Calliope Art & Literary Magazine
Project
Role
Design editor in chief ‘25, formerly designer
Brief
Art direction, Promotional materials, Page layouts for printed book
Launching the Call for Submissions
As Design Editor in Chief of Calliope, I led the creation of promotional materials to encourage student art submissions, which would later be selected for the book.
Initial flyer by Literary team
My flyer design for Art submissions
Flyer Design
for Submissions
Promotional materials were designed to be consistent with existing flyers used by the Literary team.
I referenced the panels of painted art, but staggered them to create more movement and direct the eye to the headline.
I moved away from the fully centered layout for a more dynamic composition.
Additionally, I paired a complementing sans serif with an elegant serif similar to the original design.
Quarter Flyer
IG post 1080x1080 px
Flyer and Instagram Post
A design challenge with the quarter flyers was their small size, so I rearranged the layout to make room for larger text and a QR code.
I added more staggered panels of art in varying orientations, which mirrored up-and-down and side-to-side scrolling motions. The additional color also helped it pop more in crowded social media feeds.
Changing directions
Embracing Bright, Bold,
& Attention-grabbing
I made the decision to transition to vibrant, eye-catching designs to better capture attention and boost submission numbers.
Quarter flyer, 4 color variations
Flyer 8.5x11’
Flyers, Digital Screen Ad, and Instagram Story
TV Screen 2400x1632 px
IG Story 1080x1920 px,
2 color variations
Challenges
Solution
I had concerns that the original flyer was discouraging submissions that didn’t fit a particular tone, and we needed to ensure it felt welcoming to a diverse range of submissions.
Additionally, we were hoping to increase the number of literary submissions.
The theme for the book wasn’t decided until later, based on submissions received, which gave room for variation in promotion design styles.
A team member commented on a separate design I had made for my school’s Associated Students group, saying, “I like how it’s bold and stands out from the other flyers”— many of which had white backgrounds due to limited resources for high-quality color printing.
This inspired me to change direction to a brighter, more eye-catching design, considering the context it’d exist in, ie: an overcrowded school bulletin board.
I designed new, bolder combined Art and Writing submission promotion to advertise the final extended deadline.
Flyer 8.5x11’
Flyer variations
This flyer was adapted from a Text-only poster series I created. Creative repetition and descending thickness form a patterned gradient effect, gradually lightening as the eye moves down, leading to the submission's QR code.
Using students' art in promotions required special permission, so I opted for a different approach of incorporating art: a crudely drawn stick figure made from denim stitches. Playful and wholly unintimidating.
Flyer 8.5x11’
IG Story 1080x1920 px
Flyer variation, Instagram Story
Process: Handwriting Versions
I went through several versions of handwriting to strike the perfect balance of friendly and scrappy — adjusting thickness, spacing, size, and angles of individual letters, and positioning with off-baselines to avoid looking too 'neat.'
Making so many small manual adjustments was tedious, but fun!
I liked the appearance of the slogan being marked with messy handwriting — added to the bold "We Want You" type, courtesy of my laptop’s trackpad and Adobe Illustrator’s chalk-texture brushes.
Referencing Iconic American Slogans
The idea came from a team member, who designed a flyer incorporating imagery from Rosie the Riveter’s “We Can Do It.”
It gave me inspiration to adapt the infamous WW1 Uncle Sam “I Want You (for the U.S. army)” catchphrase.
A tongue-in-cheek approach, keeping the student audience in mind.
A moment for a double take and an invitation to look closer.
Quarter flyer,
4 versions
Flyer 11x17’
4 New flyer variations and Early Art flyer
Flyer variations to promote Art and Literary submissions
Early flyer to promote Art submissions
Fun Fact!
All new designs use the same typeface as the original flyer’s accent sans serif —‘Cresta’.
With adjustments to letter spacing and heavier weights, it has a completely different effect.
A fun reminder in just how versatile typography can be with different treatment.
Reviving Calliope
Art submissions reached 200+ — an all-time record high. Double the magazine’s average and seven times higher than the previous year when Calliope restarted after COVID.
Literary submissions also quadrupled from the 2023–2024 edition.
Design Editor ‘23–24
Book Layout for ‘23–24 edition
I had the opportunity to design the foundational template layout selected for the past year’s edition, Calliope’s 2024 issue.
Challenges
Solution
It was the first year relaunching the project after COVID. A smooth transition to the new team wasn’t feasible, so we were all learning the ins and outs of Calliope as we went along.
To boost submissions, the deadline was extended, giving the team just a single weekend to design layouts for the entire book.
Additionally, we had to incorporate significant last-minute change requests from the Literary team.
It proved to be a valuable lesson in communication, adaptability, and working under a tight deadline.
The previous Design Editor in Chief had to navigate learning all the processes from scratch in less-than-ideal circumstances. Despite the difficulties, I learned a great deal from how she directed the team, delegated responsibilities, and intentionally stepped back to give us creative freedom.
I’m drawing from the experience to introduce new timelines, promotional strategies, layout drafting processes, and early communication with our partnering Literary teams in my role as Design Editor in Chief for the ‘24–25 edition.