Editorial illustration
Crowded out
An editorial feature for Teen Breathe on how to navigate the tricky terrain of online group chats
![](https://alissathaler.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AlissaThaler-Teen-Breathe-–-Crowded-out-Page-1.jpg)
![](https://alissathaler.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AlissaThaler-Teen-Breathe-–-Crowded-out-Page-2.jpg)
First roughs
When reading the article one of the first ideas it sparked was a visual of a maze created by speechbubbles. I sketched it out using the available space to create a dynamic diagonal line, making the maze expand from a phone at the bottom right.
For the second spread I was inspired by the thought of how easy it is to misinterpret someone’s words when it’s just over text, without any facial reference. I explored this idea placing two characters face to face in conversation – with a central phone screen as an in between filter. While both characters faces are friendly, their relative text-message bubbles don’t reflect this.
![](https://alissathaler.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Teen_breathe__Crowded_Out_-_Sketches-01-1024x680.jpg)
![](https://alissathaler.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Teen_breathe__Crowded_Out_-_Sketches-02-1024x680.jpg)
![](https://alissathaler.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Breathe-Magazine-–-inside-spread.jpg)