Octopus.jpg

Duration

2 weeks per article


Role

Assistant Design Director


Tools

InDesign, Photoshop


Grey Matters Journal

Grey Matters Journal is a neuroscience journal at the University of Washington. It is published quarterly by undergraduate students. The Grey Matters team strives to demystify the technicality of neuroscience, while teaching the team how to communicate complex ideas in an approachable and relatable way.

 
 
 
 

Approach

I begin by studying the completed illustrations to look for opportunities to make engaging integrations with the text. After deciding on the general layout, I manipulate text wraps and tracking to maintain readability and alignment throughout the article. Finally, I pick an appropriate color palette from the illustration to incorporate into visual elements in the article.

In all, I have worked on 12+ articles for four issues (Issue 13–16).

 
Dive into the Mind of an Octopus.jpg
Dive into the Mind of an Octopus2.jpg
Non-InvasiveDeepBrainStimulation.jpg
MotorConversionDisorder1.png
MotorConversionDisorder2.png
SpeakYourMind2.png
 

Reflection

Working with Grey Matters Journal helps me practice typographic hierarchy and text/image relationships. Having worked on the team for over a year, I have elevated my skills with Adobe InDesign’s tools and capabilities.

As an Assistant Design Director, I’ve learned to maintain design consistency across a large-scale project. The role has taught me an incredible amount about leading and working with design peers through critique sessions and InDesign workshops.

Moving forward, I want to:

  • Continue to develop my leadership and communication skills

  • Fine-tune typographic practices like rags to improve readability

  • Illustrate my own article!

Thanks for reading!