Art direction, design, branding, and styling while Art Director of The Baffler, a once-quarterly, now bi-monthly journal of political and cultural criticism, founded as a zine in 1988 by editors Thomas Frank and Keith White.
Founded in 1988 in Chicago, The Baffler is a journal of political and cultural criticism and essays from a leftist and anticapitalist perspective.
The Baffler has such unique roots compared to other publications, being born out of zine culture, thumbing their noses at elite, intellectual gatekeeping and co-option of alternative subcultures for mass consumerism, all packaged with an irreverent attitude. After 25+ years, the editors felt it was time for The Baffler to modernize its design and ‘grow up’ without selling out, so they turned to Eddie Opara's team at Pentagram, who equipped them with a clean, paired down template of contemporary typefaces to identify various sections, and a gallery-like approach to the art.
I came in as The Baffler's in-house Art Director to launch the redesign and give the political, cultural, and literary journal a signature visual style. The unprecedented political landscape presented such an opportunity for a growing readership, as more people sought out alternative publications like The Baffler for answers to the failures of Liberalism beyond their old media diets that completely missed Trump's rise, and couldn't fathom Hillary's loss or Bernie's appeal.
With a small team of free-spirited editors, it was very much a dream job to tap into The Baffler's acerbic, playful, lo-fi history, seeking out young, up-and-coming artists and illustrators—many whom were new to editorial work—while also bringing more established illustrators, designers, and photographers into the fold, honoring the redesign's mission to lend more legitimacy and higher production value to the mag without compromising on attitude. This extended beyond the pages as we launched the website rebrand, refreshed the merch, styling, podcasts, promotional and marketing material, and live events.
The Baffler has such unique roots compared to other publications, being born out of zine culture, thumbing their noses at elite, intellectual gatekeeping and co-option of alternative subcultures for mass consumerism, all packaged with an irreverent attitude. After 25+ years, the editors felt it was time for The Baffler to modernize its design and ‘grow up’ without selling out, so they turned to Eddie Opara's team at Pentagram, who equipped them with a clean, paired down template of contemporary typefaces to identify various sections, and a gallery-like approach to the art.
I came in as The Baffler's in-house Art Director to launch the redesign and give the political, cultural, and literary journal a signature visual style. The unprecedented political landscape presented such an opportunity for a growing readership, as more people sought out alternative publications like The Baffler for answers to the failures of Liberalism beyond their old media diets that completely missed Trump's rise, and couldn't fathom Hillary's loss or Bernie's appeal.
With a small team of free-spirited editors, it was very much a dream job to tap into The Baffler's acerbic, playful, lo-fi history, seeking out young, up-and-coming artists and illustrators—many whom were new to editorial work—while also bringing more established illustrators, designers, and photographers into the fold, honoring the redesign's mission to lend more legitimacy and higher production value to the mag without compromising on attitude. This extended beyond the pages as we launched the website rebrand, refreshed the merch, styling, podcasts, promotional and marketing material, and live events.
Salvos
Outbursts
Sadvertorials
Merch & Styling
#43
Edward Kinsella III (cover)Colleen Tighe
Davide Parere
Jillian Adel
Jonathan Bartlett
Will Scobie
Ben Kopp
Lisa Larson-Walker
Lyndon Hayes
Maria Chimishkyan
Nichole Shinn
Raymond Biesinger
#44
Lizzie Gill (cover)John Leavitt
John Karel
Justin Wood
Lauren Nassef
L.T. Horowitz
Nathan Becka
Aurora Colón
Adam Maida
#45
Ariel Davis (cover)Paperback Paradise
Nathaniel Russell
Johanna Walderdorff
Ben Marcus
Jess Rotter
Joe Castro
Shannon Freshwater
Zach Meyer
Shreya Chopra
Peter Oumanski
Matthew McGuinness
Julian Glander