Sandscript Literary Magazine
March 2025 - May 2025
Contract Lead Designer
Sandscript Literary Art Magazine is a yearly student-led magazine featuring selected works of poetry, prose, and visual art. I was hired as the Design Editor for the 2025 edition, responsible for bringing over 75 selected works to life in a cohesive, accessible, and visually compelling 100-page print publication.
Sandscript Literary Art Magazine features works of art, poetry, and prose with each piece having different dimentions and needs. Poetry often follows text layout beyond standard text. Each art piece had a different dimensions with no cropping allowed. Every artist and writer needed their piece to be honored in a way that maintained the integrity of the original art.
The Challenge:
How do I translate the editorial team’s layout ideas into a polished magazine while honoring both the artistic integrity of the work and the principles of accessible design.
While every project must align with established University and program branding standards, no two projects have the same audience, goals, or communication needs. My approach begins by identifying what makes each initiative unique and then finding opportunities to express that through layout, imagery, typography, color emphasis, and visual storytelling.
Layout Conflicts
Some poetry pieces had strict formatting needs that didn’t fit with the proposed layouts. I led the team in rethinking layout options, suggesting alternatives that preserved the intent of each piece while achieving design harmony.
Accessability Resistence
Initial feedback from the editorial team leaned toward decorative fonts and low-contrast designs. I created a presentation to explain accessibility best practices covering type clarity, color blindness, and inclusive design. This lead to successfully persuading the team to shift toward more reader friendly choices.
Cohesiveness Throughout Diverse Pieces
Many projects extend beyond a single deliverable. I develop systems that can scale across digital assets, print materials, event collateral, and environmental graphics while maintaining consistency.
The Work
The final magazine consisted of over 100 pages of poetry, prose and visual art. The layouts were decided upon to compliment each of the works of art.
The Team
It was a huge honor to work with such an amazing editorial team! Thank you to Pima Community College and the team who helped bring this magazine to life.
Reflections
Designing for Sandscript taught me that editorial design is as much about advocacy as it is about aesthetics. Balancing the integrity of each contributor's work with accessibility standards, production constraints, and the magazine's overall visual rhythm required thoughtful collaboration and clear communication throughout the process. This project reinforced my belief that great publication design doesn't compete with the content, it elevates it.
