Working at Nail — a Rhode Island creative agency — I was proud to have the opportunity to lead the design of the identity for our state’s new USL Championship soccer team — Rhode Island FC. Rhode Island state has a long history of having to root for out-of-state teams, but this was a chance to help create something that was truly ours — from the pitch up. And that’s what we did.

The club crest design was shaped by hours of listening to Rhode Islanders from every corner of the state, each voice representing a diversity of culture, experience, and language. As well as research from dedicated historians, who revealed opportunities to honor Rhode Island’s rich soccer history.

A lauch video and visual guidelines were also creatd.

Thanks to Meag Ducharme for their help on this project as well.

New Balance had it sights on securing the sponsorship of the largest marathon in the world—the NYC Marathon. I acted as an art director/designer through the entire pitch process.

Once the sponsorship was won, I created an iconic campaign that instantly connected New Balance to the NYC Marathon by leveraging the moment that every runner dreams about. Real photos of runners crossing the finish line were used to create “hero visuals” and the nYc designs were seen Time Square, subway takeovers, in-store displays and the marathon expo.

Co-creator/Design Fellow of MOVE (RI) Art Bus Project

The goal of MOVE (RI) is to use creativity to turn a normal bus ride into a visual journey and importantly make public art accessible to people all over the state of Rhode Island. Each Move (RI) bus features custom artwork on both the exterior and interior — created by a Rhode Island designer. This project is a collaboration between The Avenue Concept and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority.

My design inspiration for the MOVE bus was to announce the arrival of the project with an impactful visual that the local community couldn't miss. I wanted to introduce the word MOVE in a creative way and began experimenting with repeating lines of bold color to create the letterforms. Creating the letters in this fashion, added energy and a visual vibration to the design, which really reinforced the name. 

The design is more abstract when the bus passes in close proximity to the viewer, however, as you move further away, the word "MOVE" becomes easier to read and it takes on a more functional role.

Inside the bus provides more information about the project and urges riders to share their photos of the MOVE (RI) art buses on Instagram with the hashtag #moveribus.

BACKGROUND

I first launched a RIPTA art bus, “The Moving Bus”, in 2012 in partnership with the AS220 Youth Photograph program and other community partners. Read more about that project here.

One Gun Gone is a multi-disciplinary gun violence prevention public art project. Students from underserved neighborhoods in Providence, RI participate in a professional art making and marketing exercise that includes immersive experiences at an art college, an advertising agency, a community youth arts center and positive interactions with local law enforcement agencies.

I was honored to work with Scott Lapham and his group of students on the One Gun Gone project. My role was to create a logo for OGG as well as help the students concept on a launch event and a grassroots promotional campaign.

From Scott Lapham the creator of OGG:

The One Gun Gone project was inspired by the passing of four of my teenage students from gun violence over the past fifteen years. Our goal has been to take one gun off the street, make artwork from it and then sell that artwork to raise money to buy more guns off the streets with a police sanctioned gun buy back. By breaking the negative economy of one potential street gun (which can be resold illegally countless times) we will create a positive art making economy that will raise more money than if we had resold the original (now decommissioned) firearm itself. To start I legally purchased a handgun and hired an artist to make a mold of the weapon (which my students never saw or touched). From that mold we have made four different types of sculpture that each speak to gun violence in our community in different ways. 

photo credits: Scott Lapham

Various murals, posters and random fun from over the years.

Woodchuck Cider needed a brand refresh and a digital campaign to reconnect with their die-hard fans in addition to creating new ones. The integrated campaign was on Youtube, IG/FB and Reddit. The work on Reddit won a Webby Award.

(Art Direction, Design)

As a NPR radio fan, I was very grateful for the opportunity to create the new visual identity for my local public station in Rhode Island.

Their new positioning and name “The Public’s Radio” aims to ensure that all members of our local community have a voice. The visual identity reinforces this mission by literally infusing the “public” into the logo. The logo system is extremely flexible — it can feature a small group of people or expand to contain many. Additionally, the varying heights of the people mimic frequency bars.

I also designed a series of secondary logos that represent their featured areas of news coverage.

The Irish brand WaterWipes wanted to create it’s first global campaign and launch in the USA market with a splash. I acted as art director in the creation of an emotional campaign—using water as a metaphor to describe the up and down journey faced by every new parent. Parenting is full of highs and lows and I wanted tell this story in a way that had never before been done before in this category.

The insight for this campaign was gained through workshops and interviews with mom’s from many cultures and backgrounds. The videos were shown on digital in the USA and TV in UK and Ireland. A full social campaign accompanied the hero videos as well as digital banners and co-branded content on baby/mom blogs.

Director : Jeffrey Dechausse
DOP: Tobia Sempi
Music: Justin Burnett

The Rhode Island Office of Health and Human Services and the Governor’s Office needed a campaign to raise awareness of the education and development programs for children ages 0-5.

A full campaign consisting of TV, radio, social, digital and outdoor was created as well a much needed online hub — kids.ri.gov that brought available programs together on one site for the first time.

The campaign aesthetic was created with help from my 5 year old daughter Ava (who was a state pre-k student) who made most of the illustrations.

(Art Direction, Design)

Gatorade Endurance is a specialized product line from Gatorade — formulated for the specific demands of endurance athletes. I acted as Art Director and Designer on a variety of projects.

Topo is a boutique athletic shoe company founded on the idea of "innate amplification." They are a minimalist shoe company with a focus on technology and innovation. My work included creating a visual identity, photography style, brochure design and packaging design to launch the brand.

I also art directed a social/digital campaign called “In Pursuit of Awe”. The goal of the campaign was to differentiate Topo from the “sea of sameness” in their category. By focusing on moments of connection with nature — experienced while on a run — we got to the “WHY” instead of the “HOW” that so many other running brands focus on.

A moment of awe has many psychological benefits and this campaign’s focus, away from the usual messages of athletic dominance and physical achievement resonated with Topo’s core customers and also recruited like-minded newcomers to the brand.

Nothing Can End Hunger

When faced with the challenge that "nothing can end hunger", NAIL created a campaign for the Rhode Island Food Bank designed to hit home with millennials and combat donor apathy. The campaign was so successful that it was licensed by food banks in Vermont, Ohio and New Hampshire.

Designer

Sometimes you need to look backwards to move forwards. The inspiration for the Nightingale identity goes back to the late 1800s and early 1900s — to the actual location on which the property now stands and to the Providence family that made it’s name in the iron and steel trade. The visual identity combines high-society aesthetics, typography of the era and allusions of a Nightigale bird — to create a unique look that merges Providence history with contemporary design.

View visual guidelines here.

CollegeBound Saver is Rhode Island’s 529 college savings plan. Tasked with growing their number of new accounts, it was clear a new messaging approach was needed and it was time to shake up their very traditional category. New account opens hit a new all time high as a result of the campaign’s success. Here are a few video samples from the CTV, digital, social campaign. i acted as both Art Director and Designer.


Bearhouse & Don’t Give Me What I Want
Director: Mike Mitchell (Reflection Pictures)

The Nowell Academy is a public charter high school founded to serve pregnant and parenting young adults in Rhode Island. I was tasked with creating a new visual identity for the school and presented this direction as an option for the school.

The concept of the design direction was to leverage the unique spelling of the name NOWELL (which means birth) and use a “LL” ligature to represent mother & baby. The big “L” and little “L” were then used to create repeating patterns that represented the progress and generational change they were hoping to achieve by preparing these at risk students for opportunity beyond high school.

The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) is the premier trade association for the world’s most respected photographers. They wanted to create an emotional series of videos that reinforced photography’s importance role in helping us understand our world. Some of the most famous photographers in history were (and are currently) ASMP members — this enabled us to dig into their amazing archives to find our inspiration.

(Art Direction)

Established in 1929, Arrow Fastener Company specializes in "fastening tools" (rivet tools, glue guns, hammer tackers, and their best known product the T50® staple gun). If you’ve ever stapled a flyer to a post, then you’ve most likely used the T50. I designed a new identity that rolled out across the U.S. and Europe. The goal was to focus on the DIY and crafter audience, while maintaining the brand's standing with professional contractors.

Vibram disrupted the athletic shoe industry and ushered in an era of minimalism. 

Designer / Photographer

WellStrong is a fitness and wellness community for people in recovery from substance abuse.

The WellStrong mark represents the up and down journey faced by those in recovery (the W) — and ends with a strong, confident and healthy person (the S).

The straight blue line represents the stability and reliability of the WellStrong organization — the black and white lines represent the up and down journeys of individuals in recovery.

After years of falling sales and competition from online tabloid websites increased the Providence Journal (Rhode Island's largest newspaper) needed serious help. My role in the project involved an identity redesign, overseeing the redesign of the paper mastheads and the design of ads for the "We work for the truth." campaign.

Various identity projects.

A selection of various photos I have taken.