The Business of Holidays

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A colourful examination of how holiday celebrations in the United States help drive the nation’s economy

During my MFA course at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the consumerism of US holidays came under discussion with one question that started it all: Did Coca-Cola invent Santa Claus?** From that point onwards, we started an in-depth and rather fun examination of corporations’ hold on holidays. I moved from writing about one holiday to writing about five and the book’s editor, professor Maud Lavin, made me Senior Writer and then Associate Editor as I got more involved in the editing of the book under her guidance. This was my first major graphic design project as well – leaning on my more experienced counterparts, I learned about book layouts through the design of seven of 37 of the book’s holiday layouts. Out of The Business of Holidays, my love of illustrated book publishing and book design was born. Favourite moments on this project included being able to ask the very serious question: “Does that fake vomit look OK?”, and long laughter-filled editing sessions with Maud and the rest of the team.

**No, but they helped to shape his spiffy modern image

SUMMARY | Role: Associate Editor, Senior Writer, Co-Designer
Published by: Monacelli Press, New York, 2004
Edited by: Maud Lavin
Co-designers: Alyson Beaton, Amy Fidler, Benjamin Finch, and Jason Warriner

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