Editorial Design, 2025
Affinity Publisher 2, Procreate
Affinity Publisher 2, Procreate
For this design, the brief was:
Issue Theme:
Candlelight’s focus on grief, remembrance, and compassion—this piece confronts the complexity of unresolved relationships while honoring the difficulty and tenderness of acceptance.
Design Goals:
Create a gentle, reflective visual identity that acknowledges the pain of complicated grief while offering space for healing.
Balance soft, contemplative imagery with structured design elements that guide the reader through a heavy but important subject.
Ensure the layout feels calm, compassionate, and non-judgmental, avoiding anything too harsh or sentimental.
I handcrafted assets, completely drawn by me, using Procreate; I started with the idea that I didn’t want to lean too sentimental with the visuals, but rather more poetic and rely on color to establish an empathetic tone. I used simpler, line based drawings so as to remain figurative and less literal in the overall visual concept. I use my own handwriting for both the title and the article body subtitles, in addition to the pull quotes. The organic nature of this spread against the cool and pastel toned color story does well to communicate the delicacy with which we handle grief.