The Press requested that I design and format the Compendium for the 2023 Annual Estimate of the Strategic Security Environment.
Main header graphic based on a poster I designed (reused in 2024). The formatting is clean, on-brand, nicely styled, and easy to read.
Redesign and Update the 2021 Stair Builders Visual Interpretation Guide
The previous version had been laid out poorly, many illustrations had to be recreated, and much of the text was either unstyled (random styles applied to various sections), or the text was outlined and uneditable. They needed me to reformat the entire publication, edit or update numerous illustrations*, relabel all images, to make it easier for their consumers to read and for future updates to be made.
Outcome
Cleaner design that could then be updated for future releases. As this is a product they sell on their site (and it’s quite large), I have only included sample pages from the book featuring some layout examples, and a few of the illustrations* I created.
Challenge
The publication series relied on a generic template that offered little visual distinction between titles and did not support broader marketing efforts.
Solution
Proposed and developed a cohesive cover system, redesigned interior templates, updated front and back matter, and expanded the visual identity into promotional graphics and launch materials.
Outcome
The redesigned system became the ongoing standard for the publication series and continues to be used today.
The Press had debated redesigning its logo for years, even before I started working with the. Then, following the Army Rebranding, I was given the green light to come up with new logo concepts.
The logo set at left below is the final selection. The flip book is filled with the runners-up that made it past the initial stage.
At right are some concepts I pitched to replace the old (and current) SSI logo, below. SSI decided to keep the old version, so I refined the old/current version into a clean and precise vector graphic.
The SSI Live Podcast was overdue for a rebrand, but its host had refused. When the Army released their new design guidelines in 2024, I was given the task of designing something he would accept.
The left (orange) was the original, and I create eight different designs with color variations for him to choose from. The one on the right was his final selection.
Below are the ones I liked best of the options I provided. When I submitted them for consideration, I admittedly tried to tile the scales by marking my preferred options as “Suggestions 1 & 2”, but he didn’t care for those.
When the Press decided to release a companion podcasts for Parameters, the director described what he wanted. The image below is the first round of options, we then landed on the version at right. Originally it had the old Press and SSI emblems, but we rebranded it slightly to meet the 2024 Army guidelines.
Initially the plan was for just a custom cover for a handbook written in partnership with NATO. The design collateral expanded to include a promotional video and graphics for the book launch, followed by a webinar, all of which I published to the USAWC SSI website (US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute). It was also released on the USAWC Press digital commons site and social media channels.
This book focuses on AI, drones, space, and technology. The author requested futuristic style cover showing a satellite and astronaut, or something similar. As it was in partnership with NATO, it would need that seal in addition to SSI/Press logos.
I sought relevant imagery, edited and combined them in Photoshop to make them more interesting and impactful, then developed the layouts using Illustrator and InDesign (the title format and cover layout are based on previous projects from the rebranding I implemented for the Press, more on that later).
The author liked the eerie feeling elicited by the 4th version, and asked that I continue that vibe with the promo video. She wanted it “creepier”, so after a few design tweaks, I used the book cover background to create a 16:9 graphic for the announcement page’s featured image on the SSI site, on social media, and as the video thumbnail for YouTube.
For the book launch promotional video, I first curated dozens of media clips and music, then used Adobe PremierPro to stitch them together. After blending the scenes together using different overlays, effects, and transitions – all in-sync with a haunting soundtrack – I ended the video with a book mockup graphic, link, credits to clip sources, and stakeholder logos. The author was delighted, as was the team at SSI.
Although the thumbnail is the same here, this video is for the book launch webinar, which I edited to improve sound levels, add speaker titles, focus on / crop and relocate speakers, and add text slides.* Lastly, I split the promo video to serve as both intro and outro.
*She had not used a slide deck on the live event, so I also reworked her PowerPoint presentation to improve appearance and legibility, but without changing the overall style.
The full webinar and book are available on the SSI site (which I redesigned and maintained until summer 2025).