Signatures Magazine
is an art and literary magazine showcasing submissions of photography, illustration, graphic design, poetry, and short story. I acted as Design Lead/Creative Director for Signatures’ 35th Issue from
2019-2020, after being part of the team for the 34th Issue. The year consisted of collaborating with the rest of the design team and literary editors to flesh out a style and perspective for our particular
year’s issue.
Artwork: In Blue, Sari Oister
Worked Through Challenges IN
Team Building
My literary counterpart and I spent the early portion of Fall 2019 recruiting new members via hosting information sessions, circulating posters and marketing on Instagram.
Submissions and Recognizability
Campaigned to gather art and literary submissions from RIT students. Hung posters, chalked outdoor spaces around campus, and developed social media campaigns.
Coordination
Find a democratic way to talk about and decide upon which works to accept. Organize and distribute works and spreads for each designer to and work on. Standardize a look via the creation of a style guide for each designer to work from and make their own, while keeping the style consistent throughout.
Artwork: Cut and Burn, Evan Maloney
Look and Feel
The team wanted the 35th issue to be fresh, weird and bright. We knew that we’d only be able to create that with plenty of submissions, and picking the right style to accentuate them.
In crafting the magazine, we allowed the submissions to guide our decisions in color, type and finishing throughout, while brainstorming ways to put our own spin on the magazine’s style.
Artwork: Ni Una Mas, Sofia Tello Mocarella // Entertainment Center: What Did I Do Last Night? Isabella Maderia and Leileh Zimon
Artwork: Sitting and Leaning, Yahui Gao
Design Concept
During the process of sorting through the magazine’s content, we noticed three overarching moods in the submissions. Melancholy, Dystopian and Whimsical.
We chose to color code those feelings, and group them all together. So, the text color changes with the mood - starting with a dark blue, to chartreuse, and finally bright pink, matching the front and back cover.
Visual Identity
Author name is offset, but always aligned with a letter in the title
Flat vector elements that pull basic geometric shapes and subtle colors from the images on the page.
Full Digital Publication