Checking in on the iliad

Members of the iliad literary-art magazine’s Editorial Board pose for a photo in the hallway at Clarke Central High School before class. The iliad began having weekly Editorial Board meetings in early September. All of the members are excited to begin working on this year’s issue of the iliad. Photo by Maggie Kelleher

Despite the fact that we have only been in school for a few weeks, I, and the rest of the iliad’s Leadership Team, have managed to get a lot of work done towards the completion of this year’s goals. We began meeting at Clarke Central High School during the late summer along with some members of the ODYSSEY Media Group to get a jump-start on this year’s work. 

If you are a returning guest to the iliad website, you may have noticed that it looks completely different. Updating the website has been our biggest project so far. We essentially had to start from scratch, and getting it to what it is now has been a huge undertaking. Another thing that we have been focusing on is mailing out last year’s edition of the iliad, Okeanos, to our donors and the magazine’s featured artists. 

Personally, I have designed the iliad’s new logo, in addition to other branding elements like the olive branch and olive leaf wingding, and graphic icon, which you’ll see used in our profile pictures on social media and as our website’s favicon.

The iliad’s new logo, designed by Clarke Central High School Senior and iliad Managing Editor Eva Orbock, draws on the Iliad by Homer’s Greek origins. The logo is meant to look sleek and modern while remaining elegant and timeless. The design features details based on columns found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture and olive leaves. Olive branches are a well-known Greek symbol for victory and peace. Digital graphic by Eva Orbock

Last year was really hard for the magazine as a whole, but the production process took the biggest hit. The lack of in-person classes and access to programs like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign contributed to last year’s edition getting sent off for printing late. One of our goals for this year is to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again and to stick to our production schedule. So far we have managed to stay pretty much on track, and we hope to keep up the momentum that we have built so far.

Well, that's all for now. Stay creative!