Description
Behind the Candidates was conceived to answer a simple question: who will be the advisers guiding our next president? We researched the 60 top advisors from the McCain and Obama campaigns, covering topics such as the economy, foreign policy, national security, and energy, as well as the core campaign managers. Behindthecandidates.com is essentially an interactive dossier of each campaign. Each advisor is arranged side-by-side with their counterpart and introduced with one compelling quote - one click further revealed a fuller profile with hundreds of links to articles and video clips for an in-depth look at the makeup of each campaign. (October 2008)
Description
185 artists of various disciplines to create banners collectively displayed throughout Times Square for the Urban Forest Project, which was commissioned by AIGA NY and the Times Square Alliance. Proceeds from sales of the totes went toward scholarships and the AIGA Mentoring Program.
Exhibitors were encouraged to consider the idea of a tree to interpret an issue we felt of importance. I was guided by the definition of sustainability: a method of harvesting or using the resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged. I opted to illustrate a life cycle with 8.5x11 sheets of paper (i.e. the tree in its most commonly consumed state) with the root at the end as a subtle metaphor encouraging a return to its origin. (August 2006)
Description
Bush Bash is a campaign that encouraged people across the nation to host their own parties on January 19th, Bush's last full day in office. In celebrating the departure of a man known as The Great Divider , we rallied for the world's largest party with bushbash09.com. The site encouraged people to use existing web tools (Facebook for attendees, Yelp to find a location, etc) to plan and promote their own Bush Bash themed parties across the nation. In addition, we offered party themes, downloadable posters, masks, and other party favors, and a Bush Nickname Generator to get everyone in the spirit. The site asked everyone to post their party photos on Flickr the day after, as the homepage was replaced with a collected photo archive of all the Bush Bash parties throughout the nation. (January 2009)
additional design
Erika Lee
additional web design
Mike Essl, Alexander Tochilovsky
Concept
Lindsay Ballant, Brian Lightbody, Arthur Purvis
Description
As associate art director of Print magazine for nearly 2 and a half years, this was always one of my favorite projects to work on. I was the lead designer for the template which was implemented for the 60+ page section, as well as the opening spread. In 2008, for the 10th anniversary of this competition, I worked with the editors on a special infographic section which took a look back though the past winners. This included a page with overall demographics, a page of cited influences mined from their profiles, and a page of inspirational quotes from past NVA winners. (April 2008)
Description
Album packaging for Nico Muhly, a young avant-garde classical composer whose music has been described as alternating between glittering corals of arpeggios and plonky, sputtering chunks of melody . While recording Muhly split his time between New York and Iceland, which we wanted to reflect in the packaging; hence, the two photos of an Iceland landscape and a casual New York City skyline are juxtaposed when you open the package. I wanted to capture Nico's elegant yet sporadic sound by interrupting the text with specks of texture and chunks of space, which was carried throughout the package. This was Mulhy's first album and the first release of the Iceland-based label, Bedroom Community. (January 2007)
Description
This story was about an emerging trend of designers and digital artists using computational programming code to create typographic forms, which author Emily King described as "kinetic typography." We thought of no better way to celebrate this then to commission one of the leading artists in this field to do the cover. Artist Karsten Schmidt build the words "Type & Form" using a computational code into a 3-D object. The opening spread of the story shows a few of his renderings of the form at various angles. The design for the story was inspired by the duality of organic and order present in these works. (August 2008)
Description
This story was about the use (and abuse) of plaid which is rampant in branding of Scottish products, ranging from the traditional (haggis) to the absurd (pasta?). Building upon the concept of "plaid overkill," we commissioned artist and illustrator Ted McGrath to create a series of backdrops which housed the assortment of Scottish products. McGrath's abstract interpretations of various plaid patterns fit perfectly with the wry tone of the story. One photograph, full-bleed, was used for each spread, to create a cohesive package out of a charming story. (June 2008)
Description
In 2004, the air was thick with political dissent, Brian Ponto and I started a project called Freedom of the Press, an initiative that aimed to educate the public on socially conscious issues. We had a simple concept--present just facts, keep the form simple for mass consumption, and make the information as easy to digest as possible. Our first project was a newspaper that explored the state of the news media, namely the deregulation that allowed large media conglomerates to own most of the media we consume everyday. We followed this up with a pamphlet that explored the history of voting rights, which we distributed the summer before the presidential election. The pamphlet folded out into a poster which emphasized (in proportion to the total votes) the small number of votes that decided the contested presidential election of 2000.
Description
Album packaging for Brooklyn-based band Takka Takka's third release, Talk Faster. Their music is fun and familiar rock, with a little bit of dark undertones thrown in. They wanted me to "make something cool" so I kept that in mind when creating the look and feel. (2007)
