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Marejada 2013

Marejada, the official literary and arts folio of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, will always have a space in my heart. During my college days in Ateneo, it's a project that i'm looking forward to be part of every year. It's a collection of artworks, both written and visual arts, such as poetry, prose, traditional and new medium. I did the cover and layouts for 2007 to 2009 and was featured also in 2010 cover and for 2013 I was asked to do the layout by my college colleague who is now their moderator. Of course, I was very excited to do the project again so I accepted it.

Every year, they have a certain theme, and for 2013 they chose "Tesoro" or "Treasure" of Zamboanga. They wanted it to be minimalist but with a taste of Zamboanga's culture and identity. I came up with a lot of cover proposals and luckily I came up with something they really liked. From there, I also created the dividers. They have to be cohesive but also unique. Here's the final cover design with my signature in it (by request).

About the Cover:

"The play on geometric lines blur the distinction between mountain range and ocean waves --the land and the sea, the coastal and the interior, the past and the present, the bold and the fading, the inspiration and the caution. Here is Zamboanga, a land of contrast."

Thank you Marion Guerrero for trusting me with this project and for writing the cover description so beautifully and perfectly. The colors were inspired by Vinta but more aged and nature-toned to give that earthy nostalgic feel. The geometric shapes are influenced by my love of the mountain ranges because of my recent affinity with running at Zamboanga's high terrains. If you can spot them, you can see a lake/river which is the natural water reservoir in Pasonanca Natural Park, one of Philippine's remaining natural virgin forests.

Here are the dividers which serves as section covers for the different contents. Click for gallery view!

The first divider is the on the first leaf before the Introduction page. It's inspired by basic brush strokes, lines and dots or splatters which are the foundation of artworks. The rest of the pages also have these painterly look. The second divider is for "Poetry". I was inspired by the night sky over the mountain ranges of Zamboanga filled with stars and indigo clouds. The sky is one of the great inspirations of poets and artists because of its great expanse and ever-changing textures, colors and metaphors.

For Traditional art divider, I chose a flowing texture with the beautiful cascading falls of Merloquet peeking through the painterly wash. Its curtain-like grandeur attracted the eyes of international media, truly one of Zamboanga's natural treasures. The falls symbolize an artists flow of creativity, his process of pouring out his heart and soul in an art piece. For Digital art divider, I still chose water as the symbol. The geometric lines which is also seen in the cover now represents the waves of the sea. Marejada means 'wave's in Chabacano, by the way. The colorful sails are called Vinta of the Badjaos which is seen in the annual race called Regatta in RT Lim Boulevard. It's a symbol of Zamboanga and her diverse culture.

Photography has now it's own section since its a very accessible medium and shows us the reality which other forms of art lack. The circular brush strokes represents the lens or the eye of a camera which captures light. I superimposed a reflection of the inside a well situated at the center of Fort Pilar. It has the beautiful texture of old age bricks which symbolize our Spanish heritage. It is also a symbol of hope because it's also a wishing well where people toss coins for a wish. As Zamboangueños, we always hope for a better Zamboanga and peaceful Mindanao. Photography can be medium to show us the realities around us.

And lastly, for Prose or Short Fiction divider, I used the natural beauty of Zamboanga. It features the Tree House and butterflies of Pasonanca Park. If you can see it, there is cocoon of a butterfly which symbolizes metamorphosis or transformation. Writers tell stories so that its readers will have a change of purge of emotions or catharsis. Sometimes stories can also change a nation like the literary prowess of Jose Rizal. The tree symbolize growth, it branches up to the sky like our dreams and aspirations but what we don't see are the roots growing downwards, holding on to the ground. Like trees we should not let go our roots, our origins, our identity, which is Zamboanga.

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Thanks again to Beacon Magazine for this opportunity and congratulations for this awesome body of work! Looking forward for this year's Marejada!

2009 beacon newsmagazine cover Digital Art graphic design layout marejada photomanipulation

Marejada 09: The cover that didn't make it

10:35 PM

Look what i found in my archive of works. It is the initial concept cover for Marejada 2009. Marejada is the literary folio of Ateneo de Zamboanga University under its official publicaiton, Beacon Newsmagazine. It is a collection of peoms, short stories, and artworks revolving on a certain theme such as "Memories", "7 Deadly Sins" or "Back to Basics". For 2009, the theme was "?" which was really unique. This was my last third and last time to be the creative director and layout artist for marejada. For the cover, we want to incorporate a sense of wonder, curiosity and imagination with the design. We had a photoshoot with three models that was used as digital art for the dividers. This particular photo gave me an idea for the cover. I really wanted to use cool and dark colors that reminds us of space or the deep blue ocean. As you can see the girl doesn't have an eye which i intended to give it a surreal feel. It also symbolizes our blindness about the truth, thus, sparking curiosity which leads to discovery. She is holding a light bulb which is a typical symbol for an idea or knowledge. We intentionally excluded the name of the book "Marejada" in the front cover to add more curiosity. Instead, we just used "M" that blends with the smoke.

However, there was an issue raised about this design. Accordingly, it is to feministic and they don't want a person to represent Marejada. I still want to stick with the "M" with the smokes and the color scheme so i just made few revisions. I replaced the photo of the girl with objects and symbols randomly floating in space inspired by surreal artist Salvador Dali's painting "The Persistence of Memory." We are all happy with the final design and it was aleready approved for printing. We are really pushing the boundaries for this folio since it is the last year for most of the staff. Instead of the usual glossy paper and matte cover, we had it printed in book paper but in hard bound matte cover. It is was the most ambitious and complicated folio we ever made in Beacon. Aside from the vague cover, we also deviated on how we arranged the contents. Usually, it is divided into three groups: poems, short stories, artworks. We also also want to give a story by using the order of the entries. We grouped them into four categories: Wonder, Confusion, Dream and Inspiration. It was well-conceptualized and all our creative plans were realized. Thanks to our ever-supportive and genius EIC, Ate Maimai, our collaborators, the writers and artists who contributed their masterpieces published in this folio. I really miss doing stuff like this and i won't ever forget my beacon years :') Here's the final covers together with the spine.

ateneo de zamboanga university beacon newsmagazine desktop publishing graphic design layout

Beacon Newsmagazine

9:05 PM

Oh, how i miss my college life :D One of the highlights of my stay in ADZU is being part of the official school publication, Beacon Newsmagazine, for three years. I started as an assistant layout artist. I haven't done so much during my first year coz the creative director does all the job.hehe. There are only 3 activities that i attended during my first year in Beacon: the first staff meeting (orientation/getting to know); the team building overnight; and the christmas party. It was the last year of our creative director and I was the only one next in line to be the layout artist. During the end of the school year, I had my first real task in Beacon, which is to design the posters for the upcoming Marejada, the literary folio of Beacon.

Ate MR was the EIC of Marejada and she was the one who suggest and approves my poster designs. I was still a noob in Photoshop and i have to rely on tutorials to create some effect i want to make. The theme of the literary folio for that year was "7 Deadly Sins". Before the presswork, I met kuya Flix, the former layout artist/creative director of Beacon. We became close friends and he helped me in making the layout. With much revisions and editing we finally finished the folio and we came up with this:

And that's how i spent my first year in Beacon. During the second year, i made it to the editorial board and became the Creative director with Ate MR as our EIC. It won't be hard for me anymore since i already experienced working with her before. At first, we really find it hard to layout because of our slow computer. I used to do press works alone at the animation lab. Here's the first magazine that i finished all by myself.

I still used the old look of Beacon which kuya Flix designed. You can read the whole magazine by clicking on the images. We also had special issues every year in a form of newspaper or 4-6 page magazine. It's usually about the Sanggu Elections, or the achievements of ADU. Here are the two special issues:

For my second big issue, we decided to change the size of the magazine from it's "k-zone" size to a full "time magazine" size, and the publisher who tricked us. The previous contact person who we thought was the owner of the publication was just a middle man. We also got a new and better computer so the office became useful again. We do the press works at the office late at night which are really fun. The EIC, some editor and I stay late to do the layout. My most favorite part is the food! I can have whatever dinner i want. Usually, its the Chowking Laureat. :D hehe. Anyways, going back to the next issue, here is bigger and better newsmag.

And for the last issue, we did more changes. We used an illustration for the cover and we added more colors and fun into it. Here's my last issue for that year.

My last job was to layout Marejada with ate Jilly as EIC and ate Raisa as Assoc Editor. The theme was "Memories" and we had a photo shoot at an old house in the city. 'Twas a nice literary folio full of vintage images and nostalgic poetry and stories. You can see a clock animate if you flip the edge of the book. :D

For my third year, i was still the creative director/layout artist and Ate Jilly as EIC and Ate Raisa as Assoc Editor. We had more graphic artists, photographers and cartoonists. For that year, i decided to change the entire feel and look of the newsmag to make it edgier, graphic and trendy. My favorite issue was the October issue. I made a digital art for the cover about culture, music and arts. That issue was dedicated for the Fiesta Pilar and the arts. Here are the issues for that year.

Unfortunately, i had to leave beacon coz i ran for a position in the student government. It's in the rules that a beacon member should not also be a member of Salt, Sacsi or the student government, SMADZU (now El Consejo Atenista). I ran for Governor of our college academic organization (CSITAO). Good thing, i was allowed to do my last job for beacon which is again to be the creative director / layout artist of Marejada.

This is my third consecutive year in Marejada as the creative director with Ate Raisa as EIC. The theme was "?". I designed the cover inspired by surrealism. It was the best folio published hard-bound. It was our masterpiece and final work since Ate Jilly and Ate Raisa are also leaving beacon. Here's the cover:

It was the final golden days of Beacon. The next year the office just plummeted. Weak leadership, weak foundations, disorganized, and a lot of issues are coming out against the office. If my count was right, they only published 2 issues for the whole year. Accordingly, the budget was reduced by the president himself that's why they cannot publish as much issues unlike before. But for me money should not hinder them to produce an output. They can always go to less expensive publications and invest more on what they write and the substance of the articles.

Anyways, good luck to the next batches of the Beacon Newsmagazine. For me it was a nice experience to be a part of Beacon. It is here that i developed my skills in layout and design. Beacon published my works and many noticed it. Thanks to all the people whom i had the pleasure of collaborating and working with. I will never forget the memories and experiences. :D