Role: Lead Designer / Brand Development
Scope: Brand Identity • Editorial Systems • Information Architecture • Environmental Concepts • Collateral • Merchandising • Social Systems
OVERVIEW
Philadelphia Weekly was a regional lifestyle publication reaching more than 500,000 monthly digital readers, distributed through 1,600 locations across nine counties and supported by 600+ branded street boxes throughout the Philadelphia region.
As the publication evolved from an alternative newsweekly into a premium city culture and lifestyle magazine, leadership sought a refreshed visual identity that maintained recognition with longtime readers while signaling a more modern editorial direction.
The challenge extended beyond designing a logo:
How do you modernize a recognizable media brand without losing the familiarity and cultural credibility that made it iconic?
THE CHALLENGE
Philly Weekly was shifting from a traditional alternative newspaper into a more energetic, lifestyle-driven publication focused on helping readers discover where to eat, shop, experience, and engage across Philadelphia.
The existing identity no longer reflected the publication’s ambition.
The rebrand needed to:
Signal a more modern editorial experience
Increase visibility and recognition at street level and on shelves
Maintain familiarity with longtime readers
Scale across editorial, promotional, environmental, and digital touchpoints
Reflect the personality, energy, and attitude of Philadelphia itself
The system also needed to function inside a demanding weekly production environment—remaining highly recognizable across fast-turn covers, dense layouts, advertising systems, and public-facing applications.
THE OPPORTUNITY
An internal company-wide logo competition invited designers to present concepts directly on a magazine cover. My broader brand vision was selected and became the new identity for Philadelphia Weekly.
Rather than delivering only a logo, I developed a scalable brand ecosystem that demonstrated how the identity could extend across editorial, environmental, transit, merchandise, and promotional applications.
Results:
The redesigned identity launched publicly, appeared across 27 consecutive published issues, became the face of Philly Weekly’s editorial relaunch, and earned a Professional Keystone Press Award — Second Place, Front Page Design (2016).
DESIGN PROCESS
Research & Audit
Assessed existing brand recognition, editorial direction, audience familiarity, and weekly production realities.
Strategy & Exploration
Developed multiple logo directions focused on evolution over reinvention—ensuring the brand felt refreshed without losing recognition.
Core Identity Development
Integrated the Philadelphia skyline directly into the wordmark, refining typography, hierarchy, and scalable lockups to create an unmistakably local identity.
System Building
Expanded the identity into a flexible framework for covers, classifieds, environmental graphics, transit, collateral, merchandise, and social applications.
Application & Testing
Explored real-world implementation through publication boxes, transit concepts, dense editorial environments, and promotional systems to ensure scalability and production viability.
STRATEGIC APPROACH
The strategy focused on evolution over reinvention.
To preserve recognition, I retained Philly Weekly’s recognizable PW Yellow and editorial energy while introducing a bolder, more premium identity system designed to feel unmistakably local.
The Philadelphia skyline was woven directly into the wordmark, transforming the logo into both a recognizable masthead and a visual representation of the publication’s role as a guide to city culture.
The Goal: Bold. Local. Immediate. Unmistakably Philly.
Equally important, the system had to perform within a demanding weekly editorial workflow—remaining flexible across covers, information-dense layouts, advertising systems, and public-facing applications.
EXECUTION
Implemented
Editorial cover system across 27 consecutive published issues
Publication masthead integration
Publication-wide visual refresh
Classified information architecture redesign
Branded editorial navigation systems
Print identity implementation across weekly production
Proposed Brand Ecosystem Expansion
Street-level publication box redesign concepts
Environmental and transit advertising applications
Promotional merchandise system
Branded collateral system
Scalable social media framework
Modular promotional templates for food, arts, events, neighborhoods, and city culture
EDITORIAL SYSTEMS & INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
One of my most impactful contributions at Philly Weekly was redesigning the publication’s classified ecosystem—a dense, revenue-generating section requiring balance between advertiser visibility, readability, and organization.
Rather than approaching the work as production design, I treated it as an information architecture challenge.
I introduced:
Clearer hierarchy and branded navigation
Stronger visual organization
Modular layout systems
Consistent branded templates
Improved readability within dense editorial environments
What had previously functioned as purely utilitarian pages became more recognizable, navigable, and visually aligned with the broader Philly Weekly brand.
BRAND SYSTEM EXPANSION
To demonstrate how the refreshed identity could extend beyond print, I developed a broader ecosystem of brand applications including publication boxes, transit advertising, merchandise, outdoor concepts, and a scalable social media system.
The social framework translated Philly Weekly’s editorial voice into platform-native content—creating modular templates for promoting food, arts, events, neighborhoods, and city culture while maintaining consistency across channels.
Designed to feel: Immediate. Local. Discoverable. Unmistakably Philly.
While not every concept was fully implemented following a company acquisition, the work demonstrated a larger strategic vision for how the identity could scale cohesively across editorial, environmental, and digital touchpoints.
RECOGNITION
Professional Keystone Press Award — Second Place, Front Page Design (2016)
The redesigned identity system powered the award-winning front page recognized during Philly Weekly’s editorial relaunch—demonstrating the brand’s ability to perform within high-impact editorial storytelling.
OUTCOME
The redesigned identity proved flexible and scalable within a fast-paced weekly editorial environment, successfully modernizing a legacy media brand while preserving audience recognition, editorial credibility, and local cultural relevance.
Following a company acquisition, new ownership ultimately reverted to the legacy identity due to broader operational considerations. Even so, the project remains a strong example of how strategic design can modernize an established media brand while honoring its heritage.
project gallery
Role: Lead Designer / Brand Development
Scope: Brand Identity • Editorial Systems • Information Architecture • Environmental Concepts • Collateral • Merchandising • Social Systems
OVERVIEW
Philadelphia Weekly was a regional lifestyle publication reaching more than 500,000 monthly digital readers, distributed through 1,600 locations across nine counties and supported by 600+ branded street boxes throughout the Philadelphia region.
As the publication evolved from an alternative newsweekly into a premium city culture and lifestyle magazine, leadership sought a refreshed visual identity that maintained recognition with longtime readers while signaling a more modern editorial direction.
The challenge extended beyond designing a logo:
How do you modernize a recognizable media brand without losing the familiarity and cultural credibility that made it iconic?
THE CHALLENGE
Philly Weekly was shifting from a traditional alternative newspaper into a more energetic, lifestyle-driven publication focused on helping readers discover where to eat, shop, experience, and engage across Philadelphia.
The existing identity no longer reflected the publication’s ambition.
The rebrand needed to:
Signal a more modern editorial experience
Increase visibility and recognition at street level and on shelves
Maintain familiarity with longtime readers
Scale across editorial, promotional, environmental, and digital touchpoints
Reflect the personality, energy, and attitude of Philadelphia itself
The system also needed to function inside a demanding weekly production environment—remaining highly recognizable across fast-turn covers, dense layouts, advertising systems, and public-facing applications.
THE OPPORTUNITY
An internal company-wide logo competition invited designers to present concepts directly on a magazine cover. My broader brand vision was selected and became the new identity for Philadelphia Weekly.
Rather than delivering only a logo, I developed a scalable brand ecosystem that demonstrated how the identity could extend across editorial, environmental, transit, merchandise, and promotional applications.
Results:
The redesigned identity launched publicly, appeared across 27 consecutive published issues, became the face of Philly Weekly’s editorial relaunch, and earned a Professional Keystone Press Award — Second Place, Front Page Design (2016).
DESIGN PROCESS
Research & Audit
Assessed existing brand recognition, editorial direction, audience familiarity, and weekly production realities.
Strategy & Exploration
Developed multiple logo directions focused on evolution over reinvention—ensuring the brand felt refreshed without losing recognition.
Core Identity Development
Integrated the Philadelphia skyline directly into the wordmark, refining typography, hierarchy, and scalable lockups to create an unmistakably local identity.
System Building
Expanded the identity into a flexible framework for covers, classifieds, environmental graphics, transit, collateral, merchandise, and social applications.
Application & Testing
Explored real-world implementation through publication boxes, transit concepts, dense editorial environments, and promotional systems to ensure scalability and production viability.
STRATEGIC APPROACH
The strategy focused on evolution over reinvention.
To preserve recognition, I retained Philly Weekly’s recognizable PW Yellow and editorial energy while introducing a bolder, more premium identity system designed to feel unmistakably local.
The Philadelphia skyline was woven directly into the wordmark, transforming the logo into both a recognizable masthead and a visual representation of the publication’s role as a guide to city culture.
The Goal: Bold. Local. Immediate. Unmistakably Philly.
Equally important, the system had to perform within a demanding weekly editorial workflow—remaining flexible across covers, information-dense layouts, advertising systems, and public-facing applications.
EXECUTION
Implemented
Editorial cover system across 27 consecutive published issues
Publication masthead integration
Publication-wide visual refresh
Classified information architecture redesign
Branded editorial navigation systems
Print identity implementation across weekly production
Proposed Brand Ecosystem Expansion
Street-level publication box redesign concepts
Environmental and transit advertising applications
Promotional merchandise system
Branded collateral system
Scalable social media framework
Modular promotional templates for food, arts, events, neighborhoods, and city culture
EDITORIAL SYSTEMS & INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
One of my most impactful contributions at Philly Weekly was redesigning the publication’s classified ecosystem—a dense, revenue-generating section requiring balance between advertiser visibility, readability, and organization.
Rather than approaching the work as production design, I treated it as an information architecture challenge.
I introduced:
Clearer hierarchy and branded navigation
Stronger visual organization
Modular layout systems
Consistent branded templates
Improved readability within dense editorial environments
What had previously functioned as purely utilitarian pages became more recognizable, navigable, and visually aligned with the broader Philly Weekly brand.
BRAND SYSTEM EXPANSION
To demonstrate how the refreshed identity could extend beyond print, I developed a broader ecosystem of brand applications including publication boxes, transit advertising, merchandise, outdoor concepts, and a scalable social media system.
The social framework translated Philly Weekly’s editorial voice into platform-native content—creating modular templates for promoting food, arts, events, neighborhoods, and city culture while maintaining consistency across channels.
Designed to feel: Immediate. Local. Discoverable. Unmistakably Philly.
While not every concept was fully implemented following a company acquisition, the work demonstrated a larger strategic vision for how the identity could scale cohesively across editorial, environmental, and digital touchpoints.
RECOGNITION
Professional Keystone Press Award — Second Place, Front Page Design (2016)
The redesigned identity system powered the award-winning front page recognized during Philly Weekly’s editorial relaunch—demonstrating the brand’s ability to perform within high-impact editorial storytelling.
OUTCOME
The redesigned identity proved flexible and scalable within a fast-paced weekly editorial environment, successfully modernizing a legacy media brand while preserving audience recognition, editorial credibility, and local cultural relevance.
Following a company acquisition, new ownership ultimately reverted to the legacy identity due to broader operational considerations. Even so, the project remains a strong example of how strategic design can modernize an established media brand while honoring its heritage.