DYLAN  
ABRAHAM


Detroit based communication 
designer, visual storyteller, and friend.


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07_THE HUMAN SPECTACLE_NEWSPAPER
Dylan Abraham + Zander Connally






Role:
Ideation
Typography
Grid Structure
Asset Design
Overview:
THE HUMAN SPECTACLE is a conceptual newspaper based on The Human Spectacle episode from the “This American Life” podcast, featuring three stories centered on the theme of being watched. The goal of this collaborative project was to translate the unsettling, voyeuristic tone of the podcast into a visual and editorial experience.



Process:
The newspaper’s structure drew heavy inspiration from Japanese magazines and newspapers, as the first and primary act of the podcast focuses on a Japanese game show. To capture the narrow and vertical style of Japanese publications, a grid system containing seven columns per page was implemented. The content design process began with the masthead, which featured the title of the newspaper in both English and Japanese. Text was styled to flow without paragraph breaks, using only changes in font weight and a strict black-and-red color palette to distinguish between speakers and emphasize emotion. To enhance the sense of surveillance and discomfort, grainy, posterized images styled to resemble security footage were integrated into the newspaper, alongside eerily on-brand advertisements, each reinforcing the feeling of being watched. These visuals were woven between the columns and within the text to break up the narrative in an intentional, disorienting way. The final layer consisted of handwritten typography and scribbled marks over the body text to emulate a human presence, suggesting that someone had interacted with the newspaper before the reader, watching and leaving their trace. 






Outcomes:
The greatest challenge of this project was balancing the structured, formal design language of Japanese print media with the organic, humanistic elements of the podcast’s content. As a team, being able to seamlessly blend the aesthetic influences of Japanese publication with the thematic storytelling provided by “This American Life” was learned, resulting in a newspaper that successfully achieved a voyeuristic tone. 




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