Washington Square News:
Special Issues
Release2009-2013
Circulation
Print: 60k around NYC
Web: 87k monthly average
Web: 87k monthly average
Roles
Special Issues Editor
Creative Director
Special Issues Editor
Creative Director
New York University’s student newspaper takes a deeper dive into life as young New Yorkers with special monthly print issues and online magazine Brownstone.
Over four years, I oversaw the production of 25+ issues.
Project While producing the daily editions of Washington Square News, I began to see the limits of an everyday newsroom. The constant grind left little space — for readers or producers — to go beyond the headlines. We were always chasing what happened, rather than why it mattered.
To address this gap, I created a new vertical within the newsroom: a Special Issues unit dedicated to offering readers context, published as a monthly magazine.
As Editor and Creative Director, I set the editorial direction for every issue: selecting themes, curating the mix of stories, working with different editors, writers, designers to hone voice and visual direction. Occasionally, I contributed my own reporting.
Every issue examined cultural moments tied to life in New York. Some coincided with national events, such as the election, FRINGE for New York Fashion Week, or a 10-year tribute to 9/11. Others were anchored in milestones critical to a student’s academic journey, including Housing Guide for the university lottery or Adventures Issue for Fall Break. Every edition blended longform and shortform storytelling. We took editorial risks — spotlighting topics and voices rarely seen in our traditional daily paper.
As the Creative Director, I reflected this editorial shift in my design. Moving away from the text-heavy aesthetic of the “daily newspaper,” I developed a bolder, more visual idenity: text-light covers, generous white space and full-page spreads that allowed ideas to breathe. I designed infographics and commissioned artists to produce illustrations and photo essays, expanding how we told stories.
As a student-run publication, our budgets were extremely modest, which required creativity as much as craft. For our Influential Students shoots, we transformed the newsroom itself — unscrewing office tables to build a makeshift platform, only spending $20 on white construction paper to create a seamless backdrop. For FRINGE, we sought out partnerships with local design houses, building fashion stories through collaboration.
Project While producing the daily editions of Washington Square News, I began to see the limits of an everyday newsroom. The constant grind left little space — for readers or producers — to go beyond the headlines. We were always chasing what happened, rather than why it mattered.
To address this gap, I created a new vertical within the newsroom: a Special Issues unit dedicated to offering readers context, published as a monthly magazine.
As Editor and Creative Director, I set the editorial direction for every issue: selecting themes, curating the mix of stories, working with different editors, writers, designers to hone voice and visual direction. Occasionally, I contributed my own reporting.
Every issue examined cultural moments tied to life in New York. Some coincided with national events, such as the election, FRINGE for New York Fashion Week, or a 10-year tribute to 9/11. Others were anchored in milestones critical to a student’s academic journey, including Housing Guide for the university lottery or Adventures Issue for Fall Break. Every edition blended longform and shortform storytelling. We took editorial risks — spotlighting topics and voices rarely seen in our traditional daily paper.
As the Creative Director, I reflected this editorial shift in my design. Moving away from the text-heavy aesthetic of the “daily newspaper,” I developed a bolder, more visual idenity: text-light covers, generous white space and full-page spreads that allowed ideas to breathe. I designed infographics and commissioned artists to produce illustrations and photo essays, expanding how we told stories.
As a student-run publication, our budgets were extremely modest, which required creativity as much as craft. For our Influential Students shoots, we transformed the newsroom itself — unscrewing office tables to build a makeshift platform, only spending $20 on white construction paper to create a seamless backdrop. For FRINGE, we sought out partnerships with local design houses, building fashion stories through collaboration.
Highlights