The Era of 2009

Sooner 2009

August 2008-May 2009

400-page yearbook

Design editor

As design editor for the Sooner 2009 yearbook, I was able to continue refining my leadership and design skills. This role was probably the hardest and most challenging one I’ve had so far. It involved managing a fluctuating staff of about 7-9 designers, from teaching them the basics in staff training, to coaching them on each spread. We had monthly deadlines for the book that we were required to meet, as well as weekly deadlines that I set up internally. I ran weekly meetings with my staff to assign projects and I attended weekly editors’ meetings and art meetings.

Because of the nature of design and its relationship with the other aspects of a publication (writing and photography), my staff and I very often had to pull things together within a matter of days. Photos fall through and stories have to be rewritten and design strings it all together. At first I struggled trying to juggle this stressful job with school (because, of course, this came at a time when I was finally knee-deep in my upper level advertising courses) and other commitments. But as life went on, I came to enjoy the adrenaline rush of finishing a spread 10 minutes before deadline and I learned how to prioritize between school and Sooner. My patience was tested every day, both with people and inanimate objects like the printer and my computer. And I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences for anything. I built relationships that will last past college as my fellow editors and I worked late nights and early mornings to put together a book we are so extremely proud of. I became a better leader as I found that other people must also learn from their mistakes, instead of watching me do everything for them. I observed a designer that I very much respect and through him I learned how small things like broken-up words and the stroke of a line affect readability and legibility. At the end of it all, we produced an award-winning publication that I will have sitting on my coffee table for years.

Note: On this spread, the white rectangle in the upper left corner is supposed to be a column of dots (same as the ones seen in the other spreads). For some reason, when this particular spread is exported, the dots do not transfer.