PUBLICATION DESIGN
/
EXPERIENTIAL · ART DIRECTION · PRINT
Project 01 / 09
Art,
Activism,
Action
A coffee table book and live event experience documenting how Columbus, Ohio responded to racial injustice in 2020 — through art, on boarded-up buildings.
ADDY AWARD
Best in Show
Publication Design
2023
2020
CLIENT
Greater Columbus Arts Council
ROLE
Lead Designer · Layout Designer · Creative Direction
APPLIED SKILLS
Publication Design
Art Direction
Typography
Visual Storytelling
Photography
Print Design
Experiential Design
Information Hierarchy
CREATED WITH
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
YEAR
2020 – 2023
ADDY Award Winner
01
BACKGROUND
How a City Responded to Crisis with Art
In 2020, as cities across the country prepared for possible unrest following the death of George Floyd, businesses in Columbus, Ohio boarded their storefronts for protection. What emerged was not riot, but response — through art.
Local artists used the boards as temporary murals, creating a citywide visual archive of grief, protest, resilience, and hope. These works were never meant to last. The commission was to make sure they did.
“A time capsule documenting a transformative moment in history — built to honor the artwork without over-stylizing it.”
Project Goal
Preserve a temporary public experience in a format that felt lasting, respectful, and visually compelling. The book needed to function as both a beautifully designed object and a historical document — not a souvenir, but a reckoning.
The Challenge
This was not simply about designing a beautiful coffee table book. It was about documenting a fleeting public experience rooted in racial justice, uncertainty, and community response. The design needed to honor the artwork without over-stylizing it — and create a reading experience that felt reflective rather than sensational.
2020 TIMELINE — EDITORIAL INFOGRAPHIC MAPPING MOMENTS OF LOSS, PROTEST, AND COLLECTIVE RECKONING
MEDIA COVERAGE · COLUMBUS, OH
The Story That Moved the City
News footage documenting the cultural moment that gave birth to Art, Activism, Action — the boarded storefronts of Columbus that became canvases for community expression, grief, and resistance during the summer of 2020.
This footage captures the raw context that shaped every design decision in the publication: the urgency, the humanity, and the absolute necessity of preservation.
02
OPPORTUNITY
A Window to Make a Temporary Moment Permanent
The opportunity was singular: before the boards came down and the city moved on, someone needed to look directly at what had happened and decide it was worth preserving at scale.
The scale itself became strategic. A larger coffee table format was chosen deliberately — this was a big topic, a powerful moment, and the format needed to reflect the weight, beauty, and importance of it. The book wouldn’t sit quietly on a shelf. It would demand presence.
And beyond print, a live event was needed to bring the book directly into the hands of the community it documented.
2020
The year that made the book necessary — and impossible to ignore
1 City
Columbus, Ohio — a civic response to national grief through art on boarded storefronts
ADDY
Award-winning recognition for design that serves cultural memory
03
CREATIVE DIRECTION
Four Principles That Governed Every Design Decision
The strategy was to transform a temporary civic moment into something lasting, meaningful, and culturally significant. Creative direction was not about aesthetics first — it was about responsibility, then form.
Every choice — scale, typography, sequencing, color, texture — had to honor the artwork without becoming the artwork itself.
01
SCALE AS STATEMENT
The decision to produce a large-format coffee table book was intentional. This was a big topic, a powerful moment — the format needed to reflect the weight, beauty, and importance of it. Size itself became part of the statement.
02
ELEVATED WITHOUT OVER-STYLIZING
The design needed to honor the artwork without over-stylizing it. Every layout choice preserved the emotional tone of the moment, ensuring the reading experience felt reflective rather than sensational.
03
NARRATIVE THROUGH SEQUENCING
Image sequencing, typography, layout, and pacing work together to move the reader from tension and uncertainty through creative expression and community response — from grief to growth.
04
INTERACTIVE BY DESIGN
QR codes throughout the book link to additional media — poetry, film, performances, and interviews — extending the experience beyond the page and reinforcing the book as documentation and deeper cultural reflection.
PUBLICATION DESIGN — PROCESS & SPREADS
04
EVENT EXPERIENCE
The Book Release Became an Immersive Event
Art, Activism, Action extended beyond the pages of the coffee table book into a live event experience that celebrated the release of the publication and placed the book directly into the hands of the community that inspired it.
The event served as both a celebration and a moment of reflection — honoring the artwork, stories, and cultural significance captured in the book. Every visual element needed to contribute to a space that felt thoughtful, grounded, and worthy of the subject matter.
EVENT RECAP
Look Book Event Recap — Full Experience
Watch the event recap documenting the live release of Art, Activism, Action from the immersive environmental graphics and projection work, to the community gathering that brought the publication to life.
The environment was designed as a natural continuation of the book’s themes: reflection, art, activism, and community. Not a companion to the work, but an extension of it across every surface and touchpoint — projection graphics that shaped mood, wall vinyl that carried the narrative at scale, and a floor plan that moved attendees through the story.
05
SOLUTION
From Publication to Place — A Full System of Deliverables
The creative process focused on shaping the book as a visual narrative: moving from tension and uncertainty through creative expression to community response and hope. Beyond the book, the event experience extended this identity into three-dimensional space.
Imagery was intentionally expanded to fully occupy the page, giving the artwork the space, presence, and emotional weight it deserved.
01
COFFEE TABLE BOOK
Large-format publication with full-bleed photography, editorial spreads, and integrated QR codes linking to media — poetry, film, performances, and interviews.
02
2020 TIMELINE INFOGRAPHIC
Editorial layout mapping key events with portrait imagery, protest visuals, and contextual text — black, white, and red palette layered with distressed textures reflecting urgency and emotional weight.
03
PROJECTION GRAPHICS
Environmental projections that shaped mood and advanced visual storytelling throughout the live event space.
04
WALL VINYL & ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS
Large-scale surface graphics carrying the narrative across venue walls — adding presence, depth, and cohesion to the environment.
05
FLOOR PLAN & SPATIAL DESIGN
Layout support mapping key zones and attendee touchpoints to guide people through the story in a purposeful, cohesive way.
06
EVENT MERCHANDISE
Branded merchandise extending the identity of the publication into collectible, community-facing objects continuing the conversation beyond the event night.
EVENT EXPERIENCE DESIGN — ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS
06
IMPACT
A Publication That Outlived the Boards
This project demonstrated how editorial storytelling can successfully expand into an experiential format, creating a bridge between publication and place. The book’s message was no longer confined to print — it lived in space, interaction, and community presence.
It reinforced the value of environmental graphics as a storytelling tool, showing how thoughtful visual design can support memory, meaning, and atmosphere within a live event setting. The murals are gone. The book remains. That was always the point.
ADDY
Best in Show · Publication Design · 2023
1st
Of its kind — no comparable civic documentation project existed for Columbus in 2020
∞
The murals are gone. The book remains. That was always the point.
AMERICAN ADVERTISING FEDERATION — COLUMBUS
ADDY Award · Best in Show · Publication Design · 2023