Harper Reilly is a Graphic Design graduate, with a specialisation in typography. Her creative approach is anchored in an exploration of feminism, surfing and identity.

Her capstone project, SNAP Magazine confronts misogyny in surf media, which often dismisses female surfers’ skills and sexualises their bodies. Building on academic research and direct examination of some flagrantly
misogynistic magazines from the last 20 years, the new magazine focuses on positively depicting
women as surfers and athletes.

The loud design, with ragged edges and tightly leaded headlines, acts as a psych-up to go surf. The actions shots of women surfing and selection of articles which highlight surfers’ skills welcome women to identify with and see themselves in this physical manifestation of surf culture.

The design retains the playful energy of STAB mag, while rejecting the ingrained objectified of female surfers. It also introduces a more structured underlying grid, which allows the vivid graphics and typesetting to shine.

This rehabilitation of how an Australian pastime is represented in the printed form, acts as a rejection of traditional misogyny embedded in sports media.

This magazine uses the typeface Herbik by Daniel Veneklaas, Counter Forms type foundry. Special thank you to writer Holly Isemonger for generously gave permission for her article Pin-Ups First, Athletes Second to be used for typesetting in this graphic design project. Special thank you to the photographers who generously gave permission for their incredible photographs to be used: Zoe English, Cait Miers, Dan Scott, Claudia Tivendale and Beatriz Ryder.