Reach 2023

Creative Direction | Publication Leadership | Storytelling

REACH is CIFAR’s flagship publication showcasing the ideas, discoveries and people across its global research community. For the 2023 edition, we saw an opportunity to rethink the publication, creating a more contemporary editorial experience and a stronger platform for telling the stories of CIFAR researchers around the world.

As the in-house creative lead, I worked closely with the publication’s editor from the outset to plan the issue, establish production schedules and determine the budget and creative resources required to bring it to life.

This issue won an IABC/Toronto OVATION Award of Merit in the Publications category and a CPRS Best Publication Bronze Award.

Editorial & Creative Direction

I led a redesign of the publication, developing a new visual approach that would strengthen the relationship between editorial content, photography and illustration while giving individual stories their own distinct identities within a cohesive publication.

Working closely with the editor, I helped translate story concepts into visual approaches and determine where original photography, illustration or other creative treatments would best support the content.

I commissioned and worked with illustrators and photographers to develop original creative for the issue, providing direction and feedback throughout the production process to ensure the work supported both the editorial concepts and CIFAR’s broader brand.

Global Production

With researchers located around the world, producing original photography required significant coordination.

I identified and worked with photographers in different locations and organized shoots directly with CIFAR researchers, coordinating schedules and production requirements across geographies. I developed creative concepts and provided direction to photographers to ensure that imagery produced remotely still felt consistent with the overall vision for the publication.

Throughout production, I worked in close partnership with the editor to manage schedules, creative development and approvals while overseeing the publication budget and external creative resources.

The Result

The redesigned REACH established a refreshed editorial and visual direction for the publication, bringing together original journalism, photography and illustration to showcase CIFAR’s research community and make complex ideas engaging for a broader audience.

The new approach created a flexible editorial system that could give individual stories their own visual character while maintaining a cohesive experience across the publication.