Adventure Cyclist
Adventure Cyclist magazine is published nine times a year by the national nonprofit Adventure Cycling Association. As Art Director of the magazine, I make all decisions pertaining to the look and feel of the magazine. I combine my passions for layout design, typography, illustration, photo retouching, and collaborating to make bicycle travel stories come to life.
Layout Design
The Man Who Put the World Under His Feet
from the February 2019 issue of Adventure Cyclist
Imagine learning that your team has somehow gotten ahold of hundreds of never-before-published slides of photos (mostly self portraits) taken over the entire course of a man’s lifetime of traveling the world by bicycle. With only eight pages dedicated to the story, which was originally presented to us in French, I had the challenge of showcasing the vast breadth of visuals supplied by the author.
This opener received an Honorable Mention (Ozzie) in the 2020 Folio Awards in the Nonprofit Consumer/General category.
Cyclists’ Travel Guide
from the March 2018 issue of Adventure Cyclist
One of my first projects for the magazine was the feature well for the Cyclists’ Travel Guide — our annual deep dive into bike touring tech. I had so much fun hiding little illustrations throughout.
My favorite part of this project was convincing my editor to let me include an interactive 8-page “pocket guide” to illustrate a glossary of terms referring to steel bikes. On the opposite page of the glossary is a small visual instructing the reader how to cut and fold the 8-page booklet. The “Packing Lists” spread was also close to home because this is actually how I write my packing lists when I go on adventures… so it only felt right to write them in my handwriting.
Art Direction
With visual storytelling, the most critical step in art direction is matching the right artist with the right story, which is a responsibility I don’t take lightly. For these pieces, I gave each illustrator the story copy and offered as much direction as they felt they needed. For the Strong as an Oaks opener, we had a photograph of Oakley (the subject of the story) but it wasn’t quite full-spread worthy even though his teenage impatience was something I really wanted to capture. The illustrator took the photograph and ran with it, creating the spread you see here.
Cyclists’ Travel Guide
from the March 2020 issue of Adventure Cyclist
Since becoming the Lead Designer for Adventure Cyclist, we have commissioned an illustrator to create art for the covers of our March issues — the Cyclists Travel Guide. For the March 2020 cover, I commissioned illustrator Levi Boughn and we worked together to produce an award-winning piece.
2020 Folio Awards: Ozzie Winner for Cover Design in the Association/Nonprofit Consumer, General category
SPD 56: Merit Winner for Cover Design in the Custom Publishing – Brand/Institutional/Educational category
A Zwift Kick
from the February 2021 issue of Adventure Cyclist
I worked with a freelance photographer to produce art for this piece. The photographer happened to have all the equipment (and models) on hand for the photoshoot, which was a huge plus during COVID lockdown. Initially, I presented my vision for the spread and we went back and forth developing the idea from there, tailoring the shoot to accommodate what he already had at home. He shot the photos on a green screen in his living room and I touched up the green screen keying and digitally painted new shadows based off the original photos. I chose the background gradient to pop with the subject and her cats. The silly, lighthearted result is exactly what I’d hoped for to contrast with the story, which illustrates how the cycling industry moved to indoor cycling with platforms like Zwift to cope with the cancellation of all cycling events in 2020.
Illustration
In addition to commissioning and art directing illustrators and digital artists, I also contribute my own illustrations for Adventure Cyclist from time to time. I often illustrate digitally, but occasionally I incorporate traditional water color paintings as well.
