Godspeed, John Glenn
FLORIDA TODAY // DECEMBER 9, 2016
FLORIDA TODAY // DECEMBER 9, 2016
Why it’s special: John Glenn was a Space Coast hero, but also a hero for me in my youth. As a child, I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up — even going to Space Camp at age 9 — and John Glenn was the astronaut that I looked up to most. So it was a sad day when I heard that he was in the hospital, and that he had died the following day. The quick turn of events prevented us from having much lead time on this four-page wrap; we mostly used the day beforehand to plan the section. I was also able to do some preliminary searching for a suitable cover image. I knew we would be looking for a poster on the front, but I wanted to give Florida Today a cover that would be different from every other paper in the country. I mostly avoided archived shots that were newsier in their time. I liked the color in this photo (bonus: it matched their orange nameplate), and I thought the pose was dignified for an in memoriam page.
As for the rest of the section: I knew that we had a large amount of content and not a large amount of space, so I tried to keep things as simple as I could, allowing the stories, quotes, timelines and photos to stand out.
Changing of the guard
FLORIDA TODAY // JANUARY 21-22, 2017
FLORIDA TODAY // JANUARY 21-22, 2017
Why it’s special: It’s a unique take on an event that likely was featured in every newspaper in the country. For the Inauguration Day page, I knew that I would want to use a photo that showed new president Donald J. Trump on stage at the inauguration ceremony. His personality and presence is sometimes larger than life, so I wanted to make sure I kept everything else on the page subdued and balanced.
Beyond Inauguration Day, I was also thinking of how to spin the story forward. I saw a photo similar to this from Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2012 and I thought it contrasted well with a face-forward shot of President Trump from Inauguration Day. The presidency lasts a lot longer than one day, and I liked the ethos of Trump emerging and looking out to the crowd — and the future.
Let them eat cake
FLORIDA TODAY // MARCH 21, 2016
FLORIDA TODAY // MARCH 21, 2016
Why it’s special: That is indeed a real cake. Florida Today celebrated its 50th birthday in 2016, and it’s not every day that you hit a milestone like that. For the occasion, much of the content was planned for publication on the Sunday before the actual birthday to maximize audience reach; however, between news-section packages and a special section, most of the best archived photos were used. During the planning stages, I joked that I wanted to bake a cake for the site to celebrate their big day — and it ended up not being a completely crazy idea. My manager and the site liked the concept, but the execution posed some
challenges: namely that shipping a sheet cake across the country isn’t viable. So I designed a sheet cake incorporating all of the daily furniture elements (nameplate, folio information) and sent it to the site so they could have the cake prepared locally.
challenges: namely that shipping a sheet cake across the country isn’t viable. So I designed a sheet cake incorporating all of the daily furniture elements (nameplate, folio information) and sent it to the site so they could have the cake prepared locally.
I art directed the shoot remotely, giving the photographer a few variations of uncut and cut cake photo ideas. (It worked out perfectly that there was an archive photo of the paper’s founding publisher cutting a cake on their first day.) The page represents one of the biggest challenges I’ve taken to date; it also shows the impact I can have in shaping a project when I’m involved from inception to completion.
Stepping outside the comfort zone
GANNETT INNOVATION CHALLENGE // JANUARY 2017
GANNETT INNOVATION CHALLENGE // JANUARY 2017
Why it’s special: This was the highest-stakes project of my career. If you follow this link (http://bit.ly/2u92dBe), you will find the presentation deck that our team used during pitches to Gannett executives at the end of the 2016 Innovation Challenge (designed and produced by me), summarizing our team’s journey through the challenge. It breaks down our project and shows why the Your Town brand deserves Gannett’s continued investment. The project itself occupied at least 30% of my time for most of the year (on top of my daily job), and it gave me the valuable opportunity to assemble and lead a team of employees from departments throughout our company. It let me flex the muscles of all the buzzwords you expect to see in resumes: problem solving, creative thinking, project management, leadership, design thinking principles, communication and deadline-orientation.
This project also helped me to see beyond the studio into the workings of a company, discovering how we can continue to grow as a business into the future — especially since editorial staff aren’t often focused on generating revenue.
Notes: To navigate through the presentation (http://bit.ly/2u92dBe), either accept or deny the full-screen request, then use the arrow keys to move between slides. Don’t click into the PDF. There is sound during a video in the deck.
Soldiers in space?
FLORIDA TODAY // JULY 16, 2017
FLORIDA TODAY // JULY 16, 2017
Why it’s special: I’m always willing to refine a concept based on feedback. Although I’ve had a lot of luck using good relationships to get sites to buy-in on illustration ideas, this was one that was a step too far for Florida Today. The story focused on a House bill that would split Space Command into a new Space Corps branch of the military with its own four-star command. A restructuring of this magnitude would have a large effect on Brevard County, Florida — the Space Coast — where the Air Force presides over all launches from Cape Canaveral and the Eastern Range. Editors at the site didn’t dislike the concept, but they felt that the astronaut in the original version, at bottom, looked too “scary” and “menacing.” (I took these comments as a compliment, regardless of their intent.) I was able to rework the illustration by using fewer pieces and a more docile astronaut, but I’m still partial to the complexities in the original.
