Trapped by Distance*
This piece ran in print and online, alongside an Exponent story about the mental-health effects of having one's term conducted entirely online.
Halfway through the Fall 2020 semester (the first after the pandemic arose), many students were calling for some reprieve from the University as their Zoom-only schedules starting taking a toll on their psyche.
I attempted to represent the struggle and desperation the Purdue community was feeling, seemingly as a collective.
This piece won Second Place, Best Illustration in the Indiana Collegiate Press Association's 2021 Awards.
How does one make friends in a time where isolation is encouraged? Some Purdue students (and one from IU) decided the best way to do so was through an app they developed. This graphic was meant to show the app's goal of breaking the screen barrier between being alone and finding genuine connections.
Attempts to make syringe exchange programs much more accessible and prevalent in the state had made it to the Indiana House of Representatives in January 2020. This icon-graphic ran in print alongside a story about the bill, Gateway to Hope, and its presence in Tippecanoe County.
Following such a historic election in 2020 was exhausting, and Purdue was aware of that. During the days prior to Election Day, the University hosted several counseling session to give students a space to release some stress. This piece was meant to show the overwhelming irritants one might hear and feel from either side of the political spectrum.
My goal with the piece was to add an extra layer of depth to the image by adding interlaced type while at the same time not interrupting the action of the shot. Though I did not take the photo used here, I did edit it in Lightroom.
My goal with the piece was to manipulate the type of the provided headline so that its meaning was represented quasi-literally while creating a parallel to the stretched out action of the photo. Though I did not take the photo used here, I did edit it in Lightroom.
The Dumpster Fire Year
Sometimes the hardest task in newsroom is finding a striking visual to put at the top of the front page that will entice readers to pick up the paper. For the final printed Exponent 2020, I was asked to design such a visual as we did not have particularly strong photos lined up (which are what usually take up the main-image spot). The theme of the edition was saying good riddance to the year.
The week I made this, there was a literal dumpster fire outside of one of Purdue dorms and a staff photographer got a shot of firefighters putting it out.
I saw an opportunity and ran with it. A perfect metaphor.
Purdue Pete begging the readers to back off from the disaster, the fire (it was just smoke when the photographer arrived), and the spray-painted message are all super-imposed.
A bill regarding gun violence had been presented to Indiana's House of Representatives early 2020. An Exponent story regarding the eventual failure of this bill was published in February of that year. The article also looked into the effects on minors when they have relatively easy access to firearms.
An app that was designed originally to track the symptoms and well-being for students in quarantine was rolled out to the general Purdue campus in January 2021. This piece was an exercise in representing the human form (one of the areas I struggle in) while also telling readers what the app does in a concise manner.
The 2021 NCAA tournament took place in just one state, Indiana, in hopes of mitigating possible COVID-19 exposures. Another precaution the organization took was placing all players in a "controlled environment," colloquially known as "the bubble," any time they were not on the court.
Every year, Purdue University releases the salaries of all its non-student employees, and The Exponent publishes that entire document in its Salary Guide edition. I replaced Hovde Hall’s pillars with dollar bills to symbolize the money supporting the high-ranking administrative officials that work in the building (some of the most popular people to check out in the Guide).
The 2020 Census was delayed a few times and the question of when the state would be receiving new representative districts started to arise. The piece serves two purposes besides enticing readers to click: illustrating what districts are and showing an interesting side fact not integral to the narrative of the article — a street in West Lafayette runs along, at least in part, a district line.
A Disconnected Campus*
Upon arriving to campus in Fall 2020 (the first since the pandemic arose), Purdue's technology services were apparently not prepared well enough for the influx in students working online.
For about a week, Information Technology at Purdue reported WiFi outages, Brightspace access failures, and Zoom connectivity issues.
I crafted this graphic to published in print and online for The Exponent, alongside a story detailing all of these issues (and why they occurred).
This piece won Third Place, Best Illustration in the Indiana Collegiate Press Association's 2021 Awards.