The article I selected was "The King Becomes Her", a story about actress and former politician playing King Lear at age 82. The first steps were to create opening spread tests.

Alongside the opening spreads, we were tasked with finding suitable font combinations for our article. I chose to focus on fairy regal/formal choices to mirror the starkness of the Shakespearean world and reputation of the New York Times.

Having refined my choices (and electing to use an opening spread that focused on a simpler approach), I began to create tests of opening spreads.

These options were then narrowed down and refined, focusing on a less text-heavy approach.

The next steps were to create two separate toolkits of design choices and iconography to use as the spreads advanced into full articles. While color was an option, I chose to keep the article to a mostly monochrome scheme (save for a highlight) as to reflect the bleak imagery and stark subject matter. One toolkit focused on this highlight color and more graphic iconography, while the other remained monochrome and utilized "whiplash lines".

Ultimately, I chose to combine elements from both toolkits to use on the final spreads. (The graphic elements + the monochrome color scheme.) At this point, I was able to start refining layout of the spreads.

Upon critique, there were only minor elements left to address before the final spread. (Equal width of columns, removing line breaks, awkward headers, call-out conventions)

Typography was a generally enriching class, and I feel that I learned some core concepts of the more rigid side of design that I was not anticipating. Primarily, the layout and compositional elements, which were particularly useful and also somewhat unexpected. The focus on process was very helpful and will be utilized in the future.