Polyphony Magazine Redesign

Overview

Polyphony is a university newsletter that highlights faculty, student, and program stories for W&L’s music department. I led a redesign of the publication to modernize its appearance and improve readability while maintaining alignment with the university’s visual identity.

Challenge

Previous issues relied heavily on long blocks of text and inconsistent layout structures, making it difficult for readers to quickly scan stories or identify key information. The publication also lacked a clear typographic hierarchy and consistent use of imagery.

Approach

I began by reviewing past issues to identify structural and visual challenges. From there, I developed a flexible grid system and refined the typographic hierarchy to support both long-form stories and shorter feature content. Page templates were created to ensure consistency across recurring sections while still allowing flexibility for editorial needs.

Solution

The redesign introduced a cleaner grid, improved spacing, and a stronger visual hierarchy. Headlines, subheads, and pull quotes were given clearer roles to help guide readers through articles. Imagery was integrated more intentionally to support storytelling, and reusable templates were developed to streamline production of future issues.

Impact

The updated design created a more contemporary and approachable publication that made stories easier to read and navigate. The new templates also improved production efficiency and ensured visual consistency across issues.