A Modest Proposal

Much of my history as a designer lies in the media field, ranging from yearbook in middle school to an award-winning high school student media organization, Wingspan. It was inevitable that, in college, I would go on to work at several campus publications. As a freshman, I simultaneously worked at the UTD newspaper, The Mercury, and its opinion magazine, A Modest Proposal (AMP), before ultimately choosing to focus on AMP. Over the next 3 years, I worked my way up to the rank of Assistant Art Director at AMP.

Note: while the contents of AMP tend to be political and individualistic, the articles I show here are sent in by students from UTD and published to express their thoughts and opinions, not those of the staff. Unless I am marked as the author, I am not responsible for what is written in the magazine.

Layout Design

I was hired primarily to assist on artwork and layouts, and the bulk of my AMP legacy consists of full-page spreads and covers that primarily focused on illustrator contributions. I utilized typography to fit the tone and intention of the pieces whenever possible, but ultimately, I remained within style guides for every single spread I produced. The pages shown here reflect not just my illustrative work, but also my use of organization within the layout.

Illustrations and Marketing

Another part of my work at AMP involved my own efforts to boost the appeal of the magazine. I frequently created small illustrations, which often served as comments upon campus events and culture, for use in both print and digital promotions. At the same time, I immediately began collaborating with the social media team to target the campus’ interests. This approach tripled the outreach of AMP’s Instagram and Twitter accounts.

That last picture was a novelty illustration for Valentine’s Day based on an actual photo taken of our mascot. Definitely unorthodox, but it got more interaction than the usual post on AMP’s Instagram account!