Field Notes Quarterly
- Client
- Field Notes Quarterly
- Role
- Art Director, Publication Design
- Year
- 2023
Field Notes Quarterly publishes four issues a year on the people, practices, and places at the center of independent land stewardship. The publication needed a visual identity that felt earned rather than designed: utilitarian at first glance, richly considered on closer inspection.
The art direction system balances a restricted type palette (two weights of one family throughout) against photography that goes deep where most editorial goes wide. Feature spreads use a 12-column grid with deliberate asymmetry. Pull quotes are set in the text face at display scale. Every issue ships with a hand-drawn field map insert. Paid circulation grew 34% in the two years following the redesign, and the 2023 issue received a National Magazine Award nomination for design.