Create-ing

A couple of months ago I was contacted by Create Magazine, wondering if I’d be interested in being a “guest designer” for their bi-monthly magazine. I’d be responsible for two spreads and the text and some art would be provided, although I could supplement if I wanted to. I jumped at the chance — I love to do magazine design and it felt fabulous to be recognized in a magazine for my peers.

Here are my spreads (click here to download a 3.9MB PDF if you’d like).

The vector art is from istockphoto and the headline type is Fuel Script from Veer. The article is titled “Motion Control” and it’s about animation and special effects studios in the Northeast. I was trying to evoke a feeling of movement and technology with the art, and I chose the typeface both for its echo of the illustration in its curves and connective straight lines and also because its short ascenders and capital letters let me stack the headline pretty tightly.

My issue came in the mail today, and as always I am unprofessionally thrilled to see my work (and name) in print. They also published a little bio and photo of me in the “Respect” section. That, I could have done without. Hooray for photo booths.

It’s always a little scary to design for an audience of your peers, and they set the bar high at Create with some really nice design and graphics. What do you think? Would you have done it differently?