<p>Between the University press, the University publications office, and student publications, there are dozens of publications that come out at least a couple of times a year, or a lot more.</p>
<p>It being the University of Chicago, it is not exactly crawling with people who are focused on magazine design. The art community itself is pretty small, and much less practically-oriented than that. That doesn’t mean that people are hostile to design, it usually means that they are waiting for someone else to come along and do it. There are lots of opportunities, most of which are taken by nobody and are not even identified as opportunities until someone wants to take them. What there isn’t is an apprenticeship structure drawing first-years into training to be the design editor for anything.</p>
<p>It’s also relatively easy to start a publication if you really want to. My daughter (who has interests similar to yours) and some friends went a ways down that path, but ultimately dropped it because it would have precluded doing too many things they cared about more.</p>
<p>Also, and very importantly: The University of Chicago happens to be in Chicago, a place with many publications that have high design content. Internships have to be pursued, but are definitely available. My kid has one with a national (but semi-niche-y) glossy publication where she was the first University of Chicago student ever to ask for an internship slot.</p>