Swamp Rag Newspaper
SWFL Underground Arts & Culture
The Swamp Rag is Love your Rebellion’s newspaper made by artists, musicians, and writers. Its mission is to connect its readers to Southwest Florida’s vibrant subculture, support print media, and get off the internet. The rag is distributed by local businesses and sponsors, totally free to take.
I directed the art style for the pioneer issue, creating all graphics, illustrations and typography layouts within. The design of following issues are collaborations with several local designers, including myself.
When we set out to create a DIY newspaper, the first thing the team did was take inspiration from old publications. We loved the look and feel of vintage tabloids and newspapers, with perhaps a modern punk twist. With this in mind, I paired an imposing sans serif and a lovey yet crummy old serif as a homage to the classic print newspaper.
With assistance from Michelle Caraway, LYR’s Creative Director, we created the initial broadsheet template. She created a word count for each pre-planned section to provide our contributors with a helpful guide. I designed and rearranged this template accordingly for the first issue.
Every piece of every issue is a contribution from someone in the community, serving as a wonderful means of expression to connect people. If you can’t tell, I just LOVE this project.
With each issue the goal is to feature two articles, an opinion piece, reviews, event highlights, local advertisements, an astrology section, an advice column, and much more.