First, the website.
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Because this portfolio is basically an art exhibit of all of my designs, I wanted it to look like a museum.
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The scattered art pieces, the short side-explanations and the basic sans serif fonts all make it feel like a blank canvas that got added to.
Design
To showcase my journey through yearbook, I've collected one spread from every deadline I've ever had.
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Now let's go to the very beginning.
Deadline 1:
My very first spread. Looking back, are there several hundred things I would change about it? Of course! But it's still one of my favorites.
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I'm a sucker for large group photos that add a ton of coverage so I'm happy that past me found a way to include two of them.
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I think what I love most about this spread is how it's still something I would design today. Even though it is raw, this feels like Tate as a yearbook spread.
Deadline 2:
I learned a lot of new strategies with this one. Cross-gutter mod design made this spread flow well when looked as a whole.
My no. 1 goal whenever I design is to make things as "readable" as possible so distancing the copy from each other became a fun little challenge while designing. It caused me invent my favorite technique: break things up with a meaningful stat.
Deadline 3:
At this point, I had gotten bored of the standard 3-4 mods per spread with a usual dominant story. What I wanted was to create designs that could stand on their own.
Something that stuck with me was my team's writer telling me that this was the first time she felt "really into" what she was working on. I came up with this idea for a phone-spread because I had the vision for what the design would look like. When people believed in the vision, we did great things.
Deadline 4:
This is my favorite spread of all time.
It's extremely thematic with its irregular shapes and 90's shapes + colors.
It's timely and specific to 2021. It'll last forever.
It took a real long time to trace the COVID case graph to make the blue shape but it was so worth it.
Coming up with the five headlines was fun and really satisfying when it all clicked together.
It was a wildcard spread; any photos could be used. This meant that it was great for coverage.
Deadline 5:
Now we're back to classic 3-4 mod spreads. It's the little things that make me love design. Putting bright pink words on a dark blue background for contrast to make "Big Impact" stand out is so basic but so rewarding.
Deadline 6:
The mix of absolute chaos yet logical order for this spread makes me feel like I captured lightning in a bottle with this one.
This was part of the spring supplement and would be all the coverage these two sports would get. Fitting 31 faces on the spread, all with a decently sized photo was a great task. It's what made it meaningful.
Then it was over.
Year one was in the books.
I started on the next one.
Theme development was the most fun I've had designing. There were no rules. To the side are buttons to see my Google Slide presentations for some of the themes I have made. Some are very long but each is worth a quick skim through.
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Each one has its own story, including why I didn't pursue it. This time period really was the wild wild west of Ceniad design.
Deadline 7:
New year, new theme, new me. One of the designers had to miss deadline night so to be able to send the spread in time, I stepped in and cranked this out the day-of.
Opening page
What you see before folding out
Spread after the opening
Deadline 8: And here we are now. This is the design for the fold-out opening. From forcing photographers to find unused photos to writing the text, this was yearbook at its best.
What you see after folding out