Overview
Design Process
A Fall 2025 student project focused on designing a magazine-style Q&A layout. The goal was to explore editorial design through typography, hierarchy, and composition while presenting an interview in a visually engaging way.
This piece features Olympic track star Sydney McLaughlin, highlighting her mindset, discipline, and experiences competing at the highest level. We were challenged to push beyond a traditional, list-style Q&A format and create something more dynamic and visually compelling. The final design uses type, spacing, and imagery to guide the reader and transform the interview into a more engaging editorial experience.
The project began by selecting a subject to interview, and I chose Olympic track star Sydney McLaughlin. I chose to develop a Q&A format that reflects her strength, focus, and discipline as an athlete. Rather than following a traditional, list-style interview, I was challenged to explore ways to break the “normal” structure and create a more creative editorial layout.
I experimented with grid systems, type hierarchy, and scale for the questions and answers across the page in a way that feels dynamic, as if you were running the race as you read it. A key challenge was finding a unique way to differentiate the questions from the answers without relying on obvious solutions like bolding or color. Instead, I used italics to distinguish the questions, reinforcing the sense of movement that flows across the page.
Visual elements, including cut-out images and the Olympic logo, were integrated to reinforce motion and rhythm throughout the project. Repetition, spacing, and variation in type size help guide the reader while maintaining clarity.
Throughout the process, I focused on balancing structure with experimentation to push beyond a conventional magazine Q&A to create a layout that feels immersive and visually compelling while still maintaining readability and clarity.
