Magazine design was our first love, and is the foundation from which our work in other media is formed. Prior to starting this business, John was the Senior Art Director at Pohly & Partners custom publishing (formerly Cadmus Custom Publishing), where he directed the design of Continental Airlines' inflight magazine—the company's largest account—for four years. He also held art director and design director positions at several other national publications including Running Times, Boston Business and Experience magazines.

Prior to that, John served as Advertising Art Director of the weekly alternative newspaper The Boston Phoenix, where he got his first taste of magazine design as Design Director of the high-profile Boston Bruins' and Boston Celtics' official yearbooks, which were published by the newspaper's contract publishing division.

Most recently, the studio has designed the annual Discover Gloucester Visitor Guide, a 64-page digest-sized tourism guide to Gloucester, Massachusetts for the past five years. We also developed and produced two ongoing content marketing publications, the technology and business focused quarterly Solve for Time Warner Cable, as well as a human resources magazine for TriNet HR Solutions. We developed a new magazine for the Mind & Life Institute centered around mindfulness; and designed alumni magazines for top educational institutions including Babson College and the University of Northern Colorado. For each of these projects, we directed an overall design or redesign, and then art directed and produced the publications on an ongoing basis.

Take a look through the sample galleries below, and if you have a magazine redesign, new launch, or ongoing design project you'd like to discuss or are looking for contract magazine design expertise, please contact us.

John was the founding Design Director for this new magazine launch that was aimed at college students and recent graduates. The magazine, which contained a mix of career information, lifestyle, and even fashion had a circulation of one-million copies, and was honored as a national finalist for Best New Magazine Design in the Folio Ozzie Awards in 2001 and was featured in Print's Regional Design Annual. The magazine featured the work of some of the top young illustrators and photographers in the country during its short three-year run.

John was the Senior Art Director at Cadmus Custom Publishing (later Pohly & Partners) with his primary responsibility as lead art director of Continental magazine, the inflight publication of Continental Airlines. John directed a redesign and rebranding of the magazine, oversaw a staff of junior designers, and also supervised the design of a standalone inflight entertainment magazine. During John's 4-year tenure, the magazine was honored with several Ozzie Awards, an Astrid Award and a Golden Bell Award for Best Overall Inflight Magazine, and a Lowell Thomas Award for Best Use of Photography.

John was the Art Director for this national running magazine for two years. The magazine was nominated for several Ozzie Awards, and the Bones feature shown below [featuring the work of illustrator Anthony Freda] won the top award for Best Use of Illustration.