Design
As a former layout editor, I’m a designer at heart—always drawn to new typography and color palettes. In my work, I approach every element with intention and purpose, ensuring each design decision is thoughtfully made.
Spread Design
My favorite yearbook spreads of all time.
Presidential Election, 2025
NSPA Best of Show, 6th Place
To ensure fair balanced coverage, I opted for a modular layout that features symmetrical dominant elements. I incorporated a pull quote, timeline, sidebar, alternative copy, and essential facts to deliver comprehensive election coverage. My modular design aimed to present a wealth of information on the page while maintaining clarity and avoiding overwhelm.
What You Missed, 2025
Balfour Great Spreads, 3rd Place
On the "What You Missed" page, my aim was to showcase a wide range of events. With the yearbook's spring publication, I incorporated aspects of student life, sports, and competitions. To enhance the variety, I also featured the annual news segment "STN" and "Porchella," which are typically not included in the fall coverage. In total, I successfully covered ten different events.
NSPA Inside Pages, 2025
National JEA, Superior Rating
I created a book-themed spread titled "The Process" using photos and quotes, diverging from our usual design style. Incorporating three modules with a secondary headline and pull quote in school colors of black and gold, my unconventional approach in competition earned a superior rating for the spread.
OCJEA Volleyball, 2025
Orange County JEA, 1st Place
This page is one my favorites, blending black and white with color for a strong design. The red was incorporated to align with the school colors, created within 90 minutes using given quotes and images. To maintain simplicity, I featured one module highlighting an athlete and another showcasing statistics.
Varsity Boys Basketball
For this sports spread, I used yellow to reflect the traditional gym lighting and create a cohesive atmosphere. The photography takes center stage, guiding the reader through sections divided by offense, defense, and cheering. At the bottom, a recap highlights league game scores, wins, and overall standings.
Girls Cross Country, 2025
For the cross country spread, I aligned with our book’s theme, More Than What It Is, using the headline Going the Extra Mile to emphasize the idea of pushing beyond limits. A standout feature is the sidebar, which showcases letterman patch matchups instead of traditional mugshots. The large type highlights each meet date and the runner’s personal record, paired with cutouts of earned patches for added visual interest.
Fine Arts Assembly, 2024
Driven by a consistent color theme, the green stage lighting set the tone for this page, with green as the dominant color and beige as a subtle accent. What makes this spread stand out is its use of macrospacing to clearly organize five sections: drama, orchestra, singing, dance, and activities. A side panel includes the story and a pull quote, allowing for layered coverage of the weeklong event, which featured a variety of VAPA showcases each day.
Behind the Design
1
Find Inspiration
The layout was inspired by modular, flexible formats like VSCO and Pinterest, for a scroll-like visual effect.
2
Inspo Layout and Colors
I sketched a mockup based on the inspiration, then
selected a color palette that complemented
the mood and content.
3
Create the Template
I recreated the layout on Studio Balfour Encore to focus on structure and alignment to ensure consistency and flexibility.
4
Gather All Content
Conduct interviews for the next two weeks to get all photos and quotes.
5
Add Facts & Figures
To add visual and editorial variety, I included the like count.
6
Color Blocking
I used color blocks strategically to tighten the layout, enhance visual flow, and use the thematic design element without overwhelming the content.
Design Contributions
Partial Cutouts
As layout editor, I dedicated one of our three staff training days to teaching partial cutouts, using
real-world design to explore space, layout, and color.
Examples from Staff
As layout editor, I taught the formal principles of design and spacing to ensure consistency across the book, using a guide I created to train staff, provide written feedback, and support verbal critiques.
The concept I presented was utilized for modules and our theme pages, encompassing dividers and opening pages. Through the cut design, we successfully incorporated elements that interacted seamlessly with the overall design.
Developing Guides
Design Guide (Fonts & Colors)
Spacing Guide (Macro & Micro)
Identifying Errors in Comments
Redesign
A common challenge within our staff is a reluctance to step outside of our comfort zones, often relying on last year's yearbook as a reference. This results in a 'cookie-cutter' approach, where each yearbook feels similar, with only superficial differences in color and content. I strive to challenge this status quo by introducing innovative designs and fresh concepts.
1
Old Spread (2023)
In our 2023 yearbook, spreads consisted of 10 photos with modules spaced using macrospacing. However, the macrospacing was applied incorrectly, with arbitrary photo placement and inconsistent microspacing (½ pica) and macrospacing (3 picas). Additionally, 2 pica spacing was used inconsistently, breaking design rules and disrupting the visual flow. The pull quote was placed above the headline, which contradicts standard design practices where it should follow the headline. As a result, the design was ineffective, and this volume did not win any awards."
Although I transitioned to managing editor for the 2025 yearbook, I continued contributing to layout design. In recent spreads, I added subheadlines to group photos intentionally, improving organization and avoiding random placements. I also experimented with sidebar sizes, creating a vertical layout that spanned the full page, allowing for more coverage space and flexibility with COBs. Additionally, I introduced a new caption style, incorporating large numbers for a design pop, and used two shades of blue (light and dark) for visual separation and creative experimentation.
2
New Spreads (2024 & 2025)
As layout editor for the 2024 yearbook, I overhauled the design by reducing the number of photos to 8, minimizing redundancy, and overwhelming content. I also applied the spacing hierarchy of microspacing, conventional spacing, and macrospacing to create a clean grid layout. Additionally, I introduced color blocking, which was praised by JEA as 'contemporary and attractive,' earning a superior rating in our state media contest, and helped our book win NSPA first-class honors. I broke away from last year's to create effective spreads with flexible templates for the staff
Enrichment
In my free time, I enjoy exploring creative resources, like design books, articles, and visual inspiration, to deepen my skills and stay inspired.
CSPA's
Design Concepts Camp
I traveled to Columbia University, where I met Gold Crown publications and brought back advanced design insights for our 2026 book. It was eye-opening to see how other publications operated.
1
Canva's
Design School
Though not used in our publication, Canva is key for social media and planning. I took their courses to learn advanced marketing techniques. It only reinforced my love for Canva as a beginner-friendly tool.
2
A lot of
Magazines
Magazines inspire much of my design style. I study layouts from titles like the Irvine Standard, Harvard Business Review, and TIME. In the corner of my room, I have a stack of magazines I always look for inspo.
3
Sandu Publishing's
It's a Complement: Color Palettes in Graphic Design
While in New York, I picked up a book on color theory from The Strand. It sparked a new interest that now guides my palette choices.
4
Wang Shaoqiang's
New Page Design: Layout and Editorial Design
This book deepened my understanding of type hierarchy, helping me refine details and make more intentional layout decisions
5
Ellen Lupton's
Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers
Learning about typefaces and readability led me to choose Didot for its elegance. This book helped shape the visual tone of my 2026 book.