As the bridge between the print and online publications, I wanted to ensure that both mediums were cohesive and used similar elements to unify the publication as a whole.

Moving from News Editor: Print to Lead Culture to EiC, I have designed multiple pages for every print issue since I became an editor. My favorite designs are featured below, demonstrating balance between text and graphics, original illustrations and use of colors to make each story eye-catching.

Click on the above images to view both pages.

As Lead Culture editor, I volunteered to design the front page for Issue 4. The Deputy EiC: Print did not have ideas for what she wanted it to look like, so I created this draft and presented it to the managing team. They likedthe design, and it was used as the front page.

The front page design is essential to every newspaper as it is the first thing that readers see. It needs to be eye-catching. All staff members can pitch for center or front and must show clear visual elements and a design plan, where the Deputy EiC: Print and I lead voting. Once the editorial board has voted on the stories for front and center, the Deputy EiC: Print and I discuss designs and potential photo ideas for front that setts the tone for the rest of the issue.

At the beginning of the school year, I assisted the Deputy EIC: Online in redesigning the website. Some of the changes we made include adding the story gallery at the top of the site so it is the first thing readers see, drawing their attention straight to a recent post. We decided that displaying the weather in the right column would be a fun addition, particularly with our London audience where the weather changes by the hour. Recent stories by all five sections are displayed on the home page with an "In Case You Missed It" rolling gallery of popular content from previous weeks. And, packages and investigative pieces are now featured in an In-Depth tab to highlight our most rigorous work.

Depending on the story's content and multimedia elements, I am always thinking about how we can most effectively communicate information with the audience. I discussed using an alternative story format for this piece on eating disorders with the writer because she had so many multimedia elements and pull quotes that it would have been overwhelming for readers all in one block. We decided to use the chapter story format so it would be easy for readers to navigate between different sections.

 I worked with the Deputy EIC: Print to revamp the look of our print publication, leaning into the newsmagazine style that has become more prevalent in our print issues for the past couple of years. I wanted to bring back the banner across the top so that we could have more freedom with the background color of the photo, because it was always a challenge to find a color that complemented The Standard's light blue. I also spoke with the managing editors about changing all of the light blue to navy because I liked the sophisticated tone that it brought to both print and online. 

 Layout week is essential for editors to be able to collaborate and work on print pages for each issue, leading up to Late Night that lasts until 8 p.m. – or, when everyone's pages are finished. I am usually in the room at some point every day to answer InDesign or Illustrator questions and bounce ideas off of other editors. 

Before layout week for every print cycle, the Deputy EiC: Print and I discuss how many pages to make the issue and the number of pages per article. Then, we lead every section in print package planning where all of the editors fill out and pass back these sheets so that they have a clear design plan before starting layout. This ensures that we have time to think ahead about graphics and multimedia.

 After layout week, once all pages have been PDFed, the entire editorial board sits down with print-outs of each page and leaves edits on text and design. This ensures that the pages are in good condition with no spelling errors or missing elements before they receive final edits from the Deputy EiC: Print, followed by me, and then our adviser.

I worked with the social media managers of the Media Team to establish a posting schedule for all of our platforms and establish a clean template that could be used for every post so that our content would be recognizable as students scrolled through each app. We decided to use different templates for sports and news coverage on Instagram, and make sure that The Standard logo was always visible in the corner of the screen on TikTok.