HELLO, I'M
Kiara Benoit.
Design and Graphics
Kiara Benoit
Design Editor on
The Muse
Palm Beach County, Florida
(561)-356-5871
About Me
Kiara Benoit is a second-year staffer and design editor on The Muse. While editing and creating spreads for the publication, she enjoys listening to artists, including Fiona Apple, Frank Ocean, and Lorde. She also loves astronomy, writing poetry, and learning the piano. She looks forward to meeting all the new staffers and working with the other designers on this year’s issues.
My Personal Narrative
I'll admit that in the past, I had a certain fear towards publications. Throughout elementary and middle school, many of my peers were involved in the yearbook or newspaper staffs, and no matter how much they tried convincing me to join, I feared that it would be too much of a commitment. Little did I know that the commitment really is worth it.
I remember sitting at my Dreyfoos audition, nervous. I was in one of the classrooms, waiting for my name to be called. As I sat there, wondering what life as a student here could possibly be like, a teacher came around and passed out the school magazines to us. On the cover of the magazine was The Muse. Enraptured, I flipped through the pages and was instantly amazed by just how much detail was put into it- the photos were beautiful, the writing was strong, and the layout was eye-catching. It was at that moment, holding the magazine in my hands, that I knew I wanted to be a part of the creation.
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Needless to say, I made it to Dreyfoos. In my sophomore year, I joined the Muse staff as a designer. I knew from the beginning that this was the area I was interested in- growing up, I had always loved drawing, painting, and crafting. Although I was excited to bring my designing skills to the staff, there were of course some challenges. Having never been on a publication prior, I was not prepared for the amount of work it was. Since teamwork was such an important aspect, I had to make sure to get all my work done in time in order to not let the other people i was working with down. It took some time figuring out the schedule that worked for me, where I could not only meet my deadlines but also make it my best job. However, once I had finally gotten into the right pattern, I started to truly enjoy designing and even became editor of the section in my junior year. I am extremely honored that I get the chance to work with some of the most talented people ever!
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Editing, Leadership, and Teambuilding
When I became the editor of design, of the first and most important resources i created for my staffers was a style guide. I believe this is so important because not only does it help give the staffers and idea of what our magazine looks like, but it also helps to create a cohesive look amonst all the spreads. This shows that we can not only encourage creativity within everyone's work, but also ensure that we as The Muse have a magazine that fits together
A basic rundown of Indesign is also very helpful to staffers when starting out. I know that when I first started designing, I felt a bit overwhelmed with this new platform that i had no idea how to use. Thankfully, my editor provided us with a resource like this so that we could have something to look to when using Indesign. Therefore, I wanted to create 'Basics of Indesign' to make sure that future designers can also have some backup. This includes some of the most prevalent vocab, how-to steps, and even keyboard shortcuts.
When I became an editor, I think one of my biggest worries was that I wouldn't be able to help my staffers. I wasn't as knowledgeable as I would have liked to be on the section, so I was scared that once the new year of Muse started, I would be lost. However, this worry led to me doing a lot more research over the summer, as well as creating practice spreads to try sharpening my skills. I eventually learned that an editor isn't going to know everything automatically. It takes a lot of practice and working with your section to really step into your role, even meaning that you have to ask for help from time to time. If you can't ask for help yourself, how can you set an example for your staffers to do the same? ​
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Additionally, in my opinion, the most important thing in having a successful section is creating a bond. I hope that as an editor, I am able to show my staffers that they can always ask me for help and reach out to me about anything, design-related or not.
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Although I'm not exactly where I want to be yet in terms of a good leader, I will continue to learn more about design, communicate with the staff, and do everything I can to create another amazing year for our section.
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Design
2023-2024
2024-2025
2023-2024
Recognizing the Rise is one of the first spreads I created on The Muse and one of my favorites. I'm especially a fan of the wave graphic at the bottom of the spread- I feel like it adds that final touch to pull the whole story together. I completed this design by first drawing the wave on procreate, and then adding in all of the other elements on InDesign to fit the same style.
Like Recognizing the Rise, Game Changer was also a part of Issue 1. I decided to include this page because of how simple yet effective it is. I had not included any graphics for this one, and there isn't any wild typography, but it's still appealing. Although the design is pretty straight-forward, I did face a bit of challenge trying to decide upon the right color scheme, and I think green was the right choice because it adds a sleek look to the page.
Arts After Dark is part of Issue 2. I really love the simplicity of this spread- it allows the beautiful photos to stand out (credit to the amazing photographer!). This spread was initially a bit more challenging to design because I couldn't quite figure out the right layout- I didn't want to make it look too busy or too plain. In the end, I chose to go with a dark background and bold, white text- I feel like these elements help bring your eyes to the photos.
Wasteland, another part of Issue 2, was probably the spread where I faced the most design challenges. First, I had to rearrange everything on the spread multiple times in order to find the best layout. I also had an issue with the text placement because the story would go off the page, and at other times, I would be left with half a page blank. Although I had to create many new versions and spent a long time trying to perfect it as much as possible, in the end, the spread turned out well.
Odd Jobs was part of Issue 3. This is one of my favorite spreads I've made this year due to the amount of creative liberty I got to take. I was able to read about each interviewee and create backgrounds for them based on their interests, and it was so much fun being able to try out different designs for each person. I have been trying to develop my skills in graphics, so working on this particular spread taught me a lot of new tips and tricks with procreate.
Up In Smoke was the cover story of Issue 3. This was a really big story for me to work on, seeing that the topic was so serious. I had to do a lot of planning in regards to how I was going to incorporate all the photos, statistics, and quotes into the 5 pages given so that everything would fit together and create a simple, informational look. One of the biggest challenges I faced was with the background, because I wanted to have the smoke theme carry throughout the spreads, but had some trouble trying to create said smoke- I solved this issue, however, by testing out different mediums until I found the right method.
The Summer Balance is going to be a part of Issue 4. Although the story isn't finalized yet, I included this design because I'm a big fan of the graphics I made for it. Since I've been trying to experiment more with graphics, I'm really satisfied with the work I was able to create. One challenge I initially faced was the lack of space- since the story was cut from two pages to one, I had to redesign the page and create a whole new layout. However, I think I managed quite well with the change.
Senior Advice is also going to be a part of Issue 4. I really like this page because I've never done a design like this, where it was solely based on the graphics and layout rather than body copy or photos. I had a lot of fun choosing different shapes and colors for the page, and although tracing every person's handwriting was definitely time consuming, I think it was a wonderful idea because it shows a variety of different characters and personalities.
2024-2025
This is the cover for issue 1, titled 'Ballot Breakdown'. During the last week of this issue, a hurricane caused schools to close, meaning that we would be forced to complete the magazine from home. Because of this setback, a lot of improvisation had to go into the making of this cover, along with many different drafts and trials for layouts. I definitely had trouble finding a layout style that didn't feel too messy or haphazard, but after going through many versions of this idea, I was finally able to create this cover design to portray the angle of the cover story
'Animating with Intelligence' was part of Issue 1. Although I picked up this design a little later in the cycle, the process of creating the spread ran smoothly. The initial plan was to incorporate graphics depicting the animation process, but since we did not have a lot of time to plan this, we opted for close up photos of the students' work. Even though the three photos show the same action, I think it works here because of the specific framing of the photos.
These are the front and back covers of Issue 2, titled 'District Pilots AI Student Surveillance Program'. I am really proud of this cover because it incorporates two elements that I have always wanted to explore- typography and wrap-around covers. Seeing that it was my first time doing both of these things, the process of creating the covers were very tedious- I had to first create my own font for the letters, which took most of time, and then I had to figure out how to lay out all the text to make it legible. After all the planning and time that went into designing this, it's safe to say that this is my favorite cover that I have made.
Following the cover, this is the actual spread for 'District Pilots AI Student Surveillance Program'. Being a six page story, this design also took a lot of time. Something I really wanted to focus on here was the color scheme and overall aesthetic of the spread- the topic of technology is, in my opinion, really enjoyable to design because of the distinct aesthetic associated with it. However, I didn't want the spread to look too cliche or dark, so I played around a lot with color schemes and computer-like elements. My favorite parts of this design are the pop-up windows serving as the infographic backgrounds and the pull-quote being displayed on the computer. On a related note, what I struggled the most with on this spread was the planning- I had ideas of what I wanted to do, like the pop-up windows, but since these sort of elements would take time, I had to do a lot of planning and trials. In the end, I really satisfied with how this turned out.
'The Wrongs of Parental Rights' is part of Issue 2. When planning this spread, we knew that we wanted to include the writer in the design, as well the idea of 'chaos' in the form of paper. However, I struggled with some of this idea because of the length of the text- since the writing was much longer than expected, there wasn't a lot of room on the spread left for images. In the end, I decided to include the most important things- the author's photo and the images of some paper flying, along with a simple infographic. Although I would have liked for this spread to include more visuals to break up text, I believe that the final product conveys the author's opinion sufficiently.