Independent brand designer Izzy Poirier leads a large-scale editorial project between the Ottawa Design Club and New York Design Club, building a story-led publication with silver and clear inks, lenticular inserts and a typographic system that mirrors the project’s core idea: meaning that is not immediately visible but revealed through engagement.
The conversation kept stopping at the polished outcome. Izzy Poirier and Caroline Sarrette, leading the Ottawa Design Club and New York Design Club, respectively, were both noticing the same thing in their speaker events and community conversations: the most defining moments in a creative’s life, the friction, the pivots, the points where everything changed, were rarely the part anyone led with. Pivotal Moments was built to centre exactly those moments.
The project began with over sixty conversations, drawn down through a curatorial process into thirty contributors whose stories formed the publication’s core. Unlike previous Ottawa Design Club publications focused primarily on visual work, this issue is story-led, requiring a design approach built to carry narrative. Art director Poirier developed a typographic system using the Non Ophelie font by NonFoundry, working with a restrained palette of black, white, red, silver and clear ink. Pull quotes became structural elements rather than decorative ones, guiding the reader through each story while imagery was used sparingly to create rhythm and contrast.
The printing technology does deliberate work. Xerox Iridesse allows the integration of silver and clear inks as part of the reading experience rather than as finish. The cover is printed in white ink on deep black stock. Lenticular inserts introduce subtle perceptual shifts as the reader moves through the book. Certain phrases only become visible through light and physical interaction with the page. “The physicality of the book matters because some things only reveal themselves with time, attention, and interaction,” Poirier says. The design mirrors the subject: meaning withheld until the reader does the work of uncovering it.
Pivotal Moments launched in October 2025 with exhibitions across New York and Ottawa, with typographic installations and selected book visuals extending into physical space. Over 175 attendees engaged with the work across both cities, many sharing their own pivotal moments in response.
“Most creatives know their pivotal moment, but they rarely say it out loud,” Poirier says. “The book became a way to hold those moments in one place.”
Izzy Poirier is an independent brand designer and strategist based in Ottawa, founder of the Ottawa Design Club. Her work focuses on turning design into a point of connection through publications, identity systems and collaborative formats.
Website: ottdesign.club / izzypoirier.com Instagram: @ottdesignclub / @arty_izzy
Pivotal Moments, 2025. Story-led publication with silver and clear ink, lenticular inserts. Xerox Iridesse printing. Non Ophelie typeface by NonFoundry. Co-led with Caroline Sarrette (New York Design Club) and Ariane Bédard (Ottawa Design Club). Photography: Maryn Devine, Uncommon Sessions. Launched October 2025 in New York and Ottawa.
