EDITORIAL
Trade and Compliance
The challenge in this layout was to illustrate a particularly dry policy topic. This story was a preview of a conference session that was to be hosted by the company I worked for, so it was especially important to make it look lively. Night photography and good portraiture are two surefire ways to inject some life into a layout, and we were able to utilize both here.
Keeping a Sensible Head
In this story about mental health challenges in the shipping industry, it was important to use abstract illustrations throughout. We didn't want to use photos that pinpointed any particular company and risk implicating them in a negative way, as the story was really about the industry as a whole. I started with stock art and amplified its brokenness, then carried the theme into the drop cap on the facing page.
Industry Disruptors
For this story, I wanted a layout that played up the theme of disruption by breaking a few rules. The headline falls off the page and over the gutter, and it sits below the deckhead; the drop cap and pull quote include color overlays that spill over their normal boundaries. For the illustration, I started with stock art for the binary texture, then amended the color overlay and added the lettering.
Welcome to Bremen
Welcome letters can sometimes be laid out so simply that readers gloss right over them. For this publication, however, we wanted to give them more of a splash to drum up excitement for the host city of an upcoming expo and conference. This particular city lends itself to panoramic shots of its main square, which fit perfectly at the top of the page.
Local Attractions in Dubai
This story opened with a simple double-page photo and display headline, so I've decided to show a few more dynamic elements by focusing instead on one of the inside spreads. I enjoy the challenge of these types of layouts, which combine lots of photos, extended cutlines and body text. The trick is to balance visual hierarchy and logical flow. When you find the sweet spot, the resulting composition can be very rewarding.
Blended Approach
In this story about digital versus face-to-face relationship-building, the editors wanted to include poll responses from an educational event our company hosted as breakout elements. I converted some of those responses into the pie charts on the left-hand page, and ran some in Q+A format on the right-hand page.
Recovery Begins After Harvey
This piece contained a photo essay, and in addition to laying out the story it was my job to curate the photos from the available options on the wire. They had to be relevant not only to the Hurricane Harvey recovery effort generally, but also specifically to the sector of the shipping industry that our magazine covered.