2009 New Jersey Freshwater Digest

I've held my current design position since the middle of August, and am very excited that my first book is about to hit the shelves in New Jersey!

Picking up another designer's files (and making them your own) can be very challenging. Style sheets are so personal!

Most of my own individual style and (obsessive) attention to detail can be felt beyond the cover, and I really think that my designs and re-designs have improved the readability of this book. Readability seems particularly important when your job is to clearly convey the laws of the Environmental Protection Agency.


Below are some pages from the 2008 Digest along with my re-designs for the 2009 book.

A spread showing the original trout charts which lacked uniformity, introduced arbitrary colors that appeared to have meaning, and contained redundant information — very confusing:


I standardized the chart styles, and restructured the content of those same charts:



The original stocking program spread:


My revised version—having fun with the flying fish:



I wanted the "Take a Kid Fishing" page to feel more cohesive. The redesign is on the right:



A simple design element introduced into this new 1-page article brought the subject to the forefront:

Big Brothers Big Sisters Campaign

This project involved a 4-poster series created through a pro-bono arrangement at my agency. The final posters (not the four you see below) were the result of collaboration, but all of the creative work in the series I have included here is my own. The client wished for the posters to communicate the idea that being a Big Brother brings as much joy to the "Big" as it does to the "Little."

Performing Arts Bookfair

Below is a promotional poster for a fair at which books about the performing arts were featured.

Discrimination Poster

This poster was created in response to the French National Assembly's decision to ban Muslim head scarves and other religious symbols from public schools in February of 2004. Designed for a class project about discrimination, this poster focuses on the ignorance of this archaic decision regarding the traditional practices of Islam, with 18th century Marie Antoinette representing the modern-day French government.

Religion and Politics Lecture Series

This series of three posters for a lecture series entitled "Religion and Politics in the USA" exemplifies my concept that the separation between religion and politics in our country is absent in many of our daily, overlooked practices.

Photo Retouching

Below is the first of several before-and-after photo retouching projects that I plan to post.

This slightly damaged portrait was repaired using PhotoShop:

Time Warp Project

An example of my PhotoShop skills, this photograph from a wedding was manipulated to include the couple at the far right twice. The couple to their left is the same couple, 30 years earlier — carefully lifted from their own wedding reception photo.