communication design
connecting
people
to place
connecting
people
to place
urban code: cobblestones tell stories. with little imagination one can read the text of city in their surfaces. (mikoleit+purckhauer, 2011)
May 10th at 3:39am
"A ship in port is safe but that's not what ships are built for." #quote #inspiration
Apr 24th at 2:28am
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As the lead designer working with a project manager at Entro Communications, we were instructed to redesign an entire children’s hospital signage and wayfinding. This was a seven month project that
consisted of various tasks. My studies began by making observations of patients and staff as they navigated the core areas of the hospital. After writing a research report, I began analyzing and working with the hospital brand. This was the research requirement needed for creating a visual concept and write a style guide that outlined the use of colours, typeface and pictograms, and an entire sign family. The sign types included: Floor Directories, Washroom ID, Room ID, LCD Informational, Directional and Identification signs for clinics and hospital wings.
Maintaining the brand was a key component. In order to maintain the existing design system, the square was taken from their logo and extrapolated in order to express their four stated foundation principles:
Excellence, Collaboration, Innovation and Integrity. The key message was one that would evoke both the corporate and the playful. The key purpose of this project was to solve issues of unclear, misplaced signs
and other wayfinding cues in an environment that was conducive to stress and urgency. A family of about twenty signs, report and guidelines were created as final deliverables.Architecture, Branding, Consulting2011 -
Loose change is found, collected and gradually converted into a profound item. Urbanisation, climate and waste are major drivers of change with global relevance for the sustainability of our future. This project addresses these issues in the context of Saint-Michel, one of the poorest areas of Canada. Saint-Michel is disconnected by a 2 000m by 500m hole in the ground, the Francon Quarry. The Francon Quarry is a major snow disposal site. Montréal has a half-dozen major snowfalls per year, each costing CAD$18 million for clearing of streets and sidewalks. Sixty
thousand tons of salt are also spread onto city streets each year to melt ice, and dumped into the disposal sites along with the snow.
In our proposal, the snow is deposited, melted, then flows into a salt marsh, for purification before it falls into the water reservoir. The saltwater has three purposes: Spirulina algae farming, a maritime science centre and research lab and solar ponds (to create electricity and heat for the
site). This is an innovative industrial practice that makes new resources available to the community from the snow that accumulates and gets removed every winter. We envision that as this activity intensifies with more wasted snow being strategically reused, the benefits and those who
will make use of this site will also continue to develop in positive ways.
Working with Architects Rico Law and Anne-Marie Desmeules, I was responsible for research on urban mine fields, outdoor public space engagement techniques, algae, conceptualization of project, writing, global competition entries, graphic design production assistance for visual aids.Urbanism, Architecture, Landscape Design2011 -
This project entailed working with members of the Pointe St. Charles (the Point) neighbourhood in the South-West borough of Montreal, Quebec on a contested building site called Bâtiment 7. Uniquely positioned in between the close knit residential fabric of the Point and the industrial grounds of the CN Rail Yards, this building, formerly an industrial storage building, has captured the community’s attention as potentially a site for community use.
Through the hosting of a series of community events, we are focussed on allowing those directly involved with the project to inform us of the qualities and characteristics of the neighbourhood, the key issues of the project, ideas and thoughts on what the building can be used for as well as feedback on what role technology plays in the process of information dissemination.
The community provided valuable insight to our team, including constructive criticism. As expected, residents reacted favourably to the small local supermarket concept (e.g. P. A. Supermarché). We focused on having three points of concern for the building: work pointe, social pointe and skill pointe. These are all based on the feedback and research that was attained in our meetings.
As a work in progress, so far the local riding was convinced via design simulations of the space, and the creation of an interactive website is being created that will allow community members to plan which part of the building they may want to rent out for their needs.Urbanism, Architecture, Graphic Design2011 -
How can designers encourage social justice? The third leading cause of death after AIDS and Malaria in Kenya, is traffic accidents (Odero 1).
In a span of one year, I self-directed a project and wrote a design thesis. The theme was: Design for Humanity. The purpose of my thesis was to propose a research and design project for the development of Kenya, through a wayfinding and navigation system on local, national and international roads.
One month of this project was completed in Kenya with an NGO, where the project was approved. At the end of the year, I created a video, and a 200 paged booklet documenting my process and concepts. I also published an essay in the book “Shift Perspectives,” edited by Gordon S. Grice. This project has been presented at international conferences such as Australia.Urbanism, Graphic Design2011 -
Working at Kramer Design Associates, I was collaborating with an architect, and I created graphics and pictograms for the entire Toronto street furniture program. This included the Bus Shelters, Information Stands, Public Washroom, Newspaper Stands, Garbage Receptable, etc. My role included determining the placement of typography, pictograms and district logos (BIAs) as well as figuring out placement, size, and colour. Some of the key studies were to do typographical and pictoram studies outdoors to see what optimal sizes would be. This project has now been produced around the city and has gained a lot of public interest.Urbanism, Information Architecture, Graphic Design2011 -
Working with Designer Kyle Bleiman at Kramer Design Associates, we were instructed to design a signage and wayfinding system for a Canadian college that contains four campuses around the city. From the brief to the first rounds of fabrication, we had a time restriction of 3 weeks. A major part of the signage was to include the brand of the school in our systems design development.Architecture, Typography, Urbanism2011 -
At Gottschalk+Ash International, I worked on the Office Interior under the supervision of Senior Designer Udo Schliemann and designed interior walls using typography as the main design element and colour to represent the ideologies and brand of G+A. By repetition of words that represented the essence of the company, I created a texture that added depth to the wall's interior. The overall design is modern and clean, but poetic and playful like the work that G+A produces.Branding, Graphic Design, Interior Design2011 -
Working with the team at the design think tank archiTEXT, as "Innovators in Residence" at the Design Exchange of Canada, I designed the promotional content as well as the exhibition for 'WHADFYL?'. The extent of the design included posters, banners, a website and portions of the exhibit for a global exhibit regarding architecture and how it relates to society, economy, politics, poverty. We challenged the typical exhibition by having a charrette method of gathering content and therefore allowing one to engage with the exhibition rather than walking through it without interaction.Exhibition Design, Architecture, Creative Direction2011 -
Students and faculty at OCAD University came together to create a series of events that focused attention on the capacities of art and design to address HIV/AIDS. We partnered with local and international groups to call attention to issues facing children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. The event included aSilent Poster Auction where this poster was sold. OCADU was a destination point for those interested in HIV/AIDS activism and children. This event created opportunities for participants to grapple with the questions raised by the pandemic about the politics of representing those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
My design has been inspired by the 'kanga' cloth native to Kenya, which is normally used to wrap women or their to tie their children to their backs. The mother continues to fight AIDS for the sake of her children. The poster instills a positive message through the choice of colours and the quite message that 'Life Matters; Fight for our children, Fight for our future, Fight AIDS.'Art Direction, Exhibition Design, Graphic Design2011 -
Redesign of a magazine. This includes a new system and template with thethe title page, masshead, table of contents and article flow. This project was awarded and published in the Applied Arts Magazine and was awarded by Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario.Editorial Design, Graphic Design, Print Design2011 -
A self-directed project that explores the differences and similarities amongst the East and West. I studied the history of language and this was a visual study of cross-cultural communication through typography.Typography, Graphic Design2011 -
Through technology, society has gradually witnessed the deconstruction of language. In this design, the deconstruction of language through motion was created without technology. However, in certain angles, the words disappear, representative of the change and evaporation of certain communication methods and styles.Typography, Industrial Design2011 -
What roles can we take as designers, in order to create a sustainable environment? Myself and a group of designers created a tool in order to change society. This tool was the word “depletist”. Various designs were created and advertised using guerrilla tactics, such as stamping money and stickers. An essay was also written about this book in, “Shift: Positions.” This is a book about designers as social engineers.Graphic Design, Storytelling, Writing2011 -
The task at hand was to brand and design the stationary and e-commerce website for a new fashion design company. The project challenge entailed working for a company that needed to be modest and traditional but innovative and chique. www.bahiyacollections.comBranding, Web Design, Print Design2011 -
As the lead designer for this project at Entro Communications, I created outdoor pictograms for scenic roads in New Brunswick. These symbols will be used on main roads on high speeds, therefore the symbols had to be memorable and legible from a distance. Colours were chosen that would make this possible. In addition, they had to work with other signs that were already in existence. The dimensions are 5' by 5'.Graphic Design, Urbanism2011
