Agency: Spaeth Hill
Revelations is the first volume of äntrepō, an original Spaeth Hill publication. The publication consists of three parts—interviews with national and international designers, original essays and expressive artwork. Each part comes together to form one complete visual experience. This limited-edition collector's piece is printed on a curated combination of fine papers with a gold-foil embossed cover. Each issue is hand-labeled out of 100. The äntrepō project is concerned with new and evolving methods of design as driven by experimental thinking and practice. Stepping away from commercial representations of the field, it is an outlet for anyone interested in celebrating design for design's sake. äntrepō introduces a combination of expressive graphic design, traditional storytelling, and printed texture to create a memorable design experience. Each spread explores different typographic designs lending to the experimental ethos of the project – to design for design’s sake.
Additional Credits:
Nathan Hill, Art Director
Nathan Hill, Designer
Chase Shewbridge, Designer
Jill Spaeth, Copyeditor
Jay White, Copyeditor
Perrin Drumm, Contributing Writer
Michael O'Neal, Contributing Writer
Ellen Lupton, Interviewee
Ralph Nauta, Interviewee
Benoît Bodhuin, Contributing Artist
Symrin Chawla, Contributing Artist
Kristine Kawakubo, Contributing Artist
Kristen Mallia, Contributing Artist
Emma McAlary, Contributing Artist
Kevin Perry, Contributing Artist
Nejc Prah, Contributing Artist
Chris Tait, Contributing Artist
Agency: Design Army
Client: Aorist
Aorist was created as a platform to provide tools and resources to help artists create, manage, and distribute their NFT artwork in an innovative (and elevated) manner and to give art buyers a peace of mind. Within the art world, ‘Blue Chip’ refers to art with great value that is reliably profitable and expected to hold or increase its economic value, regardless of the general economic ups and downs. We would position Aorist as the next generation of NFT Blue Chip artists (Art + Science + Sustainability) and speak to the investor-level audience. The Aorist Blue Circle (Logo) would represent Blue Chip artists of the present and next generation and would be the main brand element prominently used throughout all communications. Aorist launched to immediate success. Within an hour of going live, the Aorist marketplace had more than 1,000 transactions, and by the end of the second hour they had reached $2 million in sales. Over the past year, the Aorist has commissioned +20 major projects, minted, and sold over 1,500 artworks, and welcomed countless aficionados to the brand. Beyond the numbers, Aorist has held acclaimed exhibitions in both Miami, Florida, and Venice, Italy.
Additional Credits
Pum Lefebure, Chief Creative Office
Mariela Hsu, Creative Director
Jason Chae and Isaac Morrier, Designers
Jake Lefebure, Project Manager
Designer: Juan Pablo Madrid
Client: Bodyflow Hydration
BodyFlow Hydration is a new hydration supplement, but it's not just another run-of-the-mill, sugary hydration packet or hangover cure. It was designed to mimic the sodium-potassium pump and help those who struggle to stay hydrated and need the most efficient way to achieve osmotic balance, such as breastfeeding individuals, athletes, and post-op patients.
I worked with the founders to design a visual identity that was calming and expressive. The wordmark is easy to read and the droplet icon is a universal symbol for water. The custom gradient, which includes animated versions, mimics the flow of water and represents resilience and balance.
In collaboration with their copacker, I designed a packaging solution that was small and portable. Unlike other hydration products, BodyFlow is liquid. The individual sticks feature an easy twist-to-open solution that leaves a small opening for individuals to squeeze into a beverage, minimizing the risk of spillage.
The sticks feature instructions and come bundled in a pouch, which includes more information on how to effectively use BodyFlow.
Finally, I designed a website and online store, which makes it easy for users to learn about the product and either order one time or set up subscription deliveries.
Additional Credits:
Jordan Figueredo, Copywriter
Agency: Eighty2degrees
Client: Capital Area Food Bank
The Capital Area Food Bank’s Washington, DC headquarters was interested in bringing more energy and visual interest to one of its warehouse spaces in order to inspire volunteers and employees. CAFB wanted to share the message that access to healthy food doesn’t just nourish the body, it helps improve people’s lives holistically. Distinct visual areas of the warehouse were created based on CAFB’s mission “Good food today. Brighter futures tomorrow:" A series of banners featuring CAFB’s impact statements were hung from the ceiling. In the largest area of the warehouse, a 40-foot mural was installed depicting nutritious foods as an energizing force that positively impacts six areas of people’s lives: equity, health, employment, education, acces, and community. Eighty2degrees wrapped a walk-in freezer with key phrases and illustrative elements that celebrate CAFB’s programs and volunteers. Finally, floor-to-ceiling graphics of a mobile grocery truck was hung on exterior office walls to highlight this vital program.
Additional Credits:
Ambica Prakash, Principal and Creative Director
Hannah Fichandler, Senior Art Director
Kella Keck, Senior Designer
Rachel Wu, Senior Designer
Emily Cohane-Mann, Associate Art Director
Printing and installation: CSI Printing and Graphics, Alexandria, VA
Agency: Design Army
Client: CityCenterDC
Celebrating You embraces “luxury for everyone” by tapping into customers’ feelings of anticipation; a collective excitement that comes from knowing at CityCenterDC you’ll enjoy real life personal service; be applauded for your personal style; and discover the best of food, fashion, and experiences all at one magnetic destination. It reframes what “luxury looks like” through an egalitarian, inclusive lens, showing many different customers with many different personal styles converging at CityCenterDC The Celebrating You film celebrates self-expression with a crazy, quirky train journey full of eclectic characters of every age and style sense. The campaign features over 50 models and a creative crew of specialized talent that filmed and photographed for 3 days to capture a slice of life at CityCenterDC. Backdropped by DC’s majestic landmarks, the meticulously art directed, anything-but-typical film explodes with eye-popping color and the unexpected—from 1940s jazz music with a twist of Hip Hop to over-the-top forks, show horses, and more. Results have been successful with many earned media impressions and web traffic increasing 25% from last year, foot traffic exceeded 30,000 per month with shoppers staying 2.5 hours on average, and the video received 2.8M completed views across owned, streamed, and paid placements.
Additional Credits
Timothy R. Lowery, CCDC General Manager
Dean Alexander, Director
Pum Lefebure, Chief Creative Office
Heloise Condroyer, Creative Director
Sucha Becky, Mariela Hsu, Tony Kim, Designers
Jake Lefebure, Project Manager
Creator: FleishmanHillard
Client: AbbVie
Child spasticity is a difficult and isolating condition for anyone to manage. So, FleishmanHillard created a video to help families know that they’re not alone in this struggle. Through animation, they give a first-person account of one family’s journey in living with this condition in hope of inspiring others. The video was made using a combination of Illustrator and After Effects. As the client, AbbVie, did not want this to be heavily branded, FleishmanHillard used a color palette that was distinct from their normal brand, but maintained their font choice of Neue Haas Unica to retain some cohesion. They took care to design characters that do not reflect any specific ethnicity, forgoing some detail to keep them relatable to as wide and diverse an audience as possible. Instead, they designed them with bright pops of colors to make them appear hopeful while also standing out against the softer colors of the background, keeping them the main focus. FleishmanHillard also made use of patterns to create texture and keep things from feeling too flat. Since they were telling the story through animation, special attention had to be paid to how we portrayed Katie’s condition. The designers wanted to make sure we accurately reflected what it was like to have spasticity, both in how her character moved on-screen and with the equipment she made use of. This is a condition our audience lives with every day, so if any of these details are off, they’re going to notice and be less likely to engage.
Additional Credits
Marc Dionne, Creative Director
Rhea Vergis, Art Director
Chuck Lewis, Motion Designer
Agency: Three Ring Studio
Client: The Creative Nomads
This brand identity system was created for Creative Nomads, a Black-founded and -led nonprofit arts organization based out of Baltimore, Maryland. The Black-led Arts Nonprofit space is small, but mighty. Black-led non-profits frequently brand themselves with colors taken from the African flag. To help the Creative Nomads stand out in this space, Three Ring Studio created a conceptual identity system that ties their identity to Mother Earth, speaking to a wide audience and encompassing all creative types. Creating a branding system for a Black-led arts non-profit organization (a niche that is underrepresented and poorly funded when compared to white-led non-profits), meant that the designers needed to establish a voice, tone, and visual language that spoke to a wide range of people, including high-dollar donors, community residents, and arts professionals.
Creator: Donald Ely
Agency: Three Ring Studio
Client: CulturalDC
This is a multi-media design refresh for CulturalDC's 2022-23 season of mobile art gallery exhibitions and artist residency program. The conceptual direction of CulturalDC's 2022-23 season is designed to be bold, graphic, hand-crafted, and punk-like—a tonal compliment to the art that it promotes. CulturalDC's marketing is a stand-out in terms of gallery promotion in the DMV. The largest challenge was creating a flexible identity system that incorporates CulturalDC's branding (color palette, typography, etc.) into materials designed to promote a wide range of artists, each with their own visual language.
Creator: Tré Seals
Agency: Vocal Type
This large-format book features 30 removable posters by 30 inspiring Black creatives from around the world. Artists and designers, including London-based muralist Lakwena and South Africa-based artist Huston Wilson, among others, are included in this inspiring book of ready-to-frame artwork. Each poster is aesthetically unique; the selection ranges from illustrations to typography featuring phrases expressing positivity, hope, and strength, all through the lenses of internationally acclaimed and emerging Black creatives working today. According to Tré Seals, the book's curator and designer, "We see Black as a palette, a mixture of every color and form of light. This is our true definition of Black, and this is why we Dream in Color."
Additional Credits
The book features work from:
Tré Seals, Franco Égalité, Lakwena, Malik Roberts, Huston Wilson, Mia Saine, Cymone Wilder, McKinley Wallace III, Jen White-Johnson, Darien Birks, Donnie Ramsey, Jacob Rochester, Eso Tolson, Esther Luntadila, Gail Anderson, Kendra Dandy, Ciara LeRoy, Aurélia Durand, Schessa Garbutt, Gia Graham, Andrea Pippins, Hunter Saxony III, Mina Elise, Jon Key, Lo Harris, Manassaline Coleman, Reyna Noriega, Rinny Perkins, Emmanuel Adjei, and Shae Anthony.
Creator: Derry Noyes Graphics and Rafael López / United States Postal Service (USPS)
Client: The United States Postal Service (USPS)
This fanciful, digital illustration of an elephant and its young calf depicts the affectionate nature of these beloved animals. Two stylized plants and a bright orange sun add whimsy and color to this cute, lighthearted stamp. The art director approached the artist with a unique challenge: To create a stamp about our love and appreciation of elephants but not represent a specific type of elephant. There are three types of elephants: African Savanna (Bush), African Forest, and Asian. But the design was to stay away from depicting any of them specifically. A fun fact, African Elephants ears are shaped like the African Continent while the Asian Elephants ears are shaped like the country of India.
Additional Credits:
Derry Noyes, Art Director
Rafael López, Designer
Rafael López, Artist
Agency: American Geophysical Union
Eos, AGU's member magazine, covers news and perspectives about Earth and space sciences. Coinciding with AGU’s annual meeting in Chicago, the Eos November/December issue translates the meeting's theme of “Science Leads the Future.” This future is informed by the past, guided by the present, and will be characterized by the contributions of individuals, communities, and coalitions. The future is science.
The final cover was foil-embossed and the issue was distributed at our annual meeting in December 2022. The goal of the illustration was to align the meeting's visual brand, incorporating Chicago and Art Deco-styled elements while also showcasing our members' work, scientific advances, and AGU. The individual illustration elements are inspired by various Eos articles, AGU’s scientific disciplines, and our Net-Zero building renovation, the first in DC.
Additional Credits
Mary Heinrichs, Illustration & Design
Beth Bagley, Creative Direction
Caryl-Sue Micalizio, Editor in Chief Faith A.
Ishii, Assistant Director, Operations
Anaise Aristide, Senior Production Analytics Specialist
Lane Press, Printer
Agency: Taoti Creative
Client: Carnegie Science
The Carnegie Institute of Science approached Taoti Creative to design a new website that was so bold it matched the awesome scope of the organization’s scientific work. Their vision was for a space where visitors would be inspired to unleash their curiosity and explore, learn, and connect with other like-minded science enthusiasts. Taoti worked to understand the complexities among the various research divisions of the institution and built an integrated web platform and user experience that efficiently organized the massive volume of content. Our goal was to provide visitors with the ability to customize their exploration through simple navigation and clear language that demystified complex scientific topics. The site showcases visually stunning photography and custom photo treatments of outer space, ecosystems, and cellular biology. It also features interactive animations that take Carnegie’s story to the next level (or dare we say, out of this world).
Agency: Design Army
Client: Lowe
Gallery 64 is a new apartment building that is surrounded by 15 other new developments all catering to the same demographics, that’s nearly 6,0000 new apartment units “now leasing” All of them feature a similar set of amenities and features and priced within a few hundred dollars of each other. Gallery 64 is unique as it shares a courtyard with the Rubell Museum of Contemporary Art. Leveraging this distinct attribute, the Gallery 64 brand evokes a very curated and artful approach. The property name is not only the street address (64 H ST SE) but is a reference to 1964 which marked a pivotal moment in contemporary culture. Gallery 64 branding is expressive, artful, and diverse. The many variations of the 64 are used to represent all aspects of “art” from textile design to break-dancing, while the curated photography visuals were conceptualized as modern “pop-art.” The brand colors are primary yet polished, and the brand patterns allow for a controlled graphic volume based on application. During pre-leasing, Gallery 64’s Instagram gained an average of 200 organic followers per month, and at opening Gallery 64 signed over 40 leases during the first 3 months - often with a waitlist for tours.
Additional Credits:
Pum Lefebure, Chief Creative Officer
Mariela Hsu andSucha Becky, Creative Directors
Christos Zafeiriadis, Art Director
Heloise Condroyer, Tony Kim, yeri Choi, Chloe Jung, and Ziyi Xu, Designers
Jake Lefebure, Project Manager
Dean Alexander, Photographer
Creator: Spaeth Hill / United States Postal Service
Agency: SpaethHill
Client: The United States Postal Service (USPS)
The Floral Geometry stamps are the latest high-denomination stamp series for the United States Postal Service (USPS) and include the $2, $5 and $10 designs. The stamp art features a series of overlapping geometric shapes that mimic the symmetry of floral patterns found in nature and the watercolor backgrounds represent variations of the flower colors themselves. The shimmer of the foil-stamped designs and typography create a sophisticated high-end look, required for the high-denomination series.
Additional Credits
Antonio Alcalá, Art Director, United States Postal Service (USPS)
Nathan Hill, Design Lead
Chris Tait, Designer
Agency: Rockets are Red
Client: Girls Against Boys
This three-colored screen printed poster set was created for the band Girls Against Boys (GVSB). Designed for both promotion and sale; the set was featured on their West and East Coast tours to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of their landmark album, …House of GVSB. To capture the “kinda muzik yu like,” and “the 1-2-3 to tango, the 4-5-6 to mambo," we explored and visualized the themes of the album. Using a mixture of typography to showcase the jumble of disparate noise that comes together in unity to build these noir-filled worlds. Worlds that reflect being lost in the fall – sinking fast in the day long hazy dreaming within the dirty glamor.
Additional Credits
Printing by Triple Stamp Press
Agency: Journey Group / United States Postal Service
Client: United States Postal Service
These 10 stamps in a pane of 20 pay tribute to heritage breeds, pre-industrial farm animals that are enjoying renewed attention for their versatility, adaptability, and unique genetic traits. Heritage breeds of livestock take us back to our agricultural roots—and show the way to a more sustainable future. From the beginning, art director and stamp designer agreed that photography would be better than illustration for the visual celebration of heritage breeds. Connecting the public directly to the animals was congruent with how heritage breeds connect communities more purposefully with their food sources. The stamp designer, who raises heritage breed livestock, was familiar with the work of a photographer, who had spent the past two years photographing and writing exclusively about rare and heritage breeds. He knew that her keen ability to bring out the best of every animal was exactly what the project needed. During the process of choosing images for the issuance the design team quickly realized that some animals looked better set against a white background while others needed a dark backdrop to really shine. The design team devised an alternating, checkerboard pattern to create a grid structure that gives shape and movement to the pane of stamps.
Additional Credits
Greg Breeding, Art Director
Zach Bryant, Designer
Aliza Eliazarov, Existing Photographs
Agency: Design Army
Client: Hong Kong Ballet
The neverending pandemic. It’s a challenge everyone has faced for the last several years, but the long term goals for the Hong Kong Ballet remained – make the HKB as an institution of national prestige, reach new audiences, and generate subscriptions. However, this proved challenging due random lockdowns in HK and gaining access to dancers, locations, and closures. This meant the HKB season was subject to change/cancellation at any moment, and we had an even smaller budget than previous years to create bigger than before brand results. Not knowing what was next in the pandemic we decided that NEXT should be the seasonal theme. Taking a Surrealist art approach, we develop visuals that would transport audiences to the most desirable places they wanted to be – outdoors and in fresh air. With constant openings and closures due to COVID-19 the season was still very successful. The HKB dancers float on sky-colored backgrounds interacting with nature, the future, and spaces that we only dream of being, while dynamic typographics bend and twist unexpectedly as they interact with the dancers. The results deliver delight and whimsy with an instantly recognizable season branding for the HKB.
Additional Credits:
Pum Lefebure, Chief Creative Office
Sucha Becky, Mariela Hsu, and Heloise Condroyer, Creative Directors
Jake Lefebure, Project Manager
Agency: Design Army
Client: Saucony
Saucony’s EndorphinPro 3 shoe launch needed to be as distinct as its lead Prospect-Pink colorway. This attention-grabbing pink is a symbol of self-expression rooted in disruption that could either build intrigue and build affinity – or simply alienate because the shoe is literally hot pink which may not appeal to the elite running audience. To get the most impact, we needed a way to attract and educate both runners and culturalists that could help spread the launch virally. We created a pop-up experience during the men’s collections at Paris Fashion Week to combine fashion and fast; and let the bold Prospect-Pink colorway inform all the visual cues, guerrilla marketing, and experiential activations. Leaning on bold typography that incorporates movement and animation the pink exterior and glowing window displays make a splash. All details and touch points ladder back to speed and feeling - from the art gallery-esque entry and immersive treadmills to the interactive living quarters boasting an Endorphin Bar, bright pink bathtub with EndorphinPro 3-clad feet, and a bed whose mirror above reads “Go Faster” for the ultimate selfie. Around Paris, bright pink branded “newspapers” were distributed to draw all eyes (and feet) to the Saucony House of Speed.
Additional Credits
Pum Lefebure, Chief Creative Office
Sucha Becky, Creative Directors
Jason Chae and Chloe Jung, Designers
Samantha G Kim and Jake Lefebure, Project Managers
Agency: Rockets are Red
Client: Jawbreaker / Garageland
A sold out poster designed for Jawbreaker’s performance at The Fillmore Silver Spring, MD. Specifically, to promote and sell at their show celebrating the 25th anniversary of their landmark album, Dear You. The four color screen print is 18x24 inches and printed on heavy Whitewash French Paper. It features revealing glow-in-the-dark messages throughout the work. The work features hotel stationery being typed on by a typewriter. The main design of the poster plays on the title of the album being performed, Dear You. All the information, such as venue address and greeting, are displayed as if it were written as a standard letter – ‘Dear You’, starts the correspondence. When the light is turned off, the unwritten thoughts of the themes of the album are displayed through song lyrics; love, loss, heartbreak, betrayal, and loneliness. The typewriter itself is Kerouac’s typewriter, which was a portable model’ – a 1930’s Underwood Royal Standard. Kerouac and Oscar Wilde are both displayed showing the contrasting writing styles and world views at play. It is also surrounded by pictures representing DC, such as the lion statue, and paired with a cat yawning as a reference to the band’s first album.
This poster is a meditation on the healing power of music - acknowledging that there are others out there feeling what you feel and trying to make the ugly more beautiful; even when the insides of the beautiful model is pure betrayal, lies, and loss of faith.
Additional Credits
Printing by Triple Stamp Press
Agency: This January
Client: Khalifa Kush
Khalifa Kush isn't selling medicinal cannabis. They're selling potent, powerful, premium weed. From Wiz Khalifa's personal stash. Descended from an OG strain, Khalifa Kush is full of just as much energy, just as much life, as Wiz himself. And This January built a brand to prove it. Khalifa Kush came to This January to rebrand ahead of a big growth year. Last year, the brand had only a logo, stamped in gold foil, on a series of packages. So they set out to change that, building a holistic brand story and modular visual toolkit as bold and full of life as the man himself. From building a brand story and strategy to fully reimagining visual design — from the website to type, color, package design, and social content — they built a strong, cohesive cannabis brand.
Additional Credits
Zach Goodwin, Creative Director
Maggie Winters, Creative Director
Monica Tan, Art Director
Nathan Colby, Director of Content
Erica Goodwin, Account Director
Agency: Rockets are Red
Client: Letters to Cleo
Set of posters for the band Letters to Cleo as they played several shows on the west and east coast. Each poster is 18x24 inches, four-colors, screen printed on heavy Orange Crush French Paper. The band wanted each coast to have posters that tied together thematically as well as stylistically. Since both shows were booked at the end of the pandemic shut downs, the theme explored community and reaching out to who those you care about. In the work, a person sends notes folded up and tossed out into the world as paper airplanes; hoping for connection and another soul to reach out early for the messages they send. For the west coast, inspiration was drawn from the warm colors, style of architecture, and iconic palm trees found in California. For the east coast shows, Boston was the main influence as it is the band's hometown. It features a beautifully painted older building surrounded by dense trees, against a backdrop of cool New England evening.
Additional Credits
Printing by Bruner Industries and Triple Stamp Press
Creator: Studio A / United States Postal Service
Client: United States Postal Service
This U.S. postage stamp commemorates the Lunar New Year. Calling to mind the elaborately decorated masks used in the dragon or lion dances often performed during Lunar New Year parades, the artist’s three-dimensional masks are a contemporary take on the long tradition of paper-cut folk art crafts created during this auspicious time of year. Utilizing orange as the predominant color—characteristic of tiger markings and said to be one of the lucky colors for individuals born during the Year of the Tiger—the tiger mask incorporates elements with symbolic meaning. Several of the patterns and details were created with the style of Asian textiles in mind as well as green flowers that represent the arrival of spring, which Lunar New Year also signals in Chinese culture. The motif atop the tiger’s head—printed with purple foil—references the celestial themes of the Chinese zodiac. On the pane of 20 stamps, simplified illustrations of the 12 zodiac animals are printed with gold foil.
Additional Credits
Antonio Alcalá, Art Director
Antonio Alcalá, Designer
Camille Chew, Artist
Creator: Kessler Design / United States Postal Service
Client: United States Postal Service
Four beautiful mountain wildflowers are featured in this U. S. Postal Service 20 stamp booklet. The art director asked an illustrator and printmaker to lend her style of hand-carved block prints to this latest round of floral stamps. To bring her flowers to life on the small stamp canvases, the artist drew a series of sketches and then refined them digitally to create colorful, gradated “block-printesque” pieces of digital artwork. The color and shape of each flower was selected for its unique beauty and to complement the block of four. The artist tried to create movement and balance between leaves and flowers in each piece while keeping each different from the others to achieve a harmonious variety.
Additional Credits
Ethel Kessler, Art Director
Ethel Kessler, Designer
Lili Arnold, Artist
Creator: David Whitmore
Agency: RiverRun Creative
Client: National Geographic
This 500-plus page book delivers a celebratory and comprehensive visual odyssey, illustrating and explaining a broad range of science, animal life, and environmental storytelling. This book is in many ways, a summation of a long distinguished career for oceanographer, explorer, and author Sylvia Earle. The book captures the breadth and beauty of her contribution as one of the last of the classic era National Geographic explorers. The book is a large format, richly illustrated artifact, meant to be savored, used, and saved.
Additional Credits
Melissa Farris, Creative Director
Susan Hitchcock, Editor
Matthew Propert, Photo Editor
Agency: Polygraph
Client: One Trick Pony
One Trick Pony is here to shake up the peanut butter aisle. Named One Trick Pony because OTP is about one thing and one thing only: using the world’s best peanuts (hint: they’re in Argentina) to make the world’s best peanut butter (hold the added sugar and palm oil, please). We worked on all aspects of the brand: designing the wordmark, color and typographic systems, the character illustrations and the brand packaging as well. 3 SKUS to start (smooth, crunchy and unsalted). As a start-up, the OTP brand needed to have presence in a variety of media channels including social, digital, print collateral and packaging—so thinking holistically was imperative from the outset. The natural peanut butter aisle is full of safe, expected graphic troupes so Polygraph created a character-driven, energetic peanut butter system in the nostalgic tradition of the big name, sugary brands. Peanut butter should be healthy—and can be fun!
Agency: Three Ring Studio
Client: The Wills Group
These residential basketball court murals (full-court and half-court) were painted to beautify a neighborhood space that had long been neglected and was considered unsafe by residents in the Phoenix Run neighborhood in La Plata, Maryland. Other objectives included designing a mural that reflected the community that would be engaging with it, collaborating with residents on concept, color palette and execution of the mural, and creating a space that was welcoming and for residents of all ages. The pieces were the first of their kind in Southern Maryland.
Additional Credits
Blackie Wills—President and Chief Operating Officer, The Wills Group
Allie O'Neill—Architecture & Community Planning Program Director, Neighborhood Design Center
Kaprece James—CEO, Stella's Girls
Agency: Polygraph
Poppyseed Rye, half craft sandwich cafe, half fresh flower shop, needed a brand identity that represented its sophisticated mix of flavors & flowers. Elegant typography, a restrained soft color palette, and playful illustrated touches combine to create a mood as delightful as the menu, and seamlessly takes the cafe from daytime sandwiches to evening champagne toasts. The Poppyseed Rye experience from the exterior awnings to the to-go flower wraps is bright, fresh and cosmopolitan. With its small footprint and ambitious mix of eatery and flower shop, innovation for the Poppyseed Rye brand meant efficiency. Polygraph created a menu rail system with individual boards that could be swapped easily by any staff member to update the current offerings. To help cut down on storage bulk they designed and tested a custom patterned butcher wrap that could work for both sides of the shop: packing made-to-order sandwiches and wrapping fresh flower bouquets.
Agency: Streetsense
Client: Greystar
Comprising 200 luxury apartments across two buildings along the Sunset Strip, Rae on Sunset stands to serve as a creative catalyst in the neighborhood. Brimming with energy, the surrounding area is home to local makers and global game-changers, iconic landmarks and the undiscovered, places to be seen and space to breathe. Offering high design, lush greenery, and personalized services, Rae on Sunset is where inspiration hits home. An artful interpretation of the convergence of the sun and the moon, the logo is inspired by the contrasting yet complementary, sophisticated design of the East and West Buildings — alluding to the duality of experiences at Rae on Sunset. The design direction reflects a sophisticated aesthetic with an edge of surrealism.
Additional Credits
Ifi Flores, Senior Art Director
Jessica Alvarenga, Designer
Madison Byrd, Designer
Jose Colmenares, Designer
Donna Oetzel, Executive Director, Brand
Angela McGarvey, Managing Director, Brand
Kate Morton, Senior Creative Strategist
Montana Burns, Creative Strategist
Jacob Prokell, Associate Art Director, Photo and Video
Creator: Studio A / United States Postal Service
Client: United States Postal Service
Merging traditional artwork with modern design touches, this stamp represents a story of great significance to the Indigenous people of the northern Northwest Coast. Inspired by the traditional story of Raven setting free the sun, the moon, and the stars, Tlingit/Athabascan artist depicts Raven just as he escapes from his human family and begins to transform back into his bird form. A five-fingered hand connected to Raven suggests the human form he is leaving behind. To create the stamp art, the artist used formline, the traditional design style of the Indigenous people of the northern Northwest Coast. Formline relies on a stylized vocabulary of ovoids and related shapes, continuous lines of varying thicknesses, and ambiguous, even abstract patterns that often suggest both human and animal features to convey a sense of transformation and the oneness of all life. The artist sketched his design with a pencil before completing the image digitally. He imagined Raven hastily transforming and trying to grab as many stars and celestial objects as he could. Some stars and feathers are tucked in his hands or beak during this frantic moment. Bright stars were illuminated with gold foil during printing for dramatic effect.
Additional Credits
Antonio Alcala, Art Director
Antonio Alcala, Designer
Rico Worl, Artist
Agency: Polygraph
Client: Smithsonian
Despite the isolation and uncertainty, 2020 was a transformational year for the Smithsonian. For their annual report, Polygraph created an oversized book that captured the year’s gravity with custom illustrations and bold juxtapositions in dialogue with one another across spreads.The narrative front section ran on coated paper, with the donors and financials on uncoated with a vibrant spot orange. Set in Theinhardt and Lyon.
Agency: Polygraph
Client: Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian has been producing a printed annual report since 1890. For the 2021 Smithsonian annual report, Polygraph partnered with the Smithsonian Office of Advancement to commission a photographer, Stephen Voss, to document the year in real time and tell the macro visual story of the institution through closure and isolation to gradual reopening. To complement the imagery and contrast the sheer scale of the institution, Smithsonian then commissioned a poet, Jennifer Chang, to provide an intimate, singular voice of experience and observation of the same year. She was incredibly collaborative with the team and the whole creative endeavor was elevated through the partnership. The poem became a guiding light, completely changing the piece and beautifully complementing the photography. In a world where most annual reports recycle the same tropes and messages, this one is a true original.
Creator: Rockets are Red
Client: Social Distortion / Garageland
A four set poster series for Social Distortion for a run of shows throughout California. Each poster is 18 x 24 inches, four-colors, screen printed on heavy Whitewash French Paper.
The band wanted to have a series that go together thematically as well as stylistically. What started off as a single print evolved into a set of four that covers all the topics of a good "Social D" song - pawn shops, liquor stops, cool cars, and rock guitars. I wanted this to feel like you are driving down a run down, but lively, street seeing all the activities at night. Each print works together or separate and in any order. The informational text was presented as if they were individual storefronts – with each window displaying the band as the store name and the concert date as the street address.
Additional Credits
Triple Stamp Press, Printing
Creator: Tré Seals
Agency: Vocal Type
Client: Chronicle Books, Spike Lee
Spike Lee is a world-renowned, Academy Award–winning filmmaker, a cultural icon, and one of the most prominent voices on race and racism for more than three decades. His prolific career has included over 35 films, including his directorial debut She’s Gotta Have It (1986), his seminal masterpiece Do the Right Thing (1989), and more recently, his Oscar-winning film BlacKkKlansman (2018). Spike Lee’s provocative feature films, documentaries, commercials, and music videos have spotlighted powerful stories and made an indelible mark in cinematic history and contemporary society. This career-spanning monograph titled SPIKE is a visual celebration of his life and career. Tré Seals, founder of the diversity-driven font foundry Vocal Type, designed this monograph and crafted the five bespoke typefaces within its pages. Different aspects of Spike’s life and career inspire each typeface: from the “LOVE” and “HATE” rings worn by Radio Raheem in Do The Right Thing to the “MARS” chain from She’s Gotta Have it, as well as over a dozen film posters and Knicks jerseys. Featuring a fuchsia cover (his mom’s favorite color), the all-black pages are designed to make readers feel like they are viewing Spike’s life and career from their seats in the theater.
Additional Credits
David Lee, Photography
Steve Crist, Editing
Steve Crist and Gloria, Art Direction
Tré Seals, Design
Vocal Type c/o Tré Seals, Typography
Agency: This January
Client: Revature
This January built a website and campaign for Revature that speaks to both audiences individually, the candidate and the recruiting team. Whether they're looking to start a new career in tech, or hire a dozen new engineers trained on a specific tech stack, the first step is Revature. The new brand looks and feels like a modern tech company, attracting folks who are interested in working in tech and the people who will soon hire them. With bright, poppy colors and friendly type, the visual style is welcoming and tech-forward. Imagery of diverse, stylish candidates helps drive home the message that Revature is for everyone. And no matter what you're looking for, a career or new team members, Revature is the place to start. It can be hard to trust a company you haven't heard of offering such a big commitment — the Revature program lasts two years. So the new design language has to do double-duty, both attracting the audience and proving that the company is trustworthy and legitimate. Before the website launched, This January heard that potential candidates thought that Revature might be a scam. Since it launched, not a single person has mentioned that in their interview process! The rebrand led to a hit a record number of B2C candidate applications in 2022 through June (last half of the year, we shut off demand gen) B2B - created over 2200 MQLs - and improved conversion of the MQL to SQL from 1% in 2021 to 10% in 2022
Agency: Online Optimism
Client: Stratus Firm
Stratus Firm is a premier event production company in D.C. Formerly known as RJ Whyte Event Production, Stratus Firm is well-regarded for producing everything from social events to large-scale experiences featuring top CEOs and the President of the United States. When they approached us, they were ready to extend the vision of the company and create a new brand that reflected the leaps they had made during the past couple of years. Online Optimism led this brand redevelopment, from their mission and content strategy to their new name and visual identity. Extensive workshops and interviews led us to the name "Stratus Firm." From the Proto-Indo-European root stere- and the Latin stratus, which mean “to spread,” we highlight the company’s expansion to new services, audiences, and geographies. Their team wanted a symbol to identify them and after several iterations, we designed one that captured the initials of Stratus Firm, represented the care in everything they produce, and symbolized the interlocking relationship between their team and clients. From their icon, we created logo variations and a beautiful pattern that can be used across mediums. The result was an elegant, forward-thinking brand identity that opened new possibilities.
Additional Credits:
Juan Pablo Madrid, Design and Project Management
Lauren Walter, Content Strategy
Amanda McCrea, Copywriting
Sam Olmsted, Strategy
Flynn Zaiger, Strategy and Project Management
Agency: This January
Client: The International Spy Museum
In a city with more free museums than anywhere in the world, how can we convince visitors to buy tickets to a museum that has lower unaided awareness, and is further away from the others? With a goal to increase awareness of the museum and ticket sales as tourism roared back to life post-pandemic, the campaign used clever advertising throughout high-visibility points, such as buses and Metro fare gates. Considering the ubiquity of spies in the capital city, messaging such as "There might be a spy on this bus" aimed to attract curious museumgoers.
Agency: Design Army
Client: Neenah Paper
Neenah Paper is constantly seeking out new methods to enlighten, educate and engage with the creative community. Today’s gen-z creative is not thinking “paper-first”, yet they often discover a printed form of collateral or packaging is required to round-out their creative solutions. To connect with the next generation designer, we put paper aside and embraced the pixel. We needed to create a one-stop-shop for ideation and inspiration from real-life paper-based projects – a website where users can browse hundreds of REAL projects based on industry, print technique, or trend. Create a platform for the best ideas to inspire and delight while showcasing how brands can transcend the screen and elevate experience. To make the Idea Shop stand out we kept the approach simple. We use black, white, yellow, blue, and natural tan. We use one font family, and we designed branded visuals to SAY exactly what they are so it’s clear to all audiences what they are buying from Neenah (Paper). Since its launch there has been great success. The website has a bounce rate less than 45% and generates an average of 1,200 unique users per month, and over 1,000 have signed-up for membership to gain exclusive offers.
Additional Credits
Pum Lefebure, Chief Creative Office
Sucha Becky, Creative Director
Christos Zafeiriadis, Art Director
Chloe Jung, Designers
Jake Lefebure, Project Manager
Agency: Design Army
Client: The One Club for Creativity
The One Show Awards is an elite celebration of creative excellence within the advertising and marketing industry that recognizes work that has been bold and revolutionary in pushing craft forward. The OSA turned 50 and wanted to celebrate the past while looking forward, as well as ensure that the campaign set the bar high for all others to surpass. The "What’s Your One?" campaign looks back at some of the most influential work from the past 50 years from a host of industry creatives on the ad that had the greatest impact on them, as well as their favorite work of their own. The one ad that inspired them to get into the creative business or marks the highlight of their career? The one ad they didn’t do but inspires them? The One Show’s 50-year milestone is showcased in special logo branding, which combines a celebration of the past with a forward-thinking, youthful spirit meant to inspire the next 50 years of creative excellence. The campaign comes alive with typography at the forefront, speaking with a simple yet bold authoritative voice. Nonconformity and innovative thinking are reflected in the use of stretched and distorted type in a youthful color palette.
Additional Credits
Pum Lefebure, Chief Creative Office
Sucha Becky, Creative Directors
Jason Chae and Chloe Jung, Designers
Jake Lefebure, Project Manager
Creator: World Resources Institute
Client: The Systems Change Lab
The Video Team at World Resources Institute created an introductory video to the Systems Change Lab platform, which aims to combat climate change by identifying and tracking several shifts that need to happen across global industries. We worked with their team on editing the script, storyboarding, illustration, and animation. The main story centers around three bikers, using their bike path as a metaphor for a path towards a more sustainable future. Illustrations were done in Adobe Illustrator, and After Effects was used for the animation. This video was launched with the roll-out of the Systems Change Lab website and social media channels.
Additional Credits
Bill Dugan, Creative director
Rene Berman-Vaporis, CJ Paghasian, Script
Flavio Galvao and CJ Paghasian, Storyboard
CJ Paghasian, Background Design & Animation
Flavio Galvao, Character Design & Animation
Grace Kelly, Additional Animation
Natasha Arancini, Voice over
Romain Warnault, Production
CJ Paghasian, Sound editing
Agency: Studio Aorta
Client: National Association of Letter Carriers
The Week the Mail Stopped was a temporary exhibition created in celebration of the 50th anniversary of a postal workers’ strike that revolutionized the United States Postal Service by collective bargaining that led to better working conditions and living wages for postal workers. The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) hosted the exhibition during their biennial convention in August 2022. The exhibition used combined trade show structures, d vibrant graphics, various scales of object displays –including a life sized mail vehicle– to create a museum experience for the convention-goers, many of whom belong to an audience that might not feel like their stories are necessarily represented in typical museum settings.
Additional Credits
Rina Alfonso, Creative Director
Danielle Coates, Senior Exhibit & Graphic Designer
Arianna Ho, Exhibit & Graphic Designer
Brittany Camacho, Exhibit Developer, Writer and Editor
Creator: Smithsonian American Art Museum
“This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World” showcases American craft like never before. Accompanying a 2022 exhibition of the same name, it features artists’ stories of resilience, methods of activism, and highlights craft’s ability to spark essential conversations about race, gender, and representation. This book marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, the nation’s preeminent center for the enjoyment of American craft.
Like the art and artists represented in the exhibition, the design of the catalogue aimed to highlight the turbulence and anxiety – as well as the hopeful initiatives – of the time in which the exhibition was organized (2019-22). Topics of concern included the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter, illegal immigration, political unrest, global climate change, and other current events. Antonio Alcalá of Studio A was hired to help the SAAM team brainstorm cover concepts; it was he who suggested using variable image technology to create fifty different covers in honor of the Renwick Gallery's 50th anniversary. Karen Siatras created the solarized image of the Renwick’s façade and Antonio interpreted it in fifty different colorways for the paper-over-boards covers. The title was printed on a clear PVC dust jacket, a common element to unify the set.
Additional Credits
Mary Savig, Author
Julianna C. White, Editor
Tiffany Farrell, Head of Publications
Karen Siatras, Designer
Antonio Alcalá of Studio A, Cover Designer
Louise Ramsay of D Giles Limited, Project Manager
Conti Tipocolor, Printer
Creators: Derry Noyes Graphics and Melinda Beck / United States Postal Service
Client: United States Postal Service
With these stamps, the U.S. Postal Service commemorates the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex from any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. The artwork features four unique designs, each a dark blue silhouette of a woman’s face in profile. The digital illustrations of the four women represent female athletes, specifically a runner, a swimmer, a gymnast, and a soccer player. Yellow laurel branches, symbolic of victory, rest in their hair and on the swimmer’s cap. Rendered in lettering created by the artist, “Title IX” appears written across the women’s cheeks, intended as an empowering message about the inclusion of women and girls in all educational settings. Early on the design team knew they wanted to focus on sports for the stamp designs. While athletics is just one aspect of Title IX, it's a big one.
Additional Credits
Derry Noyes, Art Director
Melinda Beck, Designer
Melinda Beck, Artist
Melinda Beck, Typographer
Agency: O2 Lab, Inc.
Client: MIT CoLab
MIT’s CoLab works within the university's Department of Urban Studies and Planning to create pacesetting innovations in cooperation with marginalized communities, democratizing economies and realizing self-determination in the United States and abroad. In 2021, CoLab asked O2 Lab to create a report documenting their accomplishments from 2016-2020. Using dramatic typography, cover deboss and modern, bold color, “Transformation in Moments of Disruptive Change” fully expresses the CoLab’s extraordinary collaborations with communities at the margins.
Additional Credits
Robert McVearry, Creative Director
Sara Sklaroff and Robert McVearry, Art Direction
Sara Sklaroff, Nora Mosley, and Fred Lameck, Design,
Allison Hope, Writing
Worth Higgins & Associates, Inc., Printing
Creator: Medical Arts at National Institutes of Health
Client: National Institutes of Health - Office of the Director
The UNITE Initiative launched to diversify the portraiture within NIH buildings to recognize the contributions of all NIH staff and engender a spirit of inclusion by acknowledging the rich diversity of our NIH workforce.
The project was spearheaded by NIH cancer researcher, Sadhana Jackson, M.D. Recognizing that the artwork in shared or public spaces encodes an institution’s values and provides messages to its members about belonging.
This project aims to highlight inclusive excellence to help foster organizational change and a sense of belonging among underrepresented groups in administrative, scientific, and executive careers at the NIH. This part of UNITE is in the main hallway of the largest building on NIH campus. Each portrait features a hand rendered portrait of a current NIH community member who has contributed to the expansion of public health knowledge.
The designer/illustrator, Jeffrey Everett, used the established NIH palette to unify pieces and show that NIH is part of everyone. He created patterns that overlap and intertwine to show the connections between people and science and the world. We also did multiple historic quotes highlighting the need for diversity in knowledge and leadership.
Additional Credits
Jeffrey Everett, Art Direction / Design / Illustration:
Dodge Chrome, Production / Installation:
Dr. Sadhana Jackson, Project Oversight
Agency: Polygraph
Client: VCU Virginia Commonwealth University
VCU's College of Humanities and Sciences was looking to update their communications collateral and create a compelling marketing suite of brochures to encourage more students to choose academic fields within their college. Each department had been producing their own marketing pieces and this was a chance to unify the brand look and feel of the 21 different academic majors. Polygraph created a customizable brochure carrier that could house the new general brochure for the college as well as individual brochure from any of the academic departments an interested student might be curious about. Designing a structured printed piece enabled a strong content delivery system for the various departments and build a strong typography, color and layout hierarchy that helped unify the diverse majors under the college umbrella. Polygraph created a dual-purpose custom carrier and general brochure for the college. Then, they developed individual brochures with each academic department within the college. Instead of relying on generic imagery of college students, Polygraph had each department select a few students to represent the major—this opened the opportunity to highlight the true diversity of students and interests at VCU and allowed prospective students to really see themselves in these departments.The individual brochures fit together with the general college brochure to create a fully-customizable packet based on each students individual interests.
Creator: Meaghan A. Dee
Designed for: AIGA Design for Democracy / Get Out The Vote
While Meaghan was nine months pregnant, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. Knowing the intensity of pregnancy first-hand, she couldn’t imagine having this experience forced upon her. At the time, she was pregnant with a little girl, and it broke her heart to picture her child growing up in a country where she might not have a say in what happens to her body. Meaghan chose to create a vote poster emphasizing a woman’s right to choose (and every person deserves bodily autonomy).
Creator: Spaeth Hill
Client: Art in Embassies: U.S. Department of State
Art in Embassies (AIE), a U.S. Department of State program, creates vital cross-cultural dialogue and fosters mutual understanding through the visual arts and dynamic artist exchanges. The catalog for the Oslo Embassy in Norway features artwork created by American and Norwegian artists, and serves as an important tool for cross-cultural exchange. When creating the catalog for Oslo, we selected a unique typeface and a bronze metallic ink for the color palette. These together added a quiet elegance to the piece which allowed the artwork and the content to come forward.
Additional Credits
Nathan Hill, Art Director
Chris Tait, Designer
Agency: O2 Lab, Inc.
Client: Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP
Each year, the law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer (WBK) asks O2 Lab to create a holiday card to nurture engagement with clients and other business associates. The challenge each time is to create a new and memorable piece that communicates the breadth and depth of the firm’s expertise. As the pandemic dragged on, O2 Lab developed a card that emphasized how technology (the firm’s main focus area) was able to keep people connected even when we had to be apart. Die-cut holes in the card’s sleeve show illustrations of separate individual people, but once the card is removed it is revealed that they are all staying in touch, thanks to technology.
Additional Credits
Robert McVearry and Sara Sklaroff, Creative Direction
Sara Sklaroff, Nora Mosley, and Fred Lameck, Design
Sara Sklaroff, Illustration
C&R Printing, Printing
Creator: Meaghan A. Dee
When Meaghan asked her friend Elham if there was anything she could do to support her during the protests in Iran, she told her to design a poster—that people outside of Iran need to be talking about what is happening and to bring continued international attention to the protests. For this, she chose to create the words "women, life, freedom" using her own hair, choosing this medium because so many women are exposing their hair or chopping their hair off in acts of brave defiance.
Wishing strength, love, and safety to all those impacted.
Woman Life Freedom زن زندگی آزادی
Creator: Kessler Design and Nancy Stahl / United States Postal Service
Client: United States Postal Service
The goal for this stamp design was to pay tribute to the women’s Olympic rowing team and to all the women who compete in this demanding sport. Four different stamp designs are featured in a pane of 20 stamps arranged as five staggered rows of four, each row comprising two se-tenant pairs of stamps.. The artwork, which covers the entire pane, is a stylized illustration of five eight-person crews on the water, apparently practicing or possibly racing. The staggering crews of eight showing one team at the beginning of a stroke and another finishing, communicated the sense of motion and energy they sought. The artwork's horizontal orientation meant that the rowers could be recognizable as women. The selvage is used to finish the scene with another boat in the distance and the riverbank behind.
Additional Credits
Ethel Kessler, Art Director
Nancy Stahl, Designer
Nancy Stahl, Illustrator
