In collaboration with Rick Valicenti, I made the 2011 Loeb Fellowship poster for Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Each year nine thought leaders are chosen around a theme. Their names are portrayed as woven together into a dense gossamer, visualizing the connectedness within their architecture, planning, engineering, curating, and advocacy work.

Southwest Detroit is a neighborhood that through the recent influx of Latino immigrants and the seemingly inaccessible location of the neighborhood has developed a distinct culture. For my thesis project, I decided to document the culture of Southwest Detroit with the help of area photographers, writers, and community members. Over the course of 6 weeks, I contacted area artists and organizations and collected as much documentation as I could. I compiled this in a 300 page book and created a digital installation with the best content. The installation is a playful experience where the user can choose what “impression” they want to view by selecting the corresponding can, placing it on the reader, and turning it for more information.

In order to collect information from other artists and writers, I needed to make sure I could provide them with as much information as possible about the project, so I created a process site, which you can still visit here. The site sparked a lot of interest and received over 270 unique visitors in a matter of days. I also did much documentation of the neighborhood myself, much of which can be found on Flickr.

Impressions of Southwest Detroit was on display on May 2nd, 2010 at Cafe con Leche during the Cinco de Mayo festivities in Southwest Detroit, giving residents the chance to interact with a collection about their own neighborhood. The project was warmly received and is currently being considered for publication and exhibition in other locations. The book is currently for sale on Lulu, buy a copy here.

Southwest Detroit is a neighborhood that through the recent influx of Latino immigrants and the seemingly inaccessible location of the neighborhood has developed a distinct culture. For my thesis project, I decided to document the culture of Southwest Detroit with the help of area photographers, writers, and community members. Over the course of 6 weeks, I contacted area artists and organizations and collected as much documentation as I could. I compiled this in a 300 page book and created a digital installation with the best content. The installation is a playful experience where the user can choose what “impression” they want to view by selecting the corresponding can, placing it on the reader, and turning it for more information.

In order to collect information from other artists and writers, I needed to make sure I could provide them with as much information as possible about the project, so I created a process site, which you can still visit here. The site sparked a lot of interest and received over 270 unique visitors in a matter of days. I also did much documentation of the neighborhood myself, much of which can be found on Flickr.

Impressions of Southwest Detroit was on display on May 2nd, 2010 at Cafe con Leche during the Cinco de Mayo festivities in Southwest Detroit, giving residents the chance to interact with a collection about their own neighborhood. The project was warmly received and is currently being considered for publication and exhibition in other locations. The book is currently for sale on Lulu, buy a copy here.

The Voice / La Voz / Ten Głos / De Stem is a magazine aimed at the immigrant community of Detroit.
The magazine provides this often unheard community a voice and a means to tell their story.

This project grew out of an exploratory process of researching immigrant communities in the metro Detroit area. Out of the research came the notion that there was not much communication present between immigrant communities, so the goal was set to create one magazine to serve all. Over 20 interviews with immigrants were conducted and transcribed to create the content for the magazine. The color background designs are influenced by the interviewees’ national flags, while the call-out typeface is influenced by typography found in ethnic grocery stores from their regions.

The magazine was warmly received as it was distributed to ethnic grocery stores, ESL centers, and coffee shops in metro Detroit.

What happens when you let nature interact with technology? You get an experimental machine that transforms the movements of a few insects into beautiful patterns printed as posters as fast as the insects perform. Obstacles that are put in the insects’ way influence their behaviour, and give them their design brief so to speak. 400 posters created and counting. Find out more at Edhv.

Created with new media designer Jeroen Braspenning, creative director Remco van de Craats, and intern graphic designer Alexia Boiteau while at Edhv.

Fureai is an emotion felt when one feels an unexplained connection with a stranger. This project simulates the experience by visualizing a connection between two people. The experience is meant to inspire users to interact with people in their surroundings and share a connection through a common experience.

We live our lives every day, sharing experiences with others, but what do we really share, and what do we keep to ourselves? Vitality aims to break through the barriers by providing an area of free speech where we can share our nostalgic and aspirational feelings without fear of being judged. The background of each “secret” is derived from security patterns from envelopes, suggesting the privacy usually involved with these statements. The application is then also translated to a phone app to allow the user to share on-the-go. Feel free to add your aspirational or nostalgic feeling to the mix.

Mirror Images challenges the idea of the ability of a person to live a unique life. The installation is set up to look as unobtrusive as possible. The user believes there is just a mirror hanging in the hallway. Upon gazing at oneself in the mirror, the installation takes a photo of the user and displays it onto the mirror. It then recontextualizes the user’s image by pairing it with captured images of persons who have participated previously. This acts as an interruption and creates an element of surprise as the user realizes his unconscious participation in the piece. The user also realizes that unknowingly others have participated as well, through the same unconscious interaction. The installation touches upon the concept of narcissism through the use of the mirror and seeing one’s reflection while interacting.

This book describes the designer-client relationship between Stefan Sagmeister and Lou Reed. It is split up into 5 distinct narratives: Stefan’s story, Lou’s story, Stefan & Lou’s collaborations, my reflection on their collaborations, and inside the french folded pages the narrative of Stefan’s plays on words. The hand die-cut cover encompasses the concept by allowing the title to appear in different forms.