Will Michigan Be A Climate Haven?
— 2025
Created a custom illustrated visual system and editorial layouts for an eight-page feature exploring how climate change is reshaping where people choose to live, using abstract environmental patterns and topographic forms to reinforce the story’s themes of movement, transition, and adaptation.
CLIENT —
University of Michigan, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
MY ROLE —
Illustration, Graphic Design, Editorial Design, Art Direction, Web Design
This story received a Gold Circle of Excellence Award at CASE in the category of Design/Illustration.
MORE INFO —
For the Will Michigan Be a Climate Haven? feature in LSA Magazine, I developed the visual direction and designed the eight-page editorial spread. The concept centered on a custom illustration style that combined layered textures, patterns, and color to represent different climate events and environmental conditions. Abstract visual elements, such as tornado-inspired triangles, flood-like droplets, and flowing topographic lines, created a continuous landscape that guided readers through the story. As the feature followed the migration from California to Michigan, the illustrations evolved alongside the narrative, transitioning from West Coast climate challenges to those more common in the Midwest. Shifting color palettes, directional graphics, and integrated typographic treatments reinforced themes of relocation, environmental change, and the increasingly complex relationship between people and place.
The visual system is built around the idea of movement, using abstract topographic forms and environmental patterns to represent the evolving effects of climate change. Layered linework, organic textures, and symbolic weather-inspired shapes create a continuous illustration that spans the entire feature, allowing the artwork to function as both a storytelling device and a navigational element.
CONCEPT SKETCHES
As readers move through the article, the visual language shifts geographically from West Coast climate conditions to those of the Midwest, reflecting the changing landscape and reinforcing themes of migration, adaptation, and uncertainty.
FINAL SPREADS
