The Florida Community Football Camp is a single-day camp experience for all Florida students ages 6-12. The goal of the FCFC is to give back to local communities in Florida and offer kids a chance to learn the game of football from a staff of positive, motivational former athletes. Focussing on sportsmanship and fundamentals the camp strives to reconnect the campers with the sport of football through a series of exercises, drills, and games at no cost.
I wanted to create a simple and bold identity for the camp that communicated its football focus as well as connecting it to the former Florida Gator athletes who run it. Using a palette inspired by the UF orange and blue, I created a monogram logo that utilized the initial letters of the camp and created the state of Florida within the negative space.
Women in Film Kentucky, or WIFKY, is an organization that strives to empower, connect, and support Kentucky women in the screen industries through community, networking, mentorship, and resource access. They hold industry networking events and are actively part of the local Louisville community.
Because the full name is a bit of a mouthful and doesn't really fit neatly onto any SWAG or marketing materials I leaned heavily into the acronym WIFKY. In this condensed state, it gives the brand an opportunity to be more expressive in it’s executions while providing a substantial footprint for the logo. When combined with the full text it connects the acronym to the full name and provides broader context for WIFKY as a brand that thrives on creativity and community.
There are colleges and universities that, for one reason or another find themselves stuck with outdated or underwhelming sports branding. Clumsy logos and generic mascots litter the country’s institutions of higher education. And while larger Alma Maters can afford to update and continuously evolve their athletic branding, smaller schools are forced to keep using the same old marks or find creative work-around alternatives to try and stay somewhat relevant.
That’s why I decided to perform some much-needed public service in the form of logo and brand updates to a few schools that I felt deserved a new look. In some cases, I reinvented the brand from scratch and in others just got a little spring cleaning. And though none of the colleges or universities for whom I volunteered my talents requested the effort, I had a lot of fun all the same.
A strong brand is nothing if not consistent. After all, that’s why we create brand standards and logo usage guidelines that define Pantone® values and clear-space rules, amongst other things. It’s designed to be flexible when necessary but ultimately communicate to customers and partners the values of the organization it represents.
When it comes to internal branding and communications, however, it’s a whole different ballgame. The guidelines are set aside slightly so that the brand can stretch its legs. While these opportunities don’t come along all that often, I have been fortunate enough to work on various communications and design materials for a range of internal initiatives at Modo Modo Agency. Things like wall art, event logos, SWAG, and landing pages, you name it.
My advice has always been that if there’s anything you want to design or create you don’t have to wait for a client. This project might have miraculously proven me right. I was contacted by a client who wanted to launch a food truck in California that focussed on hand-crafted BBQ. He’d reached out because of a design concept I created years ago for a similar project called The Smoking Butt Brothers. Neither the Smoking Butt Brothers nor their beautiful truck existed in real life, but they piqued his interest enough to give me a shot at his truck.
I created a couple of dozen type treatments and lockups that were inspired by the “New School Done the Old Way” tagline as well as its location in California. A lot of the typefaces and graphic elements I utilized leaned into vintage West Coast nostalgia. The biggest challenge transforming the flat panels of this rolling brick into something with some contours and texture. The Citroën H Van was all of the inspiration I needed. Its corrugated body panels and modular design were exactly the extra touches that the wraps needed to transform this box trailer into a food truck classic.
I honestly thought they were joking when the folks at Author’s Projects asked if I’d be interested in illustrating George Washington and Abraham Lincoln for a series of short TV ads for Presidents Day. Turns out, they were completely serious.
They had a great script and an elite squad of cell animators that included Arley Cornell, Alex Bernas and Chris Zachary. I created the character artwork and various scenes and the animators took the nonsense coming out of my head and turned it into the beautiful commercials you see before you. Aside from being essentially my dream project, I also developed a newfound respect for cell animation.
The best part about becoming a father, for me anyway, was the unlimited excuse to create things like this book on the basics of type for no real reason.
I mean, it's for my son. That's the reason. My son. But no matter the reason, in the end, I decided to create this little educational board book about the basic components of type filled with colorful illustrations. He's a big fan of the wrestling spreads, but he despises the chicken pages.
The Kerry & Gary Challenge is a fundraiser started by former Auburn basketball player Gary Godfrey and former Alabama running back Kerry Goode to help defeat ALS. Fans compete to raise the most money for the Alabama Chapter of the ALS Association by donating to their favorite Alabama team during the Iron Bowl.
All of the marketing in the first year of the challenge was digital, mostly through social media channels. For the second year, we wanted to expand their reach and create a brand identity that was memorable and compelling. The goals were to represent both fan bases appropriately, drive the competitive spirit that each of these universities is known for, and raise as much money as possible for people living with ALS in Alabama. The Kerry & Gary Challenge raised over $180,000 and won an Amy Award from the Atlanta chapter of the American Marketing Association for Purpose-Driven Marketing.
Creating visual identities is an exercise in trust and communication. As designers we are charged with bringing someone else’s vision to life, and at times, that can be a tricky proposition. It’s a delicate balancing act of maintaining creative freedom and meeting client expectations.
Luckily the founder of the Resonant Light Theater Project was willing to strike that balance with me. Every aspect of this identity project was a collaboration, from the imagery and illustration of the lighthouse to the hand-made feel and weathered textures. Every new decision reinforced the previous one, and the logo ended up in a place neither of us would have arrived at on our own.
Designed as a favor for a friend and former coworker, I created this concept for Queer on a Quest, an illustrated travel blog for the non-binary adventurer.
I wanted something iconic, a letter-icon that could be used with the name but also stand-alone, and I think this design achieves that. I kept it simple and classic, drawing inspiration from vintage brands like Hanimex, which, by the way, if you haven’t seen their packaging designs from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, you should really give it a Google.
It’s exciting when I have the opportunity to leverage my skills and insights to help effect change in the real world. When my wife began corresponding with a loved one serving time I noticed not only the lack of commercial options available but also the number of regulations governing what can be mailed to inmates.
Mail Byrds is a company that creates greeting cards specifically for people incarcerated. Not just to mark life events and big occasions happening outside, but to inspire hope and to help turn their time into something more productive and meaningful. Just because someone is in prison doesn’t mean that their life is over, nor does it mean that they should forget that they have value. Mail Byrds seeks to deliver love and optimism where it is needed most.
At first glance the logo seems simple; Two interesting circles bisected by a dashed line. The two circles represent the round openings of a pipe and, where they combine, they form a line. Pipe. Line.
But these simple lines also form the unmistakable shape of a football. These three elements are communicating so much more than just a name; they serve as a metaphor for what Pipeline does. They represent the intersection of college recruiting and technology to make it more efficient and effective. They are the link between coaches and prospects as they navigate the process. Pipeline is the hub at the center of it all.
The Audition Room is a private on-camera coaching studio for actors that focusses on the audition itself. It trains actors how to audition, and how to do it well.
The imagery the client wanted to evoke was simple; a single empty chair. To you and me its just an empty chair, but to an actor that empty seat sitting in front of a row of people can be terrifying. The placement of the chair underneath the type mimics the looming weight of expectation hanging overhead.
Living, as we do, in the Age of Big Data people are constantly seeking to take those vast sets of information and turn them it into tangible, actionable insights. What better way to represent these figures and trends than with infographics?
But it's not all about making colorful charts and flashy graphs. It's about telling a story with your information and creating a point of view for your audience. Edward Tufte, the godfather of modern information graphics, believes in maximizing the time spent thinking about content, not translating designs. While I do agree, I occasionally indulge in the odd design frill here and there.
I have always loved the rule of Pick Two, which if you've never heard it goes like this: Fast. Cheap. Good. Pick Two.
It's such a simple way to explain such a complex set of circumstances, and nothing more succinctly sums up the idea that If you want something fast or good, you're probably going to have to pony up for it. That's what this short explainer video is about, visually translating that simple yet powerful phrase.
A few years ago my good friends at Column5 asked me to create a few illustrations for an explainer video on how to make explainer videos. Aside from being a blast to work on, it also marks the moment when I realized that I desperately wanted to learn animation.
Cut to today and I am proud to say that I am, in fact, a professional animator with dozens of projects living out in the world for clients both real and imaginary. I am so thankful to have been a part of this project and it will forever be the reason I love doing what I do.
And thanks to the animation of Jay Quercia and the Sound Mixing of Andrew Barnes.
One of the principles I truly believe in as a designer is that you can make work while you are learning how to do whatever it is you do. I don’t think creative endeavors should be limited to only the experts nor do I think that creative learning should be a rote exercise. It should be an experience the end of which yields something to show for your effort, beautiful or not.
This little board game is a great example of that. Over the holiday break, some years back my son asked me to help him create a hide-and-seek board game for us to play inside while we waited out the winter. I came up with a layered paper construction that featured opening doors as hiding locations. I had just gotten an iPad so I created all of the artwork in Procreate, a program about which I knew very little. It was slow going, but in the end, I learned how to use the app and now I have this funny board game inspired by a 5-year-old.
A collaboration with my boss and longtime friend, Moira Vetter, AdVenture is her Entrepreneurial Opus. She has been working since the age of 8 and running her own show for almost as long.
Filled with the wisdom that can only be gleaned from personal experience, AdVenture lays out the difficult but rewarding path to following your dreams and creating your own business. The design was intended to highlight key information, break the content up into logical chunks and provide visual interest and relief as the reader explores the pitfalls and perils of entrepreneurship.
Sometimes projects just sound like too much fun to miss out on. That was the case when a tactical audio communications company approached me about creating an updated design for their promotional sticker. The product was impressive but any excuse to fill my sketchbook with skulls and flames works for me.
They were looking for a sticker design that featured one of their products on an illustrated skull with explosions and blasts surrounding it to highlight its effectiveness in high-noise environments. We went through several iterations and ultimately simplified things to get a cleaner feel on the final sticker. I enjoyed the process and all the versions created.
Located in Long Island City, Dominie's Hoek has been serving up one of the best brunches in New York for almost 15 years.
With separate menus required for their brunch and dinner services, as well as their drink menus I wanted to create a look that was consistent but distinct enough so that servers could quickly grab the menus they needed without any confusion. The bold type treatments and contrasting colors also aid in communicating the prices and options efficiently and take some of the pressure off the wait staff to memorize all the details of a constantly changing menu.
As proud as I am of the visual design I created for this south Texas sports bar, I am vastly more entertained by the naming exercise that preceded it.
All together I think I presented the owner with around 25 options for restaurant names. In the end, the client chose Field House Burger as his favorite, but I thought there were some other names that were equally deserving of the honor, and I thought I'd list them here.
The Chop Block
Thirst & Goal
The Lucky Pig
Ground & Pound
Starters
Like a lot of animators, I learned Adobe After Effects through numerous online tutorials with varying amounts of success.
To test out some of the techniques I was learning I went back to one of my biggest inspirations, the original Twilight Zone series. I created these looping animations as kind of shortened versions of some of my favorite episodes. I tried to capture the unique twist or the irony of the 30-minute show in less than 30 seconds. What I found was that I learned as much about visual storytelling as I did animation.
This brand concept was created for an organization that seeks to use the interactive game of pinball to help socially enrich, educate and develop skills for children and adults with autism.
Ultimately the client decided to go in a different direction with the brand, but I am still struck by some of the marks in this set and the consideration that went into their design. The combination of type and iconography is still something I look back to for inspiration.
I love creating visuals for online content, and since everything can’t be an infographic, I have a good number of one-off support illustrations floating around.
They’re all here, from the ambiguous 80s business man series to the 80s-style wrestling characters. You name it and I’ve probably illustrated it in some form or other, apparently though, only as long as it has an 80s theme and only so long as I can add some sweet texture and stippling effects.
Having thumbed through more than my share of brand standards over the years I have formed some pretty definite opinions on what constitutes a good set of guidelines and what doesn’t. (To see my thoughts in full feel free to check out my blog post on the subject. The Brand Guidelines, Guideline)
So when I got the opportunity to finally set down, in Brand Guideline format, the Modo Modo standards I took the job very seriously. Well, as seriously as I can take anything. In as concise a document as I could conjure I laid out the structure of a brand that, after 10 years of existence, had never once defined itself or its elements.
Admittedly a departure in style from the majority of my other identity work, I had a blast working on the logo for Pips Parlour, a cozy board game bar/coffee house here in downtown Louisville. From its gaudy typography to the Victorian ornaments and extraneous flourishes, I love every curled line and intricate detail.
Normally the name of the game is simplicity. Boiling a brand down to a singular message and then creating an equally singular mark that tells the brand story in a clear and distinct voice. In this case, I asked the clients to trust me as I went in the complete opposite direction, adding more and more elements to the logo. The result is striking and captures not only the feel of the business but the taste of the owners.
We all grew up playing it in elementary school but in Brooklyn, Kickball is more than a childish pastime, it's something to do while drinking and acting childish.
I spent pretty much every one of my summer Sundays in Brooklyn out on the grass of McCarren Park, watching the double-decker bikes and artisanal pistachio ice cream trucks drive lazily by as we played the sport of Kings. All the greats were there: Shirtless Tom. Nando. Lance and of course, The Commish. I also occasionally created some designs for their events and other associated leagues. If you're ever in Williamsburg on Sunday during the summer, you really should drop by. It's truly something to see.
What began as an inside joke between my brother and I is now a reality, if only as a branding concept in my portfolio. Introducing The Smokin’ Butt Brothers and their BBQ Truck.
These designs are a great example of how I like to approach branding projects, especially for bars and restaurants. I start with a central concept, explore all of the variations and directions in which it takes me, and when I’m out of ideas, I stop. And instead of using only the final design that resulted from my exploration, I save all of the near-misses and extraneous ideas in my back pocket. I think brands can, and should, be much more than just a logo.
These illustrations were originally created for a little tap it iPhone game that a friend of mine was developing.
Essentially the Rod Serling character, riding a flying saucer and smoking a cigarette avoided obstacles while floating and falling across Twilight Zone themed backgrounds. It's a fun game, but let us be honest, I would have illustrated these characters at some point, game or no game.
Although my website is titled RaiseNoChicken, that is far from how I live my actual life. In reality I raise several chickens, and those chickens lay eggs, and they lay more eggs, etc.
So as a means of saying both thank you and sorry to the neighbors who put up with the noise level of nine full-grown hens and one rooster, I designed a tiny egg box to share our bounty with others. I designed the die line from scratch, and it is cut from one sheet of paper and assembled with no glue. And as you can imagine I couldn’t stop there so I created some branding for the box and other merchandise that felt reasonable for a small egg farm.
What better way to teach your child their ABC's than with friendly and colorful characters from a BBC television show called The Mighty Boosh?
You have the Ape of Death, Howard Moon, Vince Noir and who could forget Old Greg and his downstairs mixup. This book was as fun to design and illustrate as it looks, and while I don't yet have the rights to offer this book for sale, I have emailed the BBC and am patiently waiting on a response.
Of all of the identities I’ve worked on, this was one of the most rewarding I can remember. And it proves what you can accomplish with a limited time and a tight budget.
After some initial rounds of acceptable but unexciting marks, I moved away from the boundaries of the project brief and explored some purely typographical solutions. I have always loved the way letters can create amazing negative shapes, so I changed directions and started sketching again. The client was excited about where we ended up and I must say, so was I.
And for being such good sports I threw in a simple brand standards overview and color breakdown for the client.
As the saying goes, "If it's ain't broke, don't fix it." But what if it is broke? Or worse yet, what if it's just plain old boring? What then?
The Georgia Military College was founded in 1879 to educate young men and women from middle Georgia. It has a long tradition of excellent academics and competitive athletics. It doesn't, however, have a sports logo that was designed this century. I proposed an update to the standard bulldog that the athletic teams have used for years. It's a fresh take on the mascot, one that opens the team branding up to a more modern, contemporary look.
I was unaware of the sport of Pickleball until a few years ago when my parents joined a league in their retirement community. It's essentially a cross between tennis and ping pong, and they take it very seriously.
And so it was that I was asked to submit a design for the new county pickleball association. The requirements were that the design includes the full name, a peach, as well as a pickleball and paddle. After my first design was rejected by the committee I submitted a second, simpler design, which was also rejected. Although it wasn't a winner, I think this had some real potential.
A number of the projects I feature on my website are pro bono, but none of them have been nearly as rewarding as this little campaign for a local high school production of The Little Shop of Horrors.
I worked on everything from posters and flyers to the full show program and the t-shirts they sold at intermission. It was a labor of love and I am very happy with the resulting pieces. You can have your Broadway shows, I'll take a high school drama department production any day.
You never know which projects are going to disappear forever, and which ones are going to take off in a way that you never imagined.
Years ago when I created the initial branding for Fermented Reality I certainly couldn’t have predicted the success the company would have or the opportunities it would provide for evolving and expanding the brand. Six years in and it’s still evolving. The latest expansion is a Bier Garten on the waterfront in Tampa.
Side note: I personally screen-printed those business cards, 4/2. I’ll never do that again.
For a designer, the task of taking dry, technical data and turning it into something that is not only digestible but interesting to interact with, is the ultimate challenge.
Luckily I live for exactly these kinds of projects. Armed with some bold typography as well as entertaining yet informative data visualization techniques, I set about turning this eBook on Software Integration into a visual feast.
With a name like Heartland, it's probably not surprising that the design of this identity system draws its inspiration from vintage 1950's packaging and hand-lettered signage.
Using a combination of typefaces, illustration techniques and small accents I was able to give a classic feel to a modern logo. Between the retro style and the contemporary look, I feel that this brand achieves a good balance between design aesthetics.
The books I write and illustrate are honestly for an audience of one; my son. I mainly create these little board books to entertain him and myself through hundreds upon hundreds of re-readings.
This particular idea came from his affinity for slapping, banging and essentially assaulting his books. Some people talk with their hands, well he reads with his fists. So instead of asking him repeatedly to take it easy on The Hungry Caterpillar (sorry Eric Carle), I decided to create a book that encouraged him to get out his baby aggression in a fun way. Plus I've always wanted to draw the old "Where's my thumb" trick.
What do you do when you realize that it’s December 15th and you haven’t sent any holiday cards out to friends and family?
If you’re me you suggest sending out a casual text message to said friends and family, have some eggnog and call it a day. My wife’s idea was a little more involved. We created a holiday greeting using Adobe Character Animator and some public domain holiday music. I meant what I said. May we all not die.
Setting aside the fact that blog illustrations aren't ever really printed, I thought it was a better way to present these little guys.
This particular set of images was designed for a blog post about purchasing and licensing typefaces. In the end the post kind of petered out but I am left with this set of outlined, geometric beauties as well as healthy fear of ever running afoul of a type foundry. Trust me, they mean business.
Presidential history is a huge interest of mine. I find all of the intimate details and small personality quirks of these men a source of infinite entertainment.
As a passion, my interest in the presidency goes back to childhood. As a project, I would estimate I've been working on this on and off for the past 15 years. Going through several iterations and styles I finally hit upon the right technique and format around three years ago. 45 and Counting covers all the presidents, from Washington up to Trump. And even though it will eventually be out of date, it was well worth every moment invested.
Somewhere in the dusty files of some defunct backup drive we all have a pile of long-forgotten logos that probably have never seen the light of day.
Well, I decided to root around in the attic of my design past and pull out some old skeletons to trot them out for a fresh look. Some are winners, some are near misses, while others, like my dedicated efforts to bring my friend's basement (otherwise known as the VCR Bar) into reality, were abject failures. All together though they represent almost 20 years of chasing after my dreams as a designer. There are a lot worse things to do for a living, that's for sure.
Sometimes a name alone can inspire a concept. That was the case with Stone Fox Designs. Capturing the instant visual associations of the sleek, flowing silhouette of the fox as well as the sensory perceptions of stone as a material, the name challenged me to create a mark that lived up to expectations set by its name.
As I worked through various concepts I kept coming back to the combination of type and illustration as a means to express the contrasting elements of the name. In the end, I created a fox silhouette in profile, curving around to form a bold slab serif, then flowing back into itself and creating a tail within the counter of the letterform.
I worked on this sticker series for a company in Louisville that produces a variety of products from hemp.
Another tight-turn project, these stickers went from concept to print in less than a week, and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out. Utilizing a mix of concepts and illustration styles I was trying to create a series that felt unified overall, but individually unique.
Ten years ago my first major project for Modo Modo Agency was a Holiday Gift. It was called the Create-O-Matic and it was a 31-day calendar full of illustrations suggesting cheeky ways to increase creativity.
In 2018, with time quickly running out I plundered the deepest recesses of my mind and threw this little beauty together. It went from concept to print in less than three weeks. I was the writer, designer, illustrator and print production for this one and I loved every second of it. The content of the book was its own inspiration, or vice-versa. You get the point.
When I was living in New York I had the opportunity to work with an organization called Health Corps, a not-for-profit that strives to educate and advocate for the wellness of teens across America.
While working on some of their curriculum materials I was asked to create a campaign for a summer series of events around the nation. They wanted to engage more directly with teens through events like cooking contests and outdoor concerts. I created the slogan "Raise Some Health" as a playful way to change the conversation about physical health and nutrition. I still love the message this campaign conveys.
Huddle Up represents the combination of the two biggest passions of my life; illustration and football. Written as an homage to the very sport I hold dear it is, essentially, a day in the life of a high school football player.
I've always been interested in visually expressing the things about football that I find fascinating and in this format, I found the perfect outlet. Within these pages, I cover everything from putting on equipment to the bands performing at halftime. Aside from being an entertaining bedtime read it's also a little propaganda in the war to get my son interested in the sport. But please, don't tell his mom.
Infographic legend Edward Tufte needs no introduction. At least, not anymore, since I created these small animations touting his many notable accomplishments.
Originally created as supports for a blog post Called “When the Going Gets Tufte,” these 20 second sound bites were my little homage to the godfather of data visualization. I can’t guarantee the factual accuracy of any of them, but I can tell you they are all quite impressive anyway.
Native ads are more than just your average manipulative clickbait. They are exploiting your neurological tendencies and weaknesses and turning your own instincts against you.
This scroll-through piece explores the effectiveness of native ads and the very real science behind how they work. It demonstrates how our reading patterns affect where we look and which side of our brain certain ad types are targeting. The visuals I created are all designed to add to the viewer's understanding of the complex strategy behind these subversive ads.
I created this simple little identity package for a the boyfriend of a coworker who was starting a catering company in New York.
They were looking for a mark that reflected the meaning of the name, Fond de Cuisine, which in English translates to food foundation or a stock, essentially. A stock is the basic element of most recipes, and the food that the catering company focussed on was simple, honest dishes made with fresh ingredients and a modern twist.
Grab your Rapture Preparedness Kit, some snacks, and your bible and follow me to the Preachers Basement!
This intro was created as part of an animated television series pitch that my wife and I have been working on. The Preachers Basement is a cable access show that teaches kids the confusing, and sometimes contradictory lessons of a book written hundreds of years ago. It features Solomon the Sheep, Preacher Tim, Acorn the Gun Nut, and Dusty the Old Testament. There’s even the occasional visitor to the basement. You never know who might drop by.
There’s only so much that colleges and universities can really teach you about design. The rest is gleaned out there in the world, behind a desk, cranking out ads for Uncle Harry’s Crab Shack or making business cards for a landscaping company called Lawn Time No See.
These little helpful tidbits are my contribution to the extended learning program that is real life. Some are my own, and some are borrowed, but all of them are 100% true.
There isn't a designer in the world who hasn't done at least a hundred t-shirts during their career. I am certainly no exception.
But while I will never understand the driving force that compels everyone I know to constantly think-up and pitch me new shirt ideas, I do love their enthusiasm. So amidst the litany of team fun run shirts and pickleball association ringer tees I have managed to assemble some of my favorite shirt designs for your approval.
I created this poster set for a friend’s show at a venue called The Silent Barn in Brooklyn. I wish I could more accurately describe the space, but it was like watching a band play at a high school party at someone’s house while their parents were away.
I designed this set of 3 screen printed posters to commemorate the event. There was Slow Country, the Wealthy Assholes and, of course, Affair de Couer. Because of some questionable type choices I made at the time, I decided to show them without copy. I think it’s for the best.
This series has a little more thinking behind it than it’s distressed type treatments and faux screen printed feel might betray.
Designed as office decor for a North Carolina lighting company, the owner wanted posters that felt like artwork but were actually a reflection of the employees in the office. I started by taking some basic surveys of the workers and their interests and pooled my data and created these graphics related to their answers.
Brand guidelines aren't necessarily all that exciting. They're not really meant to be. They lay out how specifically you are allowed to utilize a brands assets and what you should definitely not do to screw things up.
For these proposed brand standards I tried to inject a little more personality into what is an otherwise straightforward and mundane set of rules. I took the logo and created a character, Max, who leads the viewer through the guidelines. It has a playful tone and the sections read more like anecdotes than strict rules. They're the kind of guidelines I would love to open one day.
My years living and working in New York weren’t all spent playing kickball and drinking craft beer, although that does account for a great deal of my time. I occasionally managed to screen print some things.
This was a personal project that I’d been wanting to make for a while. A series of cards featuring Brooklyn versions of classic Halloween monsters. There’s the Hassidic Werewolf, Subway Mummy, Fixie Zombie, PBR Frankenstein, Vampire Smoker and Stoop Skeleton.
McCalls Grading & Construction is a crew out of Balsom Grove, North Carolina. They wanted an updated mark that had a classic feel, and was as rugged and dependable as the men who work for them. Combining a thin script with a chunky serif seemed to do the trick, but I threw in a lockup of initials for various other usage.
Some projects are just too interesting to pass up, and with a name like The Couch Potato Combine, how could I say no?
Drawing from the unreliable belief that we could do things we have never done and in ways that we have never done them, the Couch Potato Combine seeks to create the opportunity of a lifetime for those would-be All-Stars of the weekend living room.
The Couch Potato Combine is a single-day event that pits participats against friends and strangers alike in a series of six NFL combine challenges. They range from the 40-yard dash to the quarterback passing challenge. The ultimate goal is to have some fun while raising money for local charities but taking home some bragging rights and maybe a trophy never hurts either.
While slightly more aspirational than I normally feel on a daily basis, I couldn't help but enjoy working on this set of inspirational design quotes for Patric Hanlon of Thinktopia.
Starting with just the quote itself, I created unique typographical treatments for all three designs that would stand alone as posters but still feel like part of a series. Being an old screen printer at heart I couldn't help adding in some irregularities and texture to give them that hand-printed feel.
Everything is bigger in the Lone-Star state, so when I was approached about designing an identity for an upgraded printmaking and fulfillment operation out of Dallas, I knew I had to come up with something special.
I began by exploring the symbolism of cotton as a product, playing with the shapes of the blossom as typographic elements. Eventually, I incorporated bold letterforms, inspired by the typography of U.S. currency and retro globe illustrations. The overall effect is an iconic mark with a playful personality.
Joining forces once again with the amazing team at Author’s Projects I was brought in to help animate portions of this ambitious smart home video. Designed to be projected over actual appliances in an interactive space it played on a loop at it’s unveiling at a tradeshow.
The animation interacts with the physical appliances through the video and viewers were able to inspect the units within the physical space or just sit comfortably on a gallery style bench and enjoy the show. Working with an incredibly talented illustrator, Lilian Darmono, I animated large portions of the family scenes inside the home. Bringing her characters to life was a lot of fun and ultimately, very rewarding.
