When we were shooting the cover for this edition of The Varsity Magazine, one of our central preoccupations was getting just the right “swoosh” of the fabric. Our incredibly cooperative model, Brianne (pg. 35), did jump after jump as we threw fabric around her, working to get the perfect shot.
Separately, our illustrations editor, Julian, put out a call for student art. Our photoshoot coincided with a design meeting in which we perused what we received — Myealah’s piece (back cover) stood out instantly as in clear conversation with our cover shot, and a beautiful back page.
Another piece that came in, from Brianne (pg. 39), also happened to echo the breezy, flowing movement of the cover. We didn’t provide a prompt for the artists — the clear discourse amongst the pieces was a matter of happenstance.
The inspiration behind our cover was the idea of expression as organic — people express and create out of something within them that compels them to put that out in the world. In designing this magazine, we tried to both let the work of our writers and visual artists breathe, but also express our design process by injecting our own perspectives into the magazine. We left spaces to celebrate the expression of design, and the movement behind it — the first drafts and small choices that frame our content and reveal ourselves.
— Mari Zhou & Kawmadie Karunanayake
Design Editors 2014–2015