Research & Discovery

We kicked off with discovery conversations across Marketing & Communications, Advancement, and past contributors to clarify what the publication needed to be. The direction came into focus quickly: an alumni magazine, an annual institutional report, and a brand-building tool, all in one issue.

With that framework set, we reviewed the story list, refined the narrative arc, and built a structure that paired feature storytelling with concise updates and highlights. Writing progressed in three batches to overlap the writing, review and design stages for maximum efficiency against a tight deadline.

Establishing a Clear Structure Across 70+ Pages

To keep a 70+ page issue cohesive and easy to move through, we built a section-based framework that organized content around Lander’s core communities: the university, students, faculty, athletics, and alumni. That structure gave each story a clear “home” while creating natural transitions across the issue.

Within that framework, we paced the magazine intentionally—anchoring each section with feature storytelling, then giving readers breathing room through shorter pieces, quick updates, and image-forward spreads. The result is a layout that reads with momentum and invites readers to keep going.

We built the magazine around a consistent editorial system, grid, typography, and navigation, so the issue reads as one cohesive publication across 70+ pages. Within that structure, we gave feature stories and featurettes room to behave like true editorial moments: each one could adopt its own visual language (data, illustration, photography, pacing) in service of the content, without ever feeling disconnected from the pages around it.

Design principles we applied across the issue:

• A strong backbone: consistent grid, brand typography, and recurring components for clarity and cohesion

• Designed-to-fit features: story-specific art direction and layouts that match the subject and tone
  

• Cohesion across variety: features feel distinct, but never incongruous with the overall system

• Pacing by design: alternating feature anchors with lighter, image-forward interludes

• Templates that scale: repeatable formats for short pieces, profiles, and section openers

Lander’s end-of-year magazine connects alumni, students, and faculty through a shared snapshot of campus life. For this issue, we shaped the year’s most important stories—campus growth, academic investment, student achievement, into human, editorial-style narratives.

We worked closely with the Lander team to refine copy, finalize edits, and stay on schedule. The finished magazine delivered a level of design the university had long wanted, and the response reflected it: President Richard Cosentino and teams across campus were thrilled.

Just as important, the issue established a flexible template for future editions: consistent, but not static, and built to evolve year after year.