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Year in Review
Telling California’s story through data and design
Visit California’s annual publication, offering a dynamic snapshot of the organization’s campaigns, initiatives, and successes from the past year. Designed to inform and inspire their members, the magazine pairs compelling metrics and insights with bold photography and thoughtful design. Our team crafted a visually engaging, editorial-style piece that not only celebrates the impact of Visit California’s work but also reinforces its forward-thinking brand.
Client
Visit California
Role
Art Director / Lead Designer
Services
Brand development
Publication design
Production assistance
My Work
Bio / Resume
© 2025 Stellmach Design. All rights reserved.
Collaborate
Visualizing a year of success
Each year begins with the development of three distinct visual identities, each crafted to reflect the tone and spirit of Visit California’s past year. These concepts explore different storytelling approaches—balancing data, narrative, and emotion through layout, typography, and imagery. We build each direction using a mix of custom and stock photography to bring the vision to life. Once a concept is selected, we expand it into a cohesive publication system, creating a consistent and flexible standard that guides the full editorial buildout.
Time to press play
This year’s theme, “Press Play,” brought a vibrant and playful energy to the publication—perfectly aligning with Visit California’s overarching campaign, The Ultimate Playground. The title offered a clever nod to both the idea of reviewing the year’s accomplishments and the spirit of adventure that defines travel in California. Visually, the theme came to life through bold, overlapping play button–inspired arrows, dynamic gradients, and inclusive, immersive photography. Together, these elements created a design language that invited readers to jump in, explore, and rediscover California as the ultimate place to hit play—no matter their travel style.
Designing with purpose and partnership
With a chosen visual direction in place, we move into full publication layout—translating strategy into page-by-page design. Throughout this phase, we collaborate closely with Visit California’s copywriters, communications and marketing teams, and executive leadership to ensure the content is both informative and engaging. Our process is structured around clearly defined phases, allowing us to maintain momentum, hit key milestones, and deliver a polished publication on time and on budget.
This publication is a chance to showcase all the hard work our organization does each year to promote tourism throughout our state. Working with a professional design team enables us to focus on telling an impactful story.
Sarah Gilbert
Communications Manager, Visit California
2,500+
copies printed & distributed
1,800
industry members
6+
collaborative departments
By the numbers
(case studies)
Branding / Environmental / Campaign
Other work
Branding / Sales enablement
Branding / Environmental / Guidelines
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