The full, final spread.
Using an article from Psychology Today, "The Cosmic Improviser", I designed this editorial spread. The article discusses Stephon Alexander, a jazz saxophonist and astrophysicist, and his ideas on the importance of diversity in academia, especially scientific fields. Drawing inspiration from his ideas and the golden age of jazz records as well as my own musical background, I created a structured, yet playful editorial spread which combined these themes.
Early sketching
I felt like the title was pretty evocative of a lot of movement, so I experimented in ways to present this title in a couple different ways. I wanted the final spreads to be colorful, full of dynamic movement, and somewhat retro, inspired by album covers from jazz history and midcentury modern styles. Though I was creating this digitally, I wanted to have a lot of texture at play here.
First cover spread iteration
The first iteration of this cover spread included this jazzy fellow, abstracted and flattened to give a sort of cut-paper feel. I drew inspiration from jazz albums and posters for the type. This still was lacking something, the type and image felt disconnected.
A simplified approach.
Next, I tried a very image-focused spread, moving away from the trumpet player. I chose the French horn because I liked the circular motion the image made and I thought it could carry the reader’s eye around the page very nicely.
But this was also kind of bland. It needs a little je ne sais quois.
Layers! Layers! Layers!
For this iteration, I wanted to bring back the central idea of the article, which was about the need for diversity of perspectives in scientific fields. Borrowing some notes from a friend majoring in physics, I scanned and overlayed them over the French horn graphic, plus added a lot of textures to hearken back to the jazz influences I started with.
The final spread after some color and texture tweaking.
To counter the colorful imagery I chose simple, classic typography for an additional scientific feel.
