hello

(click above to enlarge type)

poster and flier designs

A few examples of my work for local artists and musicians

My tendency is to elevate image over type. For these compositions, I chose to allow the type to empower the image. The Nutcracker type is being cracked, Mikal Shipiro’s type is connoting patterns of sound and the Danza Macabra is being projected—an indexical reference to shadow play. (photos within the folly poster are by Mike Strong)

type mailer

My pursuit for this mailer was to demonstrate a balance of the high legibility and striking beauty of the typeface, Frutiger—also to tempt the viewer to adore this font as much as I do.

The black and yellow color pallet are direct references to Adrian Frutiger’s original airport signage that initially displayed the font. Additionally the Frutiger arrow was first added to signage in a Paris airport to assist air travelers with quick directions to destinations. I've incorporated the arrow to reference the runway as well as the disorienting experience of walking through an airport.

lecture materials

Poster design for a hypothetical lecture from a graphic design pioneer:
Alvin Lustig was a visual poet whose work was rooted in as much emotion as in form. I’ve attempted to retain my personal style within the context of Alvin Lustig’s influence; a few of his interests were architecture, textile design and photomontage.
Brochure design for the Alvin Lustig lecture:
I followed a grid structure to give my design structure and to reference high Modernism in graphic design.

owen/cox dance group

Performance at the Urban Culture Project space, La Esquina
Photographed with a medium format film camera.

story essentials

For a visual communications class, we attempted to communicate stories with only fundamental objects; my theme was hitchhiking. To me, the idea of hitchhiking is leads to a romantic theme of adventure, rather then a lonely, person, lacking means.

The following are a few pages from my collaged research book:

a light on washington street

Last fall, I had a very scary experience. A man with a gun approached me as I was getting out of my car in front of my house. Everything turned out fine; I screamed as if I were trying out for a horror flick.

The following day, as I drove home, I noticed very few porch lights were shining on my street. In an effort to deal with my new terrors of getting out of my car and racing to my front door in the darkness; I called upon the neighbors for help.



To me, a shining lightbulb is an index of safety. I placed light bulb packages on the porches of several houses on my street as a gesture to inform others about my experience, to promote watchfulness and to encourage everyone to turn on a porchlight.

when love

public art, created February 6th, at around noon.

ophelia

I took this photo with a 4x5 on a tripod (shoved) in a muddy creek; the water was really cold. Also, due to personal issues with OCD and perfectionism, it took three separate occasions to actually acquire the composition I desired. This creek is located at a park in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Pick-up trucks (with get-er-done stickers) occasionally drove by during my photo shoots; luckily, I did not get beat up.

maneater

An alter ego and documentation of one of my better hairstyles
This was my first (tasty) experience with a 4x5 camera—poor Casey.

smoking ad

sleepy girl

The initial photograph from a series titled, Sleeping in Public
In addition to a study of stillness and motion, this is also an illustration of my recurring experience of feeling alone in a crowd (as well as documentation of well-loved shoes.)

animation process

First of all, my story line: The room is quiet until I turn on the music and start dancing like a fool. Unannounced, a visitor comes to the front door and views my crazy moves; I see them, begin to fidget and swiftly plop myself onto a seat on the couch to field my embarrassment.

storyboard of 1st person perspective:
storyboard of 3st person perspective:
combined perspectives, analog rendering as collages of cut paper:

dancing with type_final from tammy shell on Vimeo.