The Collegian Magazine Website

Since its first issue in 2014, the Collegian Magazine has published investigative journalism, longform articles, interviews, photo essays, and about Kenyon, Knox County, and the surrounding area. The magazine won a Pacemaker Award in 2015 for its print publication, but until 2017, the Magazine had no platform for sharing its stories online. Then-editor-in-chief Julia Waldow approached me that year to design and build a custom website for the Magazine to reach its readers online.

I knew my toughest challenge would be translating the Magazine’s stories from print to digital. The Magazine produces beautiful print design with creative layouts, especially for its photo essays, that conveyed narratives through visuals alone. I didn’t want to lose those stories in translation, so I designed a content management system that would allow editors to upload a wide range of stories without compromising on flexible layouts.

At the same time, Magazine readers needed to have a seamless experience on mobile devices as well, so I took pains to ensure every design decision, from navigation menus to gallery layouts, scaled down without a hitch.

The website’s minimal design rests on a foundation of solid typography and the occasional touch of the Magazine’s brand yellow and blue. Acta Display, a sharp serif typeface designed for newspapers and magazines, anchors the page around titles and headings. The softer Le Monde Journal, also designed for newspaper use, makes for breezy reading through long passages of text. A touch of the warm geometric sans Soleil adds contrast for buttons, navigation links, and other bits of accent text.