SPARK MAGAZINE

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TIMELINE: Fall 2023 — Spring 2027
TOOLS: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator
ROLE: Layout Designer (2023), Assistant Layout Director (2024), Layout Director (2025), Editor-in-Chief (2026-2027)

PROJECT

SPARK is an experimental multimedia publication driven by constant reinvention. Beginning in 2014 as a fashion magazine, SPARK has since evolved into a collaborative and diverse network of students passionate about converging art, culture, fashion, and design into an evocative anthology of both written and visual stories.

Along with producing online content throughout the year, at the end of every semester, SPARK releases a print magazine created by our staff of 200+ UT Austin students. Each magazine is set inside a curated world and centered around a guiding theme. Read the most recent issue here.

ISSUE NO. 24: CORPORA

RELINQUISH YOUR DRIVE TO STAY IN THE FLESH.

Lay your body bare. Allow yourself to be stripped down to sinew and sensation. Watch as your flesh becomes archive, artifact, and experiment. Relish in the endlessness of your existence. Before you rests all you’ve been, all you are, and all you may become — claim it.

Bones and all.

“CŒUR”

BY Ariel Barley & Andreana Joi Faucette
LAYOUT Emmy Chen
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jaden Spurlock
PHOTOGRAPHER William Whitworth
VIDEOGRAPHER Brandon Porras
STYLISTS Andromeda Rovillain & Tomas Trevino
HMUA Floriana Hool
MODELS Alex Basilio & Jaden Spurlock

ISSUE NO. 25: JUBILEE

AND YET, WE DANCE.

Chase it through the city, that glowing flickering thing, into clubs and bars but museums and parks and your morning walk to work. Tear across the world and chase it there too.

What you seek isn’t as far off as you think. It flickers but burns if you hold on tightly enough. Find it in your superstition, your sister, or your third shot of tequila. Look closely and you will find humanity laid bare, as you have always sought. Keep it with you always and savor the celebration.

“ODE TO HIRAETH”

BY Anastacia Barbie Chu
LAYOUT Emmy Chen & Brandon Porras
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Vani Shah
PHOTOGRAPHER Reyna Dews
VIDEOGRAPHER Larry Liu
STYLIST Zyla Alaniz
HMUA Vani Shah
MODEL Savannah Hilliard

“1-800-SPARK”

LAYOUT Emmy Chen
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Alex Basillio
PHOTOGRAPHER Anthony Nguyen
STYLISTS Alex Basillio & Stella Thomas
HMUA Jalynn Shrepee
MODEL Alex Basillio & Madilyn Hernandez

ISSUE NO. 26: REQUIEM

HUMANITY IN THE FACE OF DEVASTATION

The party is over. In our desert wastelands, empty galaxies, and shattered realities, how will you take up the mantle? How will you live with what is strained, broken, and defeated?

A new era is upon us. What you birth in these moments of truth will define the forthcoming.

But do not fear because your failure is inevitable. The rise and fall, the cycle of movement, is as human as your every heartbeat. Look inwards. What comes next is already inside you.

“IT ALL FALLS DOWN”

LAYOUT Emmy Chen
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Vani Shah
PHOTOGRAPHER Travis Duong
VIDEOGRAPHER Larry Liu
STYLISTS Aidan Vu & Grecia Del Bosque
HMUA & NAILS Isha Manjunath
MODELS Vani Shah & Aidan Vu

“FLESH OR FREEDOM / MIND OR FIGHT”

LAYOUT Emmy Chen
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Vani Shah
PHOTOGRAPHER Oli Martinez
STYLIST Emily Martinez
HMUA Ziada Araya & Vani Shah
MODELS Sabina Guardado, Madilyn Hernandez, & Alex Basilio

“CANDY NECKLACES”

BY Amara Ego
LAYOUT Emmy Chen
PHOTOGRAPHER Natalie Salinas
VIDEOGRAPHERS Angelina Conde & Antoine Orr
STYLISTS Cynthia Lira, Esme Moreno-Bernaki & Madison Morante
SET STYLIST Ashley Nguyen
HMUA Grace Joh, Andromeda Rovillian & Floriana Hool
NAIL ARTISTS Grace Joh & Anoushka Sharma
MODELS Sara Herbowy, Jordyn Jackson & Nayeon Heo

EMMY CHEN © 2025