Our second issue of my junior year centered heavily around the fentanyl crisis and drug use, which presented the challenge of finding visuals to accompany stories, as we did not have usable images from our student photographers. As I was designing our page three news story, I decided to incorporate stock photography to create an eye-catching design to grab reader attention for this important topic. But because my dominant image was a stock photo, I wanted it to offer something more than just breaking up text, so I manipulated the pills to create a pie chart and numeral shapes that highlighted the noteworthy statistics regarding the Fentanyl crisis. This page forced me to get creative while working with limited photo options and incorporated design strategies to give readers new information that they would not have gotten from the story alone.

Recognitions: Excellent – news page design, TAJE (2023)

This story focused on specific McCallum teachers who work second jobs to supplement their teaching income. Although I could have utilized photos of my teacher sources for this page, I wanted the design to apply to the more general topic of overworked teachers — a somewhat universal feeling of public school educators. I was also concerned that incorporating a photo of an “overworked” teacher might cast them in a negative light or infringe on their privacy — which are not hallmarks of ethical journalism. I connected the artwork to the rest of the page through the use of color, to create a unified look throughout the design. Even though the process of creating this page was relatively simple because there are not very many elements on the page, it taught me that a complex design doesn’t necessarily mean a better design. Sometimes, a simple design is eye-catching enough.

During my sophomore year, my Issue 3 story was chosen for the double truck, which meant I got to try out designing a center spread for the first time. For this design, I had to be mindful of proximity and space to tell two different stories about student bands. I also needed to figure out a way to have dominance on the page without making one story seem more important than the other. Because one of the bands, Fascist Peach Cobbler, was made up of students across AISD and only had one McCallum member, I paired a cutout of her with a group photo of the other band, Daydreamer. I also wanted to include the personality of each band in the design, so I decided to use the Fascist Peach Cobbler logo in the headline and got each member of Daydreamer to “autograph” their group photo. This taught me about packaging different stories together in one design, maintaining balance and theme within the page, while also making sure the stories remain separate.

Recognitions: Superior – in-depth news/feature package, TAJE (2023)

For our second issue of the year, we wanted to use the space of our double truck to feature multiple students, rather than just one story. The mini-profiles on the page were all about students in the marching band who also are a part of other football game extracurriculars like Blue Brigade, cheer, athletic trainers or the football team. Since these were students who by virtue of their versatility were stars on our campus, I decided to incorporate the year’s marching show title, “Seeing stars” into the theme of the design. I used a black background with white text and used repeated elements like the cutouts and star imagery to allow for continuity and a cohesive look and feel to the page. This helped connect the separate stories and package them together in a visually appealing way.

Recognitions: Second place – newspaper page/spread, NSPA Clips and Clicks (2022); Third place – feature page/spread design, ILPC (2023)

When I got to work designing my story about the new yearbook adviser Frank Webster, I knew I had the chance to do something creative. I wanted to take advantage of how recognizable yearbooks are and design the page around that concept. For the dominant image, I wanted to model a traditional “mugshot” page from a yearbook, so I used school portraits of the sources interviewed in the story and former teachers that Mr. Webster mentioned in his interview as having influenced him. I also utilized contrast by choosing black and white photos to callback to the feel of “old” yearbooks. I even made the pull quote hand-written to give it the feel of a yearbook autograph page entry. This page challenged me to integrate design and photo editing tools to visually represent a story and create a better overall look and feel.

Recognitions: Fifth place – newspaper/newsmagazine design, NSPA Best of Show (2022)

I have a distinct memory of the start of our second issue cycle during my freshman year. Shortly after pitch, the EICs challenged the staff to produce more creative page designs for this next issue. As a new staffer who was still learning the basics of story structure, the idea of letting go of the familiar L-shaped template was daunting. But I also couldn’t disappoint my editors. So I scrolled for hours on Pinterest, looking for something eye-catching that I could model my design off of. When I finally found a page design that layered an “S” through the dominant photo, I was struck with an idea. My story was about the movie industry, so I could incorporate the same idea with a film reel. I used a stock illustration as a dominant photo to draw a reader in. I even got permission from the EICs the break the style guide rules for headline formatting so that the word “Movies” immediately jumped out at the reader. And then, by linking the “S” in the word “Movies” into the spokes of the film wheel, I created a design layer that literally connected the writing to the imagery on the page.

Recognitions: Award of Merit – entertainment package, SIPA Best Visual Competition (2021); Best in Show – headline package, SIPA Best Visual Competition (2021)

For our third issue of the 2022-23 school year, my co-EIC and I decided we wanted to have an environmental-themed issue that focused on local climate related news. Our double truck featured a story on carbon footprint and what students are doing to reduce their CO2 emissions. This put me in an opportune position to create a design that offered more to readers than just visual appeal. I used the page space to make a quiz allowing readers to calculate their carbon footprint. I leveraged road imagery to incorporate an infographic that utilizes contrast in both type and layout to supplement the dominant story on CO2 emissions. I also used repetition and alignment in the quiz results sidebar for a spread that delivers important information in a way that is organized, reader friendly and eye-catching. This allowed me to go beyond just informing readers about carbon footprint and its impact, but also to give them the tools to connect this broad topic to their own personal lives. 

Recognitions: Tops in Texas – feature page/spread design, ILPC (2023); Tops in Texas – infographic/sidebar, ILPC (2023)

This Dazed and Confused double truck was an initially stressful undertaking because it was a last-minute switch added to the print ladder. The issue, themed around Austin’s past, present and future included stories about city parks, gentrification and the nature of a place so many students call “home.” When I learned that a photojournalism student had compiled a photo essay about this iconic Austin film, I knew it belonged in this issue in spite of our looming print deadline. The content allowed me to get creative with the design and the page quickly came together. I incorporated the fonts from the movie posters and utilized a ’70s color palette to fit the era of the film. I also utilized white space between the photo story dominant and the body copy as well as alignment for a smooth reader experience that easily navigates from photo to photo. This all made the design appealing and accessible to our audience of students.

When I was working on this page, I knew design would be important because the whole story revolved around the way advertisements for nicotine products use eye-catching images to target teenagers. I decided to lean in to this idea by making the main focus of the page a dominant illustration of a high-interest topic, that I knew would capture student attention. This had the secondary effect of being a clever call out to the way that the nicotine industry uses imagery to attract teens, acting as additional support to the point of my article. The image added balance to the page despite running through all of the copy because of the alignment and effective use of text wrapping that helps intuitively lead the reader through the story.

Recognitions: Tops in Texas – news page/spread design, ILPC (2023)

When 20-year McCallum veteran Anda Baxa was named principal, I wanted to give a creative spin to the story by having him review his progress in the four main categories of evaluation for AISD principals after his first 100 days in the role — similar to the way a president is evaluated at the beginning of their term. This story format allowed me to add to the design by making a “100 day report card” graphic that included the grades Mr. Baxa assigned to himself in these four categories for readers who prefer a high-level overview before (or instead of) reading the story. I also complied photos of Mr. Baxa over his time at McCallum (all the way back from when he was just a student teacher) into a collage that I filled inside the 100 to help create a more interactive headline package. I incorporated a cutout of Mr. Baxa that anchored the bottom of the page while also highlighting his involvement in the community.

Recognitions: Third place – newspaper/newsmagazine design, NSPA Best of Show (2023)