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.
Lucky Peach tribute spread (RIP).
StarChefs has a large cookbook library. This was inspired by the 1955 Esquire cookbook, illustrated by the late great Charmatz.
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.
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.
This feature has a ton of fun hand-lettering and illustration.
This issue has a lot of great details, like this little portrait of a sommelier on the corner of a recipe page.
This feature on making noodles had gorgeous step-by-step photos that I wanted to put front and center.
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.
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.
I also designed assets for the events that celebrate the magazine release, including signage, wayfinding, menus, and floormaps.
Editor: Caroline Hatchett
Photo Editor: Briana Balducci
Cover Illustration: Rachel Jablonski
All photos by Briana Balducci