Jerk Magazine is the premiere student-run publication at Syracuse University focusing on culture, music, and style. The magazine releases a monthly print magazine each semester and publishes digital articles weekly. I worked for the magazine since October 2018 as a digital illustrator and worked my way up to creative director for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Roles: Creative Director, Digital Design Director, Designer, Illustrator
Client: Jerk Magazine
Creative Direction
As creative director for the 2021-2022 academic year, I worked to create consistency across the spreads and between the issues by strengthening the organization and developing a strong stylistic approach. My co-director and I established an improved logo, new typography system, and color scheme. We also refreshed the designs for all recurring pages.
During my time as a creative director, I oversaw the art and design for the November, December, March, and June print issues.
Timeline: September 2021-May 2022
In order to begin crafting our creative vision for Jerk Magazine, my co-director and I constructed a design brief which included Jerk's objectives, audience, message and brand/visual voice words. We aimed to honor the sentiments and values of previous issues while adapting the aesthetic to our personal styles. From here we developed a mood board, color scheme, typographic system, and modified the logo.
Visual Voice Words:
Bold
Dynamic
Vibrant
Arresting
Human
Eclectic
Diverse
Brand Voice Words:
Free
Funky
Unique
Honest
Striking
Original logo
New logo
Spread Design
Over the course of my time at Jerk Magazine, I've also been involved with illustrating and designing individual pages for the print magazines.
Timeline: September 2020-May 2022
The Real Flavor of Syracuse article opening spread Illustrations and layout design for the December issue of Jerk Magazine (2021)
The Real Flavor of Syracuse article Illustration and layout design for the December issue of Jerk Magazine (2021)
Article illustrations
Social Posts
After my first year at Jerk Magazine, I became one of the digital design directors which involved periodically designing social posts for the Instagram account. Below is a sample of posts I designed for @jerkmagazine.
Timeline: September 2019-May 2022
World Autism Awareness Day
Jerk is Hiring
Podcast Promo
Black Lives Matter
Print is Hiring
Jerk is Hiring
Covid Safety
Black History Month
Web Article Illustrations
When I started out at Jerk Magazine, my role involved creating illustrations for web articles. Below is a sample of digital illustrations I created for the Jerk Magazine website.
Timeline: October 2018-May 2021
