Rap-Up is a magazine that I art directed and designed from 2005 through 2009.

The magazine ceased publication in 2009.

Beyond the print magazine, I also designed the publication’s website, social media ephemera, corporate identity, and print collateral.

It was pretty amazing to art direct a magazine that was on booksellers’ stands across North America, even if it largely didn’t reflect my tastes.

I did get to design the magazine’s boombox, one of which resides in my office and which I use as my speaker setup for my own ghost music practice.

Working on the magazine was interesting, because I was fresh out of school and I worked remotely on it.

I got to work out a lot of my early ideas about type and layout, but in the American vernacular.

It was a different time. The connections through Rap-Up helped me make a lot of different kinds of work for different folks.

I’m thankful for all of it.