Design and art direction for national and international clients on topics ranging from science, environmental protection, social justice, race and gender equality.
My most recent work has been focused on political campaigns.
The majority of campaigns highlight the purpose-driven and optimistic nature of candidates which create genuine opportunities for vibrant, colorful, and engaging designs.
The candidates are presented as the natural choice for positive change, putting the emphasis on their steadfast dedication to their cause, their unwavering dedication to their supporters, and good-natured approach to the challenges of their community.
I achieved this effect by creating a clear link between the copy and visual elements (photography, texture, typography) and by making good use of photography to introduce candidates and their campaign to the voters.
Storyboard
Conceptual Development
Art Direction
Design
In some political races, the emphasis of a candidate's message is put on how their plan drastically contrasts with the opponent's.
In these scenarios, it was necessary to come up with visual concepts that would emphasize the opponent's intentions and the dramatic impacts of their tenure.
This resulted in highly conceptual designs where I mixed different mediums using multiple layers to create bold visuals that analogically communicated its intended message.
Storyboard
Conceptual Development
Design
In extreme cases, the goal was to convey that electing the opponent would bring disastrous consequences to voters' lives. It was then necessary to demonstrate—using intense editing, illustration, and photo manipulation and typography—the potential catastrophic impact of electing the wrong person.
The designs were pushed to the limits of satiristic visual tales with the goal to portray the opponents as being ludicrous and nefarious.
Storyboard
Conceptual Development
Art Direction
Design
Rish Oberoi is a first-time democratic candidate running state house in Texas.
Being new to the world of politics, the campaign had to establish Rish as a figure of change which required creating his visual identity from the bottom up.
To reach this goal, I art-directed the photoshoot to emphasize his positive personality and people-first attitude, and complemented the visual language of his campaign with bold colors and by highlighting key parts of his campaign messaging with large quotes.
Storyboard
Conceptual Development
Photo Art Direction
Design
Summer Lee is an activist and community organizer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Despite the fact that the pandemic made it impossible to do a photoshoot of Summer and her supporters, It was clear from the onset that her powerful voice had to be appropriately visually translated in this campaign,
I achieved the overall tone of the campaign by mixing photos from a previous photoshoot, typography and commissioned illustrations, which matched Summer Lee's character and authenticity.
Storyboard
Conceptual Development
Illustration
Design
Zac Dingle is a grassroots social worker from Baltimore, Maryland, whose campaign orbited around the work he did for his community.
The challenge was to demonstrate his achievements and campaign goals without being able to do a photoshoot or interview his supporters who he strives to help.
I created the visual language for his campaign interspersing archival photos with dedicated typography and short interviews of the people he has helped. Together, the visuals supported his campaign messaging.
Storyboard
Conceptual Development
Design
For some of the latest campaigns I worked on, dedicated photography played a more major role. The goal was to create compelling visuals that would give the designs more clarity and the candidates more vibrancy.
This section shows how I incorporated storytelling into photography during our shoots to support the creation of the design and visual language for candidates in 2019 and 2020.
Storyboard
Photo Art Direction
• Joanna Cattanach
• Rocio G hernandez
• Kris Burnett
• Harry Bhandari
Design
• Joanna Cattanach
• Harry Bhandari
Joanna's campaign was designed to demonstrate that her experience growing up in Texas' foster care system gave her the determination and perseverance required to serve the community she grew up in and to continue marching forward for positive change.
Rocio's campaign highlights the challenges she overcame when immigrating from El Savador and how they made her a stronger version of herself and that her steadfast dedication to her family was the fuel for her campaign.
Kristerfer's campaign highlights his lifelong work as a community organizer and his dedication to improving the lives of those around him. Our session with him was planned to emphasize his strong ties and love for his community.
Harry's campaign pivoted on the idea that a strong family is the backbone of healthy individuals and that individuals make a strong community. Our session with him put the spotlight on his teaching career and his commitment to his family.
This project is based on a series of Jumping Shots I created while traveling the world and adapted it to reflect the current political events.
The 2016 elections will be remembered by most people as being a long, painful circus getting out-of-control a little more each day. Everyday the news media report on another obscenity said publicly, new conspiracies theories, or financial and political scandals, all of which take our focus away from what is important for the country.
I think it's time to highlight the reasons why we should rally behind Hillary Clinton and more of us should help refocus the discussion on what's important and what makes her qualified for the job. To me, Hillary Clinton is an inspiration. I'm inspired by her dedication to her career, her determination to redefine gender norms, and by her 40-year experience as a successful politician. So I asked a few friends to join me in Jumping for Change to show how they relate to Hillary Clinton and why they are #withher.
