About, Contact

Marc Jonathan Costello is an art and design director operating 
in Sonoma County and NYC with a focus on brand identity, editorial design, and 
creative strategy. 

He is currently Art Director 
at Jewish Currents, and 
formerly Art Director at ALTR Studio





















Work

  1. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
    Membership Redesign
  2. Jewish Currents
    Brand & Editorial Redesign
  3. Nokomis
    Brand Design
  4. Strange Lands Brand & Packaging  
  5. Michael Kors 360 Camapign
  6. Erica Dawn Lyle Album Design 
  7. MAC Cosmetics Retail 
  8. After October 7 Book Design 
  9. Commune Magazine
  10. PopSockets
    Art Direction & Digital
  11. San Diego RV Resort
    Brand Refresh & Digital
  12. Dianna Settles Printer Matter & Wall Art  

For inquiries, collaborations, or 
recommendations for goat feed
    Get in touchjc@othercreative.co




8. Commune Magazine 

Brand  Design Brand StrategyEditorial DesignArt Direction



Juxtaposing history with pop culture, for a theory and analysis publication as a lifestyle magazine.
  

As Brand Designer for Commune, I partnered with stakeholders, and built the brand’s DNA, character, positioning, look and feel, and art direction. I established a visual identity with its winks to journalism and radical history. A series of hi/low juxtapositions and historical references create a graphic language that answers the stakeholders call for a radical popular journal which could feel at home in the same browser tab as Teen Vogue or Nylon, as it would alongside Jacobin or the Nation. While the brand’s business strategy hinged on sitting within the ecosystem, the art and design direction aimed to stand out amongst political publications that had no taste. Resting on the pillars “critical, insightful, solid, and passionate”, I helped drive the magazine’s popular direction, recommending features in longform theory content, alongside art directed editorial photography, and curated film, and music reviews.    

Leading with the wordmark, the visual identity features an italic O, emphasizing the prefix “co” in commune, and drawing on the etymology as “being-together.” The fundamentally disturbed letterforms of the wordmark and masthead create contrast with the pop culture color palette and strong photo art direction. I used elegant roman typography alongside heavyweight extended geometric sans, using oversized type moments to create form throughout my editorial design system. My art direction was inspired heavily by ‘70s era counterculture publications in the US and UK, and photography was treated to feel a sense of optimism and yearning. 

The result is a brand that breaks graphic conventions for political publications, while swimming within the sea of the millennial left media ecosystem, growing rapidly at its launch and first year.



Creative Direction:
Addie Tinnel  Collaborator:
Tom Fosse, Designer