Personal • 2012-Present
Analog Magazine
Role(s): Lead Designer, Creator, Art Director
Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to design a magazine of my own. I grew up reading the likes of EGM, PSM, OXM, Gameinformer, EDGE, NextGen, the list goes on. These magazines (and other non-gaming entities like WIRED, GQ, and The New Yorker) formed a love of editorial design in me that hasn't left me to this day.
So I went on my journey of trying to come up with a magazine and eventually landed on calling it Analog. With print perpetually on the verge of death, I thought having this magazine as an "Analog" to a forgotten time of print games media would be a good basis for a new brand of this kind and as an homage to that time.
My responsibilities:
• Magazine masthead
• Magazine layout
• Promotional strategy/execution
• Print strategy/execution
With Analog i wanted the brand and its layouts to be the place where i could explore visual styles and motifs i wouldn’t normally produce for IGN, GameSpot or other more "traditional" and safe media brands.
Starting with its custom typographic logo, i wanted to make something that stood out from the crowd the moment you saw it and really spoke to the visual flair I wanted to imbue within the brand and its magazine. Throughout its many iterations I have tried to maintain a philosophy of heavy geometric shape use, bold colors and even bolder use of typography.
The original pstb tumblr blog
the first covers for analog's precursor, PSTB
An early spread from what would have been pstb magazine
PSTB is where this whole thing initially even began. When i was just starting out in art school i had the idea (as many did at the time) to start a gaming and entertainment blog on tumblr. Since i was studying graphic design i had the ability to give some branding a go and came up with the initial start of my magazine journey.
I ended up going away from PSTB as a name just because it was very long and taken by quite a few people already. But it made for some fun initial explorations and gave me the spark to push forward into more editorial endeavors
some of the alt explorations before the geometric one you see now
the original tracing and alignment of the analog letterforms
some variations of the geometric logo
To say it was a short process getting here would be a massive understatement. Ive probably been developing this logo no joke for about 4-5 years now in my off time when i can. Since this logo lives as the masthead of the magazine i wanted to try getting it as close to perfect as i could
Once i landed on the geometric version and started to explore the connections of the letterforms everything started to click. Still even with how long the process to get there was it was well worth the effort to get there.
the "AN" sub logo
The primary analog masthead logo
The final logos as seen above are a labor of love and many hours spent tweaking the difference between a 45 degree angle and a 60. Rarely in my career have i been as proud of a final logo than i am with this one. I believe it represents a bold, eye catching and strong mark for any publication to utilize and i have so many ideas for how to expand it even further from here
The sub logo i developed from just the "AN" of analog us something i use throughout the magazines design and as a reminder of the brand where the full logo being present isn’t as necessary
spread made as i played through lis true colors
One of the ways i would motivate myself to make new spreads was by putting myself in the mindset of a game s journalist and as i play through my favorite games of the year i would write down notes and story beats and imagery that would make for an engaging spread of a magazine
The spread you see above is a key example of that. I always utilize my own screenshots into the piece for that more editorial touch. Putting myself through this exercise usually allows me to keep pushing myself to make new analog spreads regularly which keeps my senses sharper and more in tune
interior spread featuring half life's gordon freeman
interior spread for analog about half life
opening spread for an analog story on half life 2's impact
Half Life 2 is my favorite game of all time, and being such a monumental force in the industry it makes for a great subject to design for. The series has a wealth of art and ideas to riff on and i feel inspired to make designs due to that passion i have for it.
As shown, i have a strong feeling of how typography is used in a magazine and feel as if it can always be your strongest core element to make any design thrive. Throughout these Half Life spreads and others you’ll see, typography is a key element if not THE key element in my designs
opening spread for anAlog story on the duality of ABBY and ellie from tlou2
Another idea for a story on analog that related to a play-through i was doing at the time of TLoU2. It was a game that inspired me so much creatively (while being horribly depressing) and i just felt the need to make a feature around it. Big surprise i ended up utilizing a strong typographic intro to the piece while playing to the tonality of the games protagonist/antagonist
analog cover for death loop
analog cover for halo infinite
Giant Bomb 2022
Like I have always said with Analog, it is an outlet for me to explore the types of designs i would normally be restricted from producing for more traditional media. These covers in particular was an example of that. I went maximalist with the approach and maintained the use of geometric shapes of the logo to work as my texture.
With both of these (and the Life is Strange example below) I feel like i was able to flex a side of my more exploratory side of design. It speaks to the type of design i want Analog to strive to achieve now and in the future. I never want the magazine to feel like its caught in the past
a gathering of cover options ive made over the years
Cover designs in publication design are probably most of what drew me to this type of work in the first place. The cover of a magazine can be everything between someone's interest being sparked in the first place to pick up yours over any of the 100 other magazines that exist in this landscape
As you saw above I keep trying to push these covers forward in a way that keeps Analog fresh and exciting. I hope to continue that evolution for years to come and for the hopeful printing of a magazine in the near future
bomber jacket for analog staff
I have always thought the idea of a bomber jacket for staff of a magazine or editorial entity would be a bold and fun way to show off the place you work for. The idea with this would be to even produce a version where the gold of the inner analog logo is made from gold foil.
As with my many projects over the years apparel usually finds a way into them and Analog was no different here