Illuminate

October 12, 2022

Creating a journal cover is always a unique challenge—you have to capture the essence of an article and make it immediately eye-catching. For this piece, the assignment was to read the article and develop the imagery from scratch. The concept became a close-up of a gloved hand holding a vial of drawn blood. Simple, but striking.

The cover ended up bright, bold, and blue—designed to grab attention on a crowded newsstand or digital feed. Every detail mattered: the positioning of the hand, the reflections on the vial, and the sense of depth and focus that draws the eye in. The goal of a cover isn’t just to be accurate; it’s to stop someone in their tracks and make them want to take a closer look.

This cover was created in collaboration with Paul Wallen of Dog Ear Creative for the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center’s Illuminate Magazine, published annually. Working together allowed us to combine illustration and design seamlessly, ensuring the final image was both visually striking and aligned with the Center’s editorial vision.

Working on covers like this is a great reminder that sometimes the simplest concepts, executed with precision and a strong sense of color and composition, can have the biggest impact.