I've had the great pleasure to work with editor James Carson and the team at Queen's Quarterly on their most recent covers. The Winter covers features the work of Bertrand Carrriere, a photographer everyone should know. Check him out: https://www.bertrandcarriere.com

How do you talk to first-year Queen's students about sexual harassment? With aliens, of course.

Terence Dickinson, Tracy Read, Susan Dickinson and I created a new book for Firefly Books. I love these guys, and it was a pleasure to work with them on this project. Thanks so much to the folks at Firefly for giving us the freedom to structure the book as we did and to pick our favourite photos from the thousands of exceptional images that the Hubble Space Telescope has produced over its lifetime.

One of the most creative partnerships I’ve had has been with the folk-pop duo Kris and Dee, who have pushed me not only to design their albums and packaging but to do promotional photography, direct music videos and to finally get back to illustration (with a little kicking and screaming from me). 

Their most recent album, the fantastic Browse Line, features rustic artwork by me throughout the packaging, promotion and merchandise. I’m honoured to have this work appear on such an amazing album. Have a listen, buy some merch, and support these incredible musicians! Visit: krisanddee.com

Canadian Wilderness/Toute Nature is the magazine of CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society). I’ve had the good fortune to work with this amazing group for a few years as the designer of their member magazine, and the heart and soul they put into education and advocacy for our land and water is inspiring. Please visit their site or attend one of their talks—I’m sure you’ll be inspired as well.

https://cpaws.org

Congratulations to my friend Pamela Cross, who has spent decades fighting for changes in the way our legal system works with women who are victims of violence. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Attorney General’s Victim Services Award of Distinction. In 2019, Pamela received the Lara Legge Award from the Law Society of Ontario as well as the Guthrie Award from the Law Foundation of Ontario. I’m proud to say I was able to participate in the groundbreaking work she does with Luke’s Place, an Oshawa, Ontario-based centre devoted “to improving the safety and experience of abused women and their children as they proceed through the family law process.” I designed a workbook titled Family Court and Beyond as well as an organizer that helps women navigate family law and court. Find out more here: lukesplace.ca

When I attended MagNet 2019 in Toronto this spring, a session with the Reader’s Digest art director, John Montgomery, finally helped me understand a trend in cover design that had been nagging at me: Why is everyone running tiny cover lines? I understand the appeal of a strong image—that’s been my calling card since I started designing award-winning covers for Equinox at the start of my career. I understand running the main cover line as big as possible, keeping in mind the hierarchy of information. But I’ve always felt that secondary and tertiary lines needed to be seen from a certain distance to give a magazine as much of a chance of grabbing that fleeting attention from a newsstand viewer. 

SkyNews is a great newsstand example. As a niche magazine and one without the money to spend on prime newsstand real estate (racks at the cash register, front of the shelves in the magazine areas), we are routinely placed low or high and at the back. Why wouldn’t we have bigger secondary cover lines in the areas where we peek through the stacks?

The answer? It all comes down to online representation of the cover, whether on a magazine’s site, social media or through digital magazine sellers. The cover icons are miniscule, so there’s really no point in having mid-sized headlines when all a potential online buyer will see is the cover artwork, the masthead and the main sell line. Thank you, John!