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Starchefs
Rising Stars Magazine:
colorado
ART DIRECTION
EDITORIAL DESIGN
ILLUSTRATION
ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHIC DESIGN
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Rising Stars is a culinary trade magazine published quarterly by StarChefs, celebrating the most innovative young culinary talent in the featured region. I had just come off of re-designing the entire magazine several weeks prior, and was ready to expand on the innovations of the previous issue. I designed, laid out, illustrated, and art directed this entire 96-page issue in three weeks. Every page is designed by me, and I provided every illustration in the interior (except the illustrations on pages 70 and 81, which are by my talented intern Katie Danaher).
I also provided art direction for the cover, which was produced by Colorado illustrator Rachel Jablonski. The cover is a play on the Colorado flag (it's everywhere in Denver!) and Finnan Haddie, a traditional Colorado dish of crescent shaped bread and smoked fish.
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Lucky Peach tribute spread (RIP).
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StarChefs has a large cookbook library. This was inspired by the 1955 Esquire cookbook, illustrated by the late great Charmatz.
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The bulk of Rising Stars is bios of the winners and their signature dishes.
It is always a challenge to make them flow, stay consistent, but remain engaging.
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I developed an elegant type system for Rising Stars that is extremely flexible, readable, and pairs well with a variety of illustration and design styles, including hand-lettered titles.
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This feature has a ton of fun hand-lettering and illustration.
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This issue has a lot of great details, like this little portrait of a sommelier on the corner of a recipe page.
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This feature on making noodles had gorgeous step-by-step photos that I wanted to put front and center.
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Because timelines in the magazine industry are always super tight, I generally illustrate digitally. I wanted these illustrations to have a hand-painted look, so I gave them a lot of textural details so they felt handmade.
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Modern Colorado cuisine is a mix of the old-school, earthy Colorado spirit with modern, global techniques. I combined woodsy, kitchy illustrations and colors with clean shapes to communicate this visually. The circles used throughout and the way they overlap is a reference to the Venn diagram of the elements of Colorado cooking, drawn originally by the chef featured in this spread.
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I also designed assets for the events that celebrate the magazine release, including signage, wayfinding, menus, and floormaps.
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Editor: Caroline Hatchett
Photo Editor: Briana Balducci
Cover Illustration: Rachel Jablonski
All photos by Briana Balducci