This special edition of The Daily Orange celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the Syracuse University 2003 basketball championship in the NCAA tournament through unique stories, anecdotes, and an art-directed and designed guide that honors the noted history of that championship season.
This guide was produced both in print and with an accompanying digital edition which can be found here.
A Story Told with Color
The colors used in this guide reflect the colors of the city where the championship-winning moment took place: New Orleans. These colors were also featured in the logo for the NCAA tournament that year. In Mardi Gras these colors have meaning: Purple Represents Justice. Green Represents Faith. Gold Represents Power.
In a way these are qualities that reflect the season the team had, justice for the efforts they put in to get to where they were, the faith the school and fans had in the team and the payoff they got for it, and the power of finally becoming champions, of being the best
Establishing a Voice With Type
It was important that the type communicated this historical aspect of the guide, while still receiving a treatment that made it clear this was being made 20 years to the day.
Spectral became the obvious face choice to communicate the history: I wanted to use a distinct serif font with an italic treatment to emphasize certain words in the Macs for the stories. Spectral is also used for the dec, pull quotes and big numbers. Benton is used for smaller text where legibility is an important concern
From the Archive
The photography from the guide was a mix of photography from the Daily Orange's archives as well as courtesy photos from other outlets that covered the team's games during the tournament. The graphic design is intentionally subtle to make these storied photos the stars of the show.
Read the full issue here
