Habitat for Humanity Conference Material

This poster and booklet are two components of the conference material I designed for a student project. The poster draws attention to the impact that a single individual can have by choosing to spend their vacation volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.



The booklet juxtaposes visual ideas of vacationing and Habitat for Humanity's home building mission.

Performing Arts Bookfair

Below is a promotional poster for a fair at which books about the performing arts were featured.

Discrimination Poster

This poster was created in response to the French National Assembly's decision to ban Muslim head scarves and other religious symbols from public schools in February of 2004. Designed for a class project about discrimination, this poster focuses on the ignorance of this archaic decision regarding the traditional practices of Islam, with 18th century Marie Antoinette representing the modern-day French government.

Religion and Politics Lecture Series

This series of three posters for a lecture series entitled "Religion and Politics in the USA" exemplifies my concept that the separation between religion and politics in our country is absent in many of our daily, overlooked practices.

Martha Stewart Living Architecture

This project involved dissecting a specific issue of a magazine or periodical and constructing a visual map of its content. I chose to represent an issue of Martha Stewart Living, and feel that the structure used highlights the balance of the magazine's sections.

Tomboy Tools Rebranding

This project involved researching an existing brand and redesigning their identity system. Tomboy Tools is a company that sells ergonomically designed tools for a woman's smaller hand. They teach workshops and empower women to take charge of home improvement, while emphasizing that they do not simply make "pink tools."

Here is the company's current identity, which I feel does not accurately represent the uniqueness of their company or their brand philosophy.



Here is my proposed redesign of their identity, followed by its application on color-coded tool packaging.

IT Post-It

During my internship at Thomson Course Technology, I was asked to design post-its for the company's IT Department. The IT Department was responding to employee requests for computer maintenance, but if the person who made the request was not present at his desk, he had no way of knowing if IT had addressed the issue or what the outcome was.

These post-it pads were introduced as a fun and effective communication device. The IT department would fill out the small form and stick the note to the employee's monitor after assessing the machine. Below are two proposed solutions:

PLATO Poster

A leadership training program was developed during my internship at Thomson Course Technology. This team was called PLATO (Providing Leaders Accelerated Training Opportunities), and I was asked to redesign some materials that had previously been quickly thrown together. The previous materials relied heavily on illustrations of the actual Greek philosopher, Plato, and I wanted to give my redesign a very different feel while still acknowledging the origins of the program's name (by incorporating Greek columns). Below is my solution to this visual problem:


There is something about this poster that reminds me of the illustrative style in Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.

Public Service Advertisement

This magazine spread, a class assignment, promotes the mission of the National Coalition for the Homeless. This coalition consists of a diverse group of people, many of whom are homeless themselves.

Domino Sugar Advertisements

Because of the recent unpopularity of carbohydrates, sugar sales have dropped considerably. In response, Domino Sugar held an advertising contest to promote its product: good ol' fashioned sugar.

Along with a classmate, I designed the following advertisements for the contest. My goal was to draw upon consumers' nostalgia for those moments when a sweet treat was a rare treat, not carry with it the implications that it does today.

Bread Machine Advertisements

I had just discovered the joy of my own Breadman Bread Machine when my class was asked to create a series of advertisements for the product of our choice. The layouts and type are rough, but I have always been proud of my chosen concept and headlines for this project, emphasizing the simplicity and money-saving aspects of making bread at home.

Muscle Spindle Animation

Using Flash, I created an animation demonstrating the functional anatomy of the muscle spindle. In physical therapy classes, many students had difficulty picturing how this tiny receptor functioned. I created a visual animation of its role as an educational tool for such students. This was a great opportunity for me to combine my previous physical therapy education with my current art classes.

I am unable to upload my Flash file to this site. Below is a screen shot from the animation.

Tie Dye Instructional Sequence

This project involved creating image-only instructions to describe the series of steps involved in completing a task.

Cities & Change Project

My first typography project in design school was to create a 3-panel piece in response to text given to us about the Big Dig in Boston. There were two phases of this project. In the first phase, all of the type used had to be of the same family and the same size — this, in my opinion, was entirely too restrictive and the results were poor.

The second phase allowed for greater typographic freedom. I chose to represent my daily, ever-changing encounters on the MBTA Red Line in this part of the project (using only typographic elements).

RISD Application: Bike Drawing

Having no idea that I was meant to attend MassArt in Boston, I applied (and was accepted) to the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. For the application to the school, I had to submit a drawing of a bicycle. There were no guidelines (and, as previously stated, I'm not one to carry around a sketch book).

I imagined that the admissions folks received thousands of perfectly rendered bicycles — I wanted to give them something a bit different. My bicycle was drawn entirely with words. More specifically, it was drawn with a combination of lyrics from the song "Bicycle" by Queen (the vertical text) and my own personal reflections about how guilty I feel for loathing physical exercise (the wavy text). The bike was drawn by darkening select text.

RISD doesn't return your drawing submissions, but these (bad) photos of the project remain.

Student Drawings & Paintings

My drawing skills are not as strong as my conceptual skills — my left and right brain constantly struggle for dominance, and Lefty usually wins. But I have also encountered surprising results when I make a solid effort. Below are some drawings and paintings I created in art school.

Time Warp Project

An example of my PhotoShop skills, this photograph from a wedding was manipulated to include the couple at the far right twice. The couple to their left is the same couple, 30 years earlier — carefully lifted from their own wedding reception photo.

Lamp Rendering

Using Illustrator only, I created a photorealistic image of a lamp found in a popular housewares catalog.