From Project to Passion Cover Story

"From Project to Passion: Service Learning Shapes PV Students' Post-Secondary Plans" was the second cover story I designed as co-editor-in-chief, but it was the first cover story design that made me feel confident in my abilities and my role. In order to separate each student's individual story, I utilized seven different muted colors that aligned with the autumn season. I utilized notecard graphics as a repeating design element, a symbol for the student perspectives included in each cover story article. Furthermore, I prioritized using color blocked lines of various weights and transparency along with graphics that matched the passions of the students in order to add intentional detailing to each spread. I am very proud to have created a unique cover, which included many colors, photographs, and highlighted the projects PV students have invested so much in.

Published: November 2025 

Breaking Bread Cover Story

Designing "Breaking Bread: How Food Connects Communities and Cultures" was a very meaningful and enjoyable experience. For this cover story, the graphics on each page were drawn by Pleasant Valley student artist Sherry Tang. As a designer, it was my first opportunity to create spreads with graphics that were tailor-made to each article, collaborating with Tang throughout the process. I felt that including the work of a student artist helped to illuminate the Pleasant Valley and Quad City community on which the issue was focusing. To match Tang's intricate graphics, I included a background that has the texture of a canvas and watercolor splotches, details that surround the articles playfully. For the two-page spread titled "From our table to yours," I included photographs of the students featured, their family recipes, and the graphics that Tang drew for each food item. These additional elements offered readers the opportunity to cultivate community on their own by interacting with the recipe and preparing one of the dishes their community members shared. 

Published: December 2025/January 2026 

Living on Thin ICE Cover Story

"Living on thin ICE," the Spartan Shield's February/March edition, was the most challenging cover story that I created during my design career. This cover story features six Pleasant Valley students and one recent graduate who have all immigrated to the United States. As the United States' policies regarding immigration and border control have become more controversial, immigrants throughout the midwest, the Quad Cities included, have mounting concerns and fear. Therefore, it became crucial to give a voice to students. When I create designs, I often include photographs of and quotes from the individuals featured in the article. However, each of these students remained anonymous to ensure their safety. I eventually became inspired to utilize the colors of each individual's birth country. This led me to create a repeating graphic made from each country's map, along with a pinpoint composed of the country's flag. I also added a quote from each individual that rests on top of each map. About halfway through the process of designing "Living on Thin ICE," a PV student organized a walkout in protest of ICE's brutality towards immigrants. A member of the Spartan Shield Staff attended the walkout to photograph the individuals protesting and their signs; each page of the cover story includes one of those protest photos.

Published: Febuary/March 2026

Staff Page / Table of Contents Febuary/March 2026

In November of 2025, I did a complete redesign of the Spartan Shield staff and table of contents spread. I hoped to create a layout that was more concise, more aesthetically pleasing, and easier to navigate. Therefore, I separated the staff and table of contents at the page crease and prioritized consistency and organization. For the table of contents, my design makes the page numbers and section names the focal points, as those are what readers look for in a table of contents. To color the section bars, I use colors that are present in each edition's cover story. For example, as this table of contents page is from the February/March "Living on Thin ICE" edition, I used the colors of  the flags found in each cover article. This school year, my co-editors and I have created a new requirement for our writing staff: to collect or take a photograph for each article they write. These photos add an important feature to my table of contents pages. Following the color scheme of the page, I edit one of these photographs from each section to be the same color as the section bar it resides on.

Published: Febuary/March 2026