Embracing a New Look: Designlife Magazine Visualizes the Art of Making
This year, the Designlife magazine has a bold new look, envisioned by a group of students in the graphic & experience design program. Working with faculty advisor Jarrett Fuller, the students conceptualized and helped execute a creative refresh of the magazine in just
12 short weeks.
“I had just wrapped up an editorial project in my typography class, and I knew it would be fun to work on a longer format project with real content and real stakeholders,” said Penelli Yang.
While the group didn’t know each other well, spanning from sophomore to master’s level students, they jumped in and were able to be collaborative in a productive way.
The students – Lizzie Edwards, Sophia Milligan, Jimmy Ramirez Jaco, Caitlin Soboslay and Penelli Yang– each brought their own experiences and inspirations to the table, but quickly landed on moving forward with two final concepts to refine.
Working from a Figma board, Fuller took on the role of editor, noticing the connections between design styles. “One of the things we talked about early on was this idea – how do we actually show creativity?” Fuller says. “How could the idea of making, the process, be part of it? What if we could see the magazine being made in real time?”
“How could the idea of making, the process, be part of it? What if we could see the magazine being made in real time?”
The two concepts – colloquially called “Crafted” and “the Grid” – approached the making element from different ways. Crafted embraced elements of the sketchbook, with handwritten pieces and a collage feel. The Grid makes the invisible structure of the page visible, with a nod to the idea of building the magazine, element by element.
“For my inspiration, I looked to the archives – old pictures of Brooks Hall, old architecture projects, and even bringing back elements from earlier iterations of the magazine,” said Caitlin Soboslay. “We really wanted to go back to the roots of the college,” added Sophia Milligan. “Especially since it was being sent out to alumni, we wanted to reflect that history.”
Seeing the range of ways in which the College of Design has presented itself over time gave the students and Fuller freedom to pursue something a little outside the NC State comfort zone. “Finding that balance of connecting to the university and being its own thing – the group spent a lot of time thinking about how to live within those guidelines but also make something that’s their own,” Fuller adds.
Ramirez, who has worked on other branding projects at NC State, noted how different this experience was. “It was fun to come to these meetings every week and say, ‘Ok, I know how to play it safe. So, how do we get weird with it?”
Ultimately, of the five students who concepted the new design, two students – Ramirez and Yang – continued the work full-time to produce the final magazine. Yang even brought her own handwriting into the issue for an authentic feel.
“We created a system that is fluid, and the photos and copy work within the system,” Ramirez says. “Now we have 32 pages to figure it out. Now it’s plugging and playing, with a lot of playing.”
This group of designers has built a strong foundation that makes continuing the design process in the years to come possible. What this group has created is the beginning of something that will continue to iterate, with different sets of challenges.
The magazine serves as a connector for the college in so many ways – showcasing the events happening, telling stories of current students and faculty, honoring alumni.
Designlife serves as a tool that supports the college in more ways than just as a snapshot in time – it encourages giving, fuels connection and connects with a myriad of audiences.
“Whatever discipline you’re in, the idea of process is so big. And I really hope the readers are able to see that we care about the process and that they feel seen and connected to NC State,” Milligan says. “This project reaffirmed to me that print design doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. And I think there’s a lot of power in that.”
This article first appeared in the spring 2025 issue of Designlife magazine. Explore other articles from this issue.
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