Book of Lists 2020-2021
The theme for the Washington Business Journal’s annual Book of Lists (a publication filled with every business List for the year of 2020) was Year of Resilience. I art directed the photo shoots and designed the entire book.
The concept
We decided to invite six local business leaders of color to stand on the new Black Lives Matter Plaza in order to shed light on the region’s diverse local businesses. We chose Black Lives Matter Plaza as it was the city’s symbol of racial justice in 2020. I art directed the photo shoots with our staff photographer, Eman Mohammed. We had to be careful to keep everyone at least 6 feet apart, to follow protocol during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The production
The book itself took months to produce, since I had to coordinate with the printer, advertising reps, and editorial staff. I tested about three photos in the cover spot before settling on the final version. The cover itself was two pages, with the second page folded to be pulled out to show the rest of the image. We specifically chose an image with the business leaders grouped on the first page to show who we were featuring, and have the empty portion of BLM Plaza with the White House fence in view to show the scene. (Timeline: 3 months)
Chapter pages
Each business owner appeared on a List chapter page with a short write-up about their work in the community. We played with tight and loose shots to have variety in the pages. Some photos were on BLM Plaza, while others were on the rooftop of a nearby building in order to get a different view of the street. (Timeline: 1 week)
Instagram posts
I re-produced every chapter page and the front cover to run as individual posts on Instagram. The write-up on their business was included, along with the chapter page they appeared on. (Timeline: 1 day)
