Editorial & Print – Digiversely

Zayt Magazine

Editorial & Print, Visual Storytelling / FarisQ

Project Overview ZAYT is a food and culture magazine focused on Middle Eastern restaurants in Metro Vancouver. The project was designed as a full editorial publication, bringing together restaurant features, food photography, cultural storytelling, advertisements, infographics, and magazine-style layouts. The goal was to create something that felt warm, elegant, and food-focused while still being modern enough for a local Vancouver audience. I wanted the magazine to feel less like a simple restaurant guide and more like a curated dining experience, where every spread introduces a place, a dish, or a story with its own mood. Editorial Concept The concept behind ZAYT was to celebrate Middle Eastern food through both design and storytelling. Each restaurant feature was written and designed to highlight more than just the menu. I wanted to show the atmosphere, culture, comfort, and memory behind the food. The magazine includes features on restaurants such as Akbar Joojeh, Saba Yemeni Restaurant, Yasmina, Cazba Persian Grill, Sahel Market & Restaurant, Damaskino Shawarma, and others. Each spread uses a different layout approach while still staying connected through the same overall editorial identity. Design direction The visual direction was built around warmth, elegance, and cultural detail. I used cream backgrounds, gold and brown tones, serif typography, decorative borders, and Middle Eastern-inspired patterns to give the magazine a refined but inviting feeling. The design needed to feel premium, but not cold or overly formal. Food photography played a major role in shaping the layouts. Some spreads use large full-page images to create impact, while others use smaller photo blocks, menus, pull quotes, and restaurant information boxes to guide the reader. The challenge was balancing strong visuals with readable editorial content. Visual system The magazine uses a consistent visual system across the full publication, but each section has its own personality. Restaurant features use large titles, structured text columns, food imagery, and information boxes for address, hours, pricing, and menu recommendations. The typography combines elegant serif headlines with clean body text, helping the magazine feel both cultural and readable. Decorative details, borders, subtle patterns, and warm colour accents help connect the pages without making every spread look the same. Feature spreads Each restaurant spread was designed to tell a small story. Some pages focus on atmosphere and restaurant identity, while others highlight a signature dish or cultural detail. The Akbar Joojeh spread became the main infographic piece, using an anatomy-style layout to break down the plate, ingredients, origin, and food traditions in a more visual way. Other spreads use a more editorial structure, combining photography, text columns, restaurant details, and menu recommendations to create a complete reading experience. This helped the magazine feel varied while still staying connected through the same tone, typography, and visual language. I also created supporting pages and advertisements, including an Uber Eats ad, a BC Halal Food Festival spread, and a halal non-alcoholic beverage ad. These pieces helped the magazine feel more complete and realistic, like a publication that could actually exist with editorial content and sponsored sections. Final Reflection This project helped me understand how much planning goes into a full magazine design. It was not only about making individual pages look good; the whole publication had to feel connected from cover to final spread. I had to think about pacing, image placement, typography, margins, spacing, and how each page would feel as part of a larger reading experience. Working on ZAYT also pushed me to think more carefully about cultural tone. Since the magazine focused on Middle Eastern food and restaurants, the design needed to feel respectful, warm, and authentic without becoming too decorative or cliché. The challenge was finding a balance between elegance, readability, and cultural atmosphere. Overall, ZAYT became one of my strongest editorial projects because it brought together writing, layout, food photography, branding-style details, infographic design, and publication design. It taught me how to build a visual rhythm across many pages while still giving each story its own identity.

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When The Petals Fall

Editorial & Print, Experimental & Concept Art, Visual Storytelling / FarisQ

project OVERVIEW When the Petals Fall was my second completed novel, but the first one I printed, sold, and published on Amazon. The project began with a self-written story and grew into a full visual communication system, including the book cover, promotional poster, bookmarks, Instagram carousel, social media grid, and web banner. The project was built around quiet emotion and visual softness. Instead of using loud or dramatic visuals, I wanted the design to feel warm, simple, and personal — almost like a memory. Every piece was created to support the tone of the story and make the book feel complete beyond just the manuscript. Story concept At its heart, When the Petals Fall is a story about love, memory, and the small moments that stay with us. Kei and Reina’s connection does not grow through big dramatic scenes, but through quiet comfort, everyday routines, and the slow trust that forms between two people. The title reflects the emotional tone of the story. Like petals falling from a flower, some moments are temporary, but they still leave something behind. I wanted the visual system to carry that same feeling — soft, delicate, slightly bittersweet, and grounded in human connection. Design Direction The cover uses a warm illustrated style to reflect the emotional softness of the story. Kei and Reina are shown in a peaceful spring setting, surrounded by blossoms, calm skies, and gentle light. I wanted the design to feel romantic without being too dramatic, and nostalgic without feeling old-fashioned. The colour palette uses soft pastels and natural tones to create a calm, intimate atmosphere. Floral details, hand-painted textures, and open space help the design feel delicate and personal. The back cover extends the same mood with a blooming orchard and pastel sky, making the full book design feel connected from front to back. promotional system After finishing the book design, I expanded the project into promotional materials for both print and digital use. This included a poster, bookmarks, a web banner, and a structured social media grid. Each piece followed the same visual direction so the campaign felt consistent across different formats. The goal was to make the book recognizable wherever it appeared. The poster introduced the emotional tone of the story, the bookmarks gave the project a physical promotional piece, and the web banner adapted the identity for online use. Together, these pieces helped turn the book into a fuller visual campaign instead of just a standalone cover. Digital extension The digital side of the project included a personality-test style Instagram carousel that extended the book’s soft, introspective tone. The carousel asked gentle questions about memory, peace, and emotion, guiding viewers through a small interactive experience connected to the themes of the novel. The result options, such as “A Brushstroke of Silence” and “The Colour of Us”, were designed to feel poetic and personal. Each frame used muted colours, delicate imagery, and simple layouts so the experience stayed calm, readable, and emotionally connected to the book. Final Reflection This project was special to me because it brought writing and design together in a very personal way. When the Petals Fall started as a story, but through the cover, layout, poster, bookmarks, carousel, and web banner, it became a complete creative project with its own visual identity. Working on it taught me how important tone is when designing around a narrative. The story was quiet and emotional, so the visuals had to support that feeling without overpowering it. I had to think about colour, illustration, spacing, typography, and campaign pieces as parts of the same world. Overall, this project helped me understand how a book can live beyond its pages. It showed me how design can support storytelling, create atmosphere, and make a written piece feel more complete, memorable, and personal.

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The House That Knows

Editorial & Print, Experimental & Concept Art, Visual Storytelling / FarisQ

OVERVIEW This was my first ever novel—a deeply personal dive into fiction, memory, and visual storytelling. I didn’t just want to write a book, I wanted to design a world around it. The House That Knows began as a simple story idea, but quickly grew into a full creative project that blended writing, layout design, and branding. From the manuscript to the final cover and even a fictional movie campaign, this project became my way of exploring how narrative and design can work hand in hand to build something haunting and whole. Concept Overview The House That Knows is a slow-burning psychological thriller about memory, trauma, and the spaces that never truly let us go. The story follows Nathan and Kate, siblings returning to their decaying childhood home to confront a past that’s been waiting. This wasn’t just a novel—it was a full visual narrative system. Alongside writing the manuscript, I designed the book layout, created the cover, and developed an entire fictional film campaign to explore how the story might live on screen. Story summary As Nathan and Kate begin peeling back the layers of their old home, memories resurface—some real, some imagined. The deeper they explore, the more the house begins to “remember” with them. Silence becomes a language. Shadows become familiar. And the truth? It’s far from comforting. Some houses don’t forget. Expanding the Narrative While the book stood on its own as a complete narrative, I wanted to push its emotional reach further. That meant imagining how the story could live beyond the page—how its haunting tone, slow tension, and psychological themes could translate across mediums. This led to the idea of building a fictional film campaign, not just as an exercise in design, but as a deeper expansion of the story’s atmosphere and visual language. Expanding the Narrative While the book stood on its own as a complete narrative, I wanted to push its emotional reach further. That meant imagining how the story could live beyond the page—how its haunting tone, slow tension, and psychological themes could translate across mediums. This led to the idea of building a fictional film campaign, not just as an exercise in design, but as a deeper expansion of the story’s atmosphere and visual language. Fictional Movie Adaptation To imagine the novel as a feature film, I created a full visual campaign: 5 Poster Designs: Symbolic, cinematic visuals aligned with horror themes 3 Instagram Carousels: Mini storytelling sequences teasing the plot Each piece carried the story’s tone across platforms, building a consistent identity for a fictional adaptation. Final Reflection This was my second novel, but it was the first time I treated a story as a complete visual system instead of only a written piece. The House That Knows pushed me to think beyond the manuscript and explore how a narrative can live through design, from the book cover and layout to a fictional movie campaign, posters, banners, and social media pieces. Working on this project taught me how important tone is across every creative decision. The story is slow, psychological, and unsettling, so every visual choice had to support that atmosphere instead of simply looking dramatic. I had to think about colour, typography, imagery, pacing, and composition as parts of the same world. This project also helped me understand how writing and design can strengthen each other. The writing gave the visuals emotional direction, while the design made the story feel more real, complete, and immersive. Overall, it became a project about building a world around a narrative and learning how to carry one idea across different formats while keeping it consistent, intentional, and connected.

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