Every issue of Gossamer has a theme, and our goal in representing that theme in print is to mimic the experience of being high, to look at that specific topic from different perspectives and unexpected angles, to fall down the rabbit hole, so to speak. We also always want to take advantage of the magazine as a physical object—it's why we print a magazine in the first place. How can we use the physical dimensions, design, and tactility of the magazine to enhance the reader's experience of it? The idea of creating a magazine with a hole in it felt fitting for the theme—Space—and like an exciting creative prompt both internally and for our visual and written commissions. In designing and art directing this issue, we asked ourselves two things: What is Gossamer’s perspective and visual expression on the topic of space? How can we infuse meaning and new context into the theme by using the absence of it? We wanted to embrace the idea of negative space—quite literally—and to use the hole as a sort of center of gravity for the contents of the magazine. We also wanted to create a physical design restriction that would allow us to play with scale and dimension, typography, and illustration. Every piece in the issue relates to the hole in some way, whether from a physical perspective—through the layout or the art—or a thematic one, via the topic. Two features in particular—the crossword, “This Puzzle Sucks” by Anna Gundlach (pg. 142), and “Big Bong Theory” (pg. 84)—do both of these things in a clever, pleasing, and extremely satisfying way.