Pivotal Moments
Designed, edited and published by the New York Design Club × Ottawa Design Club
Pivotal Moments is a design-led editorial project exploring creative turning points through both content and form.
Conceived as a publishing and branding exercise, the zine brings together the New York Design Club and the Ottawa Design Club in a cross-border collaboration. The publication features thirty artists and designers, including Rich Tu, Barbiana Liu, Gemma O’Brien, Adhemas Batista, and Tala Rae Schlossberg, pairing short personal reflections with a highly considered visual system.
The book itself plays an active role in the storytelling. Special finishes, including clear and silver inks, are used to emphasize contrast, absence, and transformation, echoing the idea of pivotal moments as subtle but defining shifts. Typography, pacing, and layout were designed to feel restrained and intentional, allowing the narratives to breathe while maintaining a strong editorial identity and reinforcing the concept.
The project launched through two pop-up exhibitions in Brooklyn (October 8) and Ottawa (October 16), where large-scale poster installations extended the visual system beyond the page. Each event drew over 150 attendees and reinforced the project as both a publication and a physical brand experience.
Now circulating internationally, Pivotal Moments functions as a hybrid object, part editorial book, and part branding and community artifact, demonstrating how independent design communities can collaborate across borders through thoughtful design, material exploration, and shared authorship.
CREDIT
- Agency/Creative: New York Design Club & Ottawa Design Club
- Article Title: New York Design Club and the Ottawa Design Club Publishes Pivotal Moments as a Cross-Border Editorial Design Project
- Organisation/Entity: In-House
- Project Type: Writing
- Project Status: Published
- Agency/Creative Country: United States
- Agency/Creative City: New York
- Market Region: Europe, North America
- Project Deliverables: Art Direction, Brand Creation, Design, Editorial Design, Writing
- Industry: Non-Profit
- Keywords: Editorial design, design book, publishing, art book, branding
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Credits:
Art Direction: Caroline Sarrette
Art Direction: Isabelle Poirier
Editorial Design: Caroline Sarrette
Editorial Design: Isabelle Poirier
Editorial Design: Ariane Bedard
Book Curation: Caroline Sarrette
Book Curation: Isabelle Poirier
Exhibition Design: Caroline Sarrette
Exhibition Design: Isabelle Poirier
Exhibition Design: Ariane Bedard
Lead Editor: Julie Jacques
Copy Editor: Sabah Surat
Copy Editor: Jane Curtis
Copy Editor: Simone R. Brown
Copy Editor: Mollie McKinley
Copy Editor: Robynne Yokota
Book Photographer: uncommon.sessions
NY Event Photographer: Anais Livadas
