DETAILS
Editorial Design / Publication Design / Print
Ninth Letter is the award-winning literary arts journal and collaboration of the Creative Writing Program and Graphic Design Program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. I was one of the two senior designers and worked with eight other designers and closely with the Art Director, Natalie F. Smith.
I designed two Ninth Letter books. Check out the first, Ninth Letter Vol 16. No 2, with the button below.
Methods + Tools
Typesetting
Hand-Lettering
Illustration
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Illustrator
Collaborators
Joanna Byrne
Taylor Chism
Anna Korol
Edgar Madrigal
Charlotte Peloquin
Hayley Peterson
Gabe Rodriguez
Anna Sealey
Natalie F. Smith
Year
Jan 2020 - May 2020
DESIGN CHALLENGES
The team worked remotely with limited resources because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. As a result, we reflected on what life has been like at home during the quarantine. The book illustrates at-home activities, and hand-made goods such as masks and doing more at home cooking. As a result of limited resources, we created illustrations and hand-lettering text to reflect the time period.
FINAL DESIGNS
DESIGN PROCESS
Typesetting
As a team, we decided on the typefaces for the journal. As a senior designer, I helped the art director determine the final type specifications.
Hand Lettering
I was also involved in a majority of the hand lettering. The entire table of contents, the majority of author names, and some of the title pages were hand-lettered by me.
Front-Matter Pages
I designed the table of contents and title page of the book. I was forced out of my comfort zone and did some illustration and hand lettering for these pages. As a result, I am more confident in my illustration and typesetting abilities.
Title Page
Table of Contents
Main Text Pages
For the main text pages, the team wanted to create a unique illustration for each chapter opener. Furthermore, we wanted to illustrate home activities during quarantine for the part openers. I worked on two chapter openers as well as three of the part openers.
Cars
Best There Is
Creative Nonfiction
Fiction
My team member, Edgar Madrigal, started this part opener. He illustrated the TV and game system. I added the graphics on the TV and did some color adjusting.
Where We're at
My team member, Taylor Chism, started this part opener. When the class had ended, there were still revisions to be done. I volunteered to keep working on the book after the class ended. I worked closely with the art director to revise this part opener.
