Fall 2023 / Spring 2024
“Floodlight” is a behind the scenes perspective of professional sports that enlightens readers about how mental health can impact athletes and the burdens they can carry regarding to it.
The objective of this project was to develop and design a sports magazine around the topic of mental health in professional sports. I wanted to express the complexity of the mental health issues different athletes can experience and how the media can respond to it. I used free-play elements like letter stickers and typographic experimentations to showcase this issue.
Developing a System
I developed a grid for a 17" x 11" magazine spread, with 6 columns and 5 rows. I used the golden ratio to help create proportional alignment for the content of my articles. I added this information to a visual system for this magazine.
Process & Exploration (Spreads)
For my magazine spreads I wanted to highlight different athletes' struggles with mental health and the positive and negative responses they can receive.
For example, Michael Phelp's article focused on his journey with his personal mental health and how it impacted him as an athlete along with his advocacy for reducing the stigma around mental health issues, specifically in professional sports. I wanted to highlight the words "Anxiety" and "Depression" in addition to represent him overcoming these challenges, which I did through scanning physical distressed letter stickers.
Process & Exploration (Cover)
I used layering and physically shredded printed images and type to represent what professional athletes can go through "behind the scenes" and communicate the theme I developed. I refined the scans and experimented with color and halftone effects and textures to create my cover.
Final Cover
Full Publication
