"Jaguars on Forest Hill Boulevard" was the first spread that I was assigned as a staffer of The Muse. The making of this spread was exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time due to the lack of previous experience and knowledge, so much of the drafting process involved great experimentation. I tried many different elements, such as a black and white diagonal split, which eventually didn’t make the final cut due to lack of readability. This was my first experience of the revisional process which served as a great starting point for my future work.

“Beyond the Podium” was the second story I was assigned to design, this time with a significant increase in page count from my 1 page spread. Initially, the increased volume served as a problem, but also a motivator to produce my best work and do so in a timely manner. The creation of the 3 pages of “Beyond the Podium” involved many quick revisions across all 3 pages, teaching me the importance of timeliness as I found my style.

“We Have No Shock Left” Was the first editorial that I created a spread for. This story illustrated the lack of concern that the student body of A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts has for safety drills, and one of my goals was indicating this sense of danger, contrasted by the illustration of the careless students. This spread was assigned to me late in the cycle, which was certainly a challenge, as I had not gone through the many steps of pre-production and drafts before the 1st draft, which definitely taught me the importance of working on the fly.

"Substances Gone Social" was initially a story that I was assigned to design for issue 2, but eventually fell through due to deadline issues. When this story was reassigned to issue 3, there were many different problems/last minute choices regarding photos and their placement, even involving a retake months after the initial drafts of the story. Working on "Substances Gone Social" has taught me that the best of stories and designs take time, as the acutal writing, photo, and design itself take time, as I consider this among the best of my work as a design staffer.

The Pro Con story, initially titled "Passionate or Passive?" is associated with what has beenthe most intensive time crunch in my time as a staffer. This spread was originally supplemented by graphics from a fellow staffer and that of myself until the body copy changed so much as to where the graphics no longer represented the story. The spread remained in a state of dormancy for some time until I had a talk with my EIC about how we need to revise almost the entire thing. This meant in the span of two days, I had to essentially redo the entire spread from the ground up. New headline, new deckheads, new photos, and a new layout were all to be completed within a very short timeframe.

Although "It Runs In the Family" was eventually cut from Issue 4, it taught me important lessons about collaboration between not only staffer to staffer, but between the story and its subjects. "It Runs In the Family" details the story of the Cannon family and their success at track and field. Being friends with one of the subjects, Max Cannon, I talked to him about the direction of the story and what design elements he'd like to see. This story was cut following issues with the writing and the spread never reached a final form, but through the time I spent on it, I thoroughly enjoyed communicating with the siblings and designing the spread after a track.

This infographic was assigned to me for a web story during the cycle for Issue 3. It was to accompany a story by a staffer regarding this year's lunar new year, and this infographic was made to serve as a supplement to the provided information about the annual event. This design was to be made in only a few days as to publish the story as close to the lunar new year as possible. This served as a challenge for me as I had only around 3 days to illustrate every zodiac sign and then add them to InDesign alongside the accompanying information regarding each sign. This spread, like many before it, taught me to better manage my time in accordance with the rest of my workload.

This illustration I submitted to FSPA depicts the chaos of Dreyfoos’ “neverending” lunch line. Posters saying ‘Free Lunch’ and other items of food fly towards the black hole that is the lunch line. As someone who brings their own lunch, this drawing most closely illustrates how this line looks from a 3rd person perspective.