The challenge
Cognitive Times was SparkCognition's quarterly magazine about the state of AI, and it had to work as marketing without ever looking like it. If it read as a brochure, nobody would finish it. The design had to earn the credibility the content was claiming, and the publication had to be good enough that partners and industry figures wanted to appear in it.

The solution
Design it like a real magazine, not a piece of collateral. Editorial typography, generous pacing, commissioned art, and feature layouts that give the reporting room to breathe, so the AI coverage stands on its own and SparkCognition's role in the field registers as context rather than a pitch. The sophistication of the object is the argument. I art directed and designed the publication.