sensitive cones in the eye are completely missing, making individuals unable to see red
Most of the page is easily readable except for the pull quotes, which don't have as high a contrast, making them difficult for those with vision impairments to read.
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