Sights, sounds of summer

When her house at 421 Kiefaber St. shook, Alyssa Wagner Torres ’09 had an immediate explanation: demonic possession.

How could we not illustrate such a story with an evil bed ready to shake her out or swallow her up?

While there’s a lot from the pandemic we’d rather throw in the trash bin of history, at UD Magazine we learned a thing or two about creating an engaging, interactive digital edition we hope to carry into the future.

Much of if it is packed into the Summer 2021 issue. In the My Old House story mentioned above, the illustrator gave us a shaking animated gif instead of his traditional steady illustration. Art Director Dani Johnson conceived a cover where the reader could see lots of smiling student faces — with more inside, and even more online. We picked people to highlight in our “Now Read-See-Hear This” feature who had amazing audio and visuals to share. (If you haven’t already, check out the cinematography of Logan Lambert ’17 — breathtaking!)

We turned our opening photo — what we refer to as the “Big Picture” — into an aerial video of campus with a click from the reader. We provided even more photos of student artwork by adding a slideshow to “Water Way.”

And we included some of the things we’ve always done well, including links for more information and online-only stories, including a deeper dive into the wooden bicycle business of Jay Kinsinger ’92.

Personally, I love the colorful, lively illustrations that highlight the “Read-See-Hear” feature. We hired the talented illustrator Martin Tongola, who offered a delicate, flapping hummingbird, popcorn-eating movie-goer and levitating music fan. We also used his illustrations to draw attention to the stories we re-posted online. This feature is among the stories we also re-published on the UD Magazine website, allowing access to even more readers. (We love to hear from grandparents who appreciate the stories we’ve written about their fabulous grandkids.) 

For those of you who prefer magazines in print, we hear you. I’m among those who would rather leaf through a paper copy while lying in a hammock than look at another glowing screen. But even this skeptic has found that digital storytelling can connect engage, entertain and educate me in ways print just can’t.

We hope you enjoy the summer issue as the season winds down, and we’ll see you again in print — and online — in October with the Autumn 2021 University of Dayton Magazine.