Daily Trojan | Print, Motion Graphic

My primary projects as Design Director revolved around designing covers for special coverage issues.
Designing these covers is a visual challenge, but also a practice in journalism. The design must always reflect the “tone” of the issue, and serve to tell a story about the content through visuals. The process starts and ends with brainstorming with the editors and understanding the theme of an issue and the story we want to tell.

Click here for supplement issue sample – Sex & Romance Supplement

For breaking news and investigative or long-term projects, I also head design for laying out front pages. Though less visual than a special cover design, these front pages nevertheless prioritize telling a story through visual language. Often they prioritize lofty headlines meant to catch the eye.

Of course on a day-to-day basis I also oversee the layout of general pages, ensuring content is easy to navigate and digest.

For the annual rivalry game between USC and UCLA, we created a special collaboration issue: half the paper as USC’s, and upside down on the back half as UCLA’s.
Click here for interactive page.

Though the DT is primarily a print publication, our work extends to numerous mediums. Part of my job also includes designing various media campaigns focused around building the DT’s presence on campus and educating the community on the importance of independent student journalism

There are around 30 core editors for the Daily Trojan, but the publication staff is built of hundreds of dedicated students. Every semester I work with the editorial staff on recruitment campaigns that show off the personalities on our staff, encouraging students of all backgrounds to apply to be part of such a historical organization.

Of course serving as Design Director also isn’t a one person job. During my time here I’ve pushed for more value of design in the publication, building out a design team that aids with daily production as well as producing graphics.