One Photo template
Skills: art direction, photo research, layout design, project management
In July 2026, I was tasked with creating a new media template that combined illustration, text, and photo research. Britannica’s collection of both archival and modern photos is immense, and we wanted a way to maximize this unique asset for our readers while making images that are immediately identifiable as Britannica content.
My main objectives were to create a template that was:
Easy to use, even for beginners in Photoshop and Illustrator
Clean and simple, with a core audience of students ages 10+
Recognizable within the Britannica brand, making visual references to other school content
Art direction
I worked with editors across the Britannica newsletter and media teams to establish a cohesive visual system. Because our goal was to use illustration to support existing photos, which varied widely in color scheme and style, we wanted a unifying style that leaned into simplicity and fun.
I landed on a colorful palette of blues, yellows, and pinks inspired by the color printing profile. These CMYK hues can be multiplied over each other to create other colors and dimmed or brightened to create contrast. Paired with halftone and paper textures to make our images jump, this system calls the attention of our younger audience while enhancing the images themselves. These colors were paired with simple sans serif text to enhance readability, even in smaller font sizes.
Vision board based off of existing Britannica educational products, including a video series and newsletter.
Designing the template
Once we settled on a color scheme and visual identity, I designed a simple, organized Illustrator template, complete with all texture assets, HEX codes, and branding guidelines. I created sample highlight and gave editors the option to set opacity to multiply or overlay depending on the use case, explaining the difference. I also created detailed documentation on how to best use images, creating clipping and transparency masks, and even simple illustrations. After walking my team through the template and receiving feedback, I simplified and reorganized the files to make it easy to use for everyone.
