Sprung Formal is an award-winning literary and visual arts journal produced annually by students and faculty at the Kansas City Art Institute. Through an evolving annual theme, premium print production, and the launch of a new website, the publication has been elevated beyond a student project to a formally recognized professional arts journal. For Issue 21, we focused on the concept of grunge. Moving away from traditional, polished illustrations, the design utilized ink bleeds, heavy textures, and shifting compositions to capture the raw, human experience of making something you love and sharing it with others.

As Editorial Manager, the role centered on directing the technical assembly and end-to-end production workflow. This included building out the master page architecture, pairing textures, proofing content for print-readiness, and finalizing the physical volume at Alpine-Litho Graphics.

Designed in Collaboration with Lauren Baker, Joia Carter, Miguel Corpus, Abbey Dorrance, Emma Hicks, Jaquez Jackson, Everett Matteson, Gabriella Rackers, Madison Sanfilippo, Paige Snyder, Melissa Valenzuela

Advised by Denisse Beltran & Jordan Stempleman