Against the Grain (2023)
Roles
Art Direction; Publication Design; Typography; Photography; Production; Design Research; Content Strategy
Production
Dimensions: 29.5” x 23.5”
Paper: 55gsm Improved Newsprint
About
“Against the Grain” is a full-size newsprint zine highlighting local Austin skateboarder Jamie Sedo. In the publication, we discuss her experiences, trials, and tribulations as a transgender woman in a stereotypically cis-dominated culture. The zine also serves as an educational piece for skateboarders lacking knowledge or comfort in approaching and addressing LGBTQ+ people, issues, and discussions. The content layers collaged photos and typographic information to express Jamie's personality on and off the board.
The creative brief for this project was titled “Inflection Points,” an open-ended prompt that could be interpreted literally as points in a journey or shifts in culture, or metaphorically as a call to action or reflection among readers. Always looking to blend my school projects and personal work, my initial thought was, how can I do something more for skateboarding rather than just shoot and post photos on social media?
As a cis-white man myself, I questioned my own activism for the diverse people in my community that I capture on a daily basis and how I represent and advocate for them through my work and outlets. I also realized underlying issues around representation, acceptance, and simply respect for human beings of all backgrounds in our community and others worldwide.
My hopeful solution with this project is to open the eyes and channel of communication inside the majority of our community about their actions and opinions that could contribute to the cultural barriers that keep us from moving forward.
Inside The Paper
Design Process
I wanted to use the large spread format to create seamless layouts that still contained a grid system and contrasting hierarchy among the intensity of the image style. Filtering my photos with a half-tone pattern on a transparent background allowed them to blend into the page during printing, creating a balance between the untextured and structured columns of type.
From my experience making “Memories To Pass The Time,” the middle spread of the newspaper would be the only continuously printed page, so I placed a full-spread vertical skate photograph to serve as a poster.
I chose contrasting serif and sans serif typefaces with similar x-heights to give myself versatility in options while sticking to classic newspaper typography style. I could even reach to say the type choices conceptually contribute to the themes of opposing and changing styles and forms that appear in the project.
Skate Photos
Portraits
