MTV Video Music Awards
Design for the 2012 Video Music Awards for MTV was centered around the Hip Hop genre.
Key to the identity is the idea of duality: The private vs. public personas of Hip Hop artists, the flowing of lyrics vs. the percussive beats they weave through, the challenges and obstacles of life and the rewards of making it big.
Key to the identity is the idea of duality: The private vs. public personas of Hip Hop artists, the flowing of lyrics vs. the percussive beats they weave through, the challenges and obstacles of life and the rewards of making it big.
Published on:
2012
Advertising, Branding, Graphic Design
- MTV Video Music Awards
Hip Hop inspired event identity suite - Design for the 2012 Video Music Awards for MTV was centered around the Hip Hop genre.
Key to the identity is the idea of duality: The private vs. public personas of Hip Hop artists, the flowing of lyrics vs. the percussive beats they weave through, the challenges and obstacles of life and the rewards of making it big.
The design is big, bold, and energetic, like the artists of the genre. Much of the material designed
specifically for the event uses a series of restricted color palettes (white on white, black on black,
red on red), calling to the images of Hip Hop artists with white shoes, white clothes, white backgrounds and in similar set-ups. These color palettes are mixed on advertising and outside material in order to convey a louder, attention-grabbing aesthetic. The letterforms are strong, nuanced, and monumental; larger than life like the personas presented in hip hop music. They are also utilized to construct shapes that appear across the suite. In contrast to those strong forms, we utilized flowing lines throughout.
The lines provide movement like the fluidity of hip hop lyrics and weave through the forms to add elements of surprise as they flow past. Like hip hop lyrics and their meanings, the forms are layered and manipulated in order to offer something fresh to audiences. The lines from the logo become a leading element to guide the viewer though pieces and provide a unifying element. Together with changes in scale and palette, they provide drama and surprise to pieces, keeping the design energetic and alive. 
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Wayfinding system inspired by the communicative and deconstructive elements of murals. Each neighborhood is represented with a set of materials and patterns based off the architecture and structures of the neighborhood, along with a color.
Aimed at both tourists and residents (who are often like tourists once out of their own neighborhoods) alike, Local Color aims to highlight the structures and elements of the neighborhoods that people take for granted and foster a deeper appreciation for them, while helping guide through the city.
The system includes informational panels located by T stations to orientate and introduce people to the city and the system, informational kiosks, mural installations at various landmarks, and redesigned crosswalks and sidewalk graphics, along with a mobile app, website, and advertising campaign.
Entrant in the 2013 SEGD Design Awards.Art Direction, Graphic Design, User Interface Design2012 -
Product line inspired by vintage travel posters of the early twentieth century, with catalog, styleguide, and homepage. Each product features its own custom icon.
"Novecento" is Italian for the Twentieth Century. The NOVECENTO brand draws inspiration from travel posters and art of the early twentieth century.
They provide the basis for typography, palette, and iconography. In that spirit, each product features an icon representing the product on the front/main panel
Spotlight on The Dieline, NESAD Graphic Design BlogGraphic Design, Packaging, Illustration2012 -
Document delving into links between TOP SECRET and TOPOGRAPHY.Creative Direction, Graphic Design, Typography2012 -
Using the observations and reflections from an ongoing class blog, nickatnesad, and text selections from Ellen Lupton’s Graphic Design: The New Basics, Pieces of Design is a concept iPad app meant to serve as an interactive primer to ten basic design ideas.
Concepts are paired on spreads which can be scrolled through, or there is option using hot corners to skip ahead or back or return to the table of contents.
Images, video, and quotes are displayed with descriptions of each concept to further illustrate them and clicking on images brings the user to the blog post with more details on the image.Graphic Design, Interaction Design, User Interface Design2011 -
Titled after the classic Mexican Bolero, Sabor A Mi (A Taste of Me) is a specialty cookbook filled with colors and images as rich as the liqueur used in all its recipes.
The book also comes with a coaster set of twelve with matching images, along with screens for an iPad/mobile app to accompany the book.Publishing, Graphic Design, Confectionary Arts2011 -
An Art Deco-inspired redesign of the wrappers for all five varieties of the Milky Way Candy Bar (Original, Dark, Caramel, Banana, and Strawberry) honoring the candy’s roots in the 1920s when it was first released.
The design features Deco-styled type and graphical elements to reference both the connotation of the Milky Way Galaxy and the idea of milkshake swirls which inspired the candy’s name.Graphic Design, Typography, Packaging2011 -
International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
Built with Adobe After Effects, the ad incorporates video of water, facts about the state of water in urban areas from the event’s site, and uses elements of their logo. The video is set to music that emulates the sounds of water droplets.Graphic Design, Motion Graphics, Typography2011 -
Set of prints for each sign of the zodiac, combining a customized icon for each sign, a portrayal of their constellation, and three personality attributes. Background colors correspond with each sign, and the name and dates of each sign are noted at bottom.
Alternative design (available through JSGD) featured on Papercrave, Glimpse of Glamour, My Adventure is your Advantage, the Improper Bostonian, and Design Crush.Graphic Design, Illustration, Print Design2011 -
An online type specimen presented as one long horizontal page showcasing the Adobe typeface Brioso Pro and built almost fully with live type. The colors and textures are inspired by the medieval calligraphy which influenced the design of the font and highlights the fluidity and movement of its letterforms and glyphs.Web Design, Graphic Design, Typography2011 -
A comic sharing a story, written by myself, about getting caught in a storm while helming a boat, using my own sketches, images, specially created hand-written font, and photomanipulations.
Follow the seagull...
Typography, Photo Manipulation, Writing2011 -
Redesign of the MBTA Maverick Station and surrounding square honoring the area's nautical history, with signage and wayfinding systems.Graphic Design, Urbanism, Environmental Design2012 -
Nik Nak cards are designed with people who enjoy puzzles; playing with objects and piecing them together, in mind
Set of three greeting cards for different occasions: Thank You, Happy Birthday, and Congrats. Letters are pieced together using triangles and hemispheres. The colors are bright and playful.In the theme of piecing things together, each is made by overprinting in two colors.
Each card is accompanied by a matching overprinted envelope decorated with a pattern based on letters pulled from each card.Typography, Graphic Design, Print Design2012 -
A guidebook to the city of Boston focusing on murals through out the city. The book is shaped as a swatch fanbook, referencing the sample it gives of each mural and those used when selecting paint for murals.
The book includes background and concept information on each mural, along with directions to them by public transit and nearby sites to also see.
I took all photography and wrote the copy myself, and some of the murals were projects that I had worked on.
Selected for view in AIGA show, “New Voices, Unique Visions 2011.”Graphic Design, Publishing, Print Design2011 -
Boston GreenFest is the region's largest multicultural environmental festival, celebrating the many ways we can create a better world by "greening" lives and communities.
The blog allows people to submit posts and keep active, connecting to its audience year-round beyond the span of the festival itself.
See it live: blog.bostongreenfest.orgWeb Design, Graphic Design, Branding2012 -
Website for Samuel-James Wilson, apprentice mason and aspiring writer based in the UK.Web Design, Web Development, Branding2012