San Diego Magazine
What I Did
During my time at San Diego Magazine, I worked as a design intern across print layout and social, and led a redesign of the magazine’s Instagram presence. The previous social template forced every headline into a small black box with the logo on top of the photo, which made the images feel cramped and the titles hard to read. I created a new visual system for both posts and stories: cleaner templates, defined typography rules, and consistent grid logic that let photography breathe while keeping the brand’s voice. My redesign removed the boxed headlines, improved hierarchy, and gave each story room to lead. The magazine continues to use this system after my internship.
Social Media Redesign
grid construction
How I Did it
This system begins with a custom grid built for Instagram’s
1080 × 1350 portrait format. I mapped out the “safe zones” for type and key imagery based on how Instagram crops posts in different contexts. From that, I defined consistent margins, column structure, and headline zones so nothing critical gets
cut off when the post is re-surfaced or shared. The goal was to create a repeatable layout logic the team could use across content; keeping typography readable, preserving the photography, and maintaining brand consistency without manually redrawing guides each time.
Template Design
How it Works
Using that grid, I built a variety of reusable templates for San Diego Magazine’s social posts and stories, including opener slides, “what to know” slides, quote pulls, etc. The old system relied on a tight black box with the logo and headline crammed inside, which limited how the post could breathe. The new system keeps the magazine’s fonts, tone, and visual identity, but presents headlines more confidently and lets the photography lead. This improved scroll-stopping power, made posts easier to read and share, and gave the brand a more polished voice on social. The magazine adopted this system after my internship ended.
Final Outcome
Before
After
Online Promotional Content
With the creative director's guidance, I put together an ad system for San Diego Magazine’s New Year’s Eve promotion, delivering various layouts for hero headers, carousel spots, embedded web banners, etc.. The assets shared one visual identity so the campaign felt cohesive no matter where a reader saw it, and the messaging stayed legible even in tight horizontal formats. This made it easier for the magazine promote the offer across its site without relying on generic vendor ads.
Holiday Card 2024
I designed San Diego Magazine’s 2024 holiday card: a motion graphic built around a minimalist Christmas tree constructed entirely from punctuation marks. The marks animate like ornaments, creating a playful, editorial feel that fit the magazine’s voice while staying simple and typographic.
scripps stewardship report 2024
While at San Diego Magazine, I supported the Creative Director on the Scripps Stewardship Report, which is produced for Scripps Health and its donor community. I contributed page layouts and other visual refinements to ensure the report felt consistent, readable, and on-brand. This project was part of San Diego Magazine’s ongoing relationship with Scripps, one of its long-term clients in the local healthcare space.