Family Circle Magazine: Editorial Design & Direction

Selected editorial work from various issues and magazine sections.
Tools Used: Adobe InDesign

The New Rules of Breast Cancer

Creative Direction and Layout
Illustrations by Oksana Barak

Captivating, Not Cliché

The art department wanted to break away from the typical portrayal of breast cancer stories seen in women’s magazines (i.e.- imagery of balloons, melons, pink ribbons, etc.). While we could not escape breasts themselves, I had pitched the idea to go the photo-illustrative approach. This approach took a delicate topic and made it visually stunning and inviting to read from start to finish.

Yass, Millennials!

To appeal to more millennial subscribers, the editorial and marketing team were looking to push the boundaries of the Family Circle brand for this September magazine issue. This edgy approach to illustration and layout was a way to break out of our normal conventions for a health story.

Showing Skin for a Skin Story?

…Groundbreaking! Amanda Lanzone’s illustration style lends playfulness to this feature-packed with critical information about skin health. I played with the scale of type throughout the layout to complement the illustrations and to keep the readers engaged. The type balanced with the art make your eyes keep moving around the page.

Your Skin From A to Z

Creative Direction, Art Direction and Layout Design
Illustrations by Amanda Lanzone

Build A Better Snack

Creative Direction, Art Direction, and Layout
Illustrations by Greg Kletsel

Quirky & Unconventional

The use of illustration for a food feature was unconventional for the magazine at the time. However, the opportunity presented itself with teen snacks for the splashy September “Back to School” issue. I chose to work with Greg Kletsel for this feature because his illustration style is quirky, yet accessible, making elevated snacks approachable for parents and teens.

The Argument for Illustration

Many recipes contain lengthy lists of ingredients, preparation details, and directions. When this is the case, photos are helpful because they inform the reader if they are making the recipe correctly. These “recipes” contain short lists of ingredients with no directions and recognizable ingredients. Therefore, it was the perfect opportunity to show full-page illustrations.

Stress Test

Creative Direction, Art Direction, and Layout Design
Illustrations by Jackie Ferrentino

This is Fine.

Since the flowchart was about stress, the popular Meme “This Is Fine” (shown below) came to mind while developing a creative direction for this layout.

Capturing Aingst & Pop Culture

I worked closely with Jackie to channel a similar energy in her illustrations. This comical approach made an article about stress fun, relatable, and current to memetic culture.