design

The Art of Random

Gas station in North Carolina
I ask James for movie recommendations.
“Mannequin.”
“Schindler’s List.”
“House Party 3.”

Stop-Motion

Finding old projects is always fun, or at the very least entertaining. While digging through an old external hard drive I found this one which takes me back to a time when I was consumed with kneeling on my apartment floor groping toys into the late hours of the night. This is what happens when [...]

Free Maps

Finland offers free local maps in choice public spaces like Helsinki’s train station and outside of Turku’s tourist office (above, demonstrated by the lovely Suvi). Just push the button and out pops a handy guide and a welcoming feeling.

Design for Evil

“Every design process is incomplete unless it takes into careful consideration what could be done with the product by a dictatorial megalomaniac in command of a national economy, a secret police, and a large army.” – Bruce Sterling

Elevator Ride

“You know, after people complained that elevator rides took too long, someone had the clever idea of putting mirrors on the walls. People didn’t complain after that.”
“Oh that’s clever, so people had something to — oh, we’re here.”

Navigating Your Wine

Fun and classy signage in Helsinki’s Alkos that includes over 20 icons to help customers feel out potential food pairings. The duck with the holes? Game birds ha.

Jugaad with Paper

While in India I learned a new word – jugaad = making do, being resourceful, getting your MacGyver on. Sometimes this comes in seriously retooled forms like a floating bicycle by Mohammed Saidullah to fend off flood waters and cross the river. Other times it comes in small details like these magazine pages and flyers turned into [...]

World Wide Website Makeover

World Wide Website Makeover

Along a miracle mile in Georgia
I finally entered the 21st century and updated my website. No more table-tinkering in Dreamweaver like a caveman. Now it’s all Wordpress-ified (big thanks to James for the advanced moves). Plus, bigger pictures and bigger fonts for bigger fun.

Tenants’ Rights Flash Cards

Renters' rights made fun

Boxed set of 30 fun and friendly flash cards on New York state’s tenant rights

Street Vendor Guide

Accessible city regulations

An accessible guide to NYC street vendor rules, rights, history, and policy reform

Censorship

One of these posters I made will be in the exhibit Poster4Tomorrow, a global event highlighting the censorship that still muffles citizens around the world. I got a first-hand schooling from TED Fellow Esra’a Al Shafei who can’t have her picture taken/posted for fear of being identified by various Middle Eastern governments. Her organization MideastYouth.com [...]

The Idiotic Building Book

The Idiotic Building Book

A little skyscraper story

A miniature book about NYC’s first skyscraper and the world’s tallest buildings through history

Post-it Notes for Neighbors

Real estate revealed

Public installation transforming a storefront window into a neighborhood resource

Million Dollar Blocks

Criminal justice mapping

Mapping prison costs per block to incite changes in community investment in New Orleans

Sidewalk Psychiatry

Self-evaluation in transit

Stenciled questions on the sidewalks to aid pedestrians deep in thought

Buy Tenants’ Rights Flashcards!

Buy Tenants’ Rights Flashcards!

The tenant flash cards can now be purchased online for $10! The boxed set makes a handsome and righteous gift for anyone living in New York state, and all profits go to the good work of non-profit Tenants & Neighbors. It was great fun creating them and now you can enjoy good times learning the [...]

Community Chalkboards

Flexible local platforms

Public chalkboards to improve information-sharing between residents in a Johannesburg township

Censorship Posters

For freedom of speech

Posters about the continued struggle for freedom of expression in many countries

Recovery Park and Guide

Facilitating drug rehab

Helping female recovering drug addicts in Vancouver through a temporary park and resource guide

Mobile Air Quality

Mobile Air Quality

Data for mobile devices

Invisible health data made visible through interactive maps and augmented reality views on mobile devices

Global Studio

Towards a better future

Action-research program informed by the UN Millennium Development Goals

Local History by SMS

Local history on the go

200+ stickers in public space with codes to SMS for instant local history on your mobile phone

Maps for Airports

Orientating travelers

Map for Koltsovo International Airport that orientates travelers to world cities in terms of flight time

The Hair District

The Hair District

Salons in Johannesburg

A photography book about hair salons in Johannesburg that highlights creative energy and planning challenges

Pedestrian Timeline

Local history on the streets

Stenciled timeline on the sidewalk to bring the history of Governors Island to the streets

Bike Map Covers

Two wheels good

Proposed cycling map covers for NYC’s Department of Transportation

Water in Africa Poster

Startling facts

A poster bringing awareness to the lack of safe water access in Africa

Restroom Map Notepad

Restroom Map Notepad

To find relief for us all

A notepad of public restroom maps posted in NYC subway stations

40 Houses in Bucks County

Neighborhood survey

Political survey data translated into an engaging collage

Barack Obama T-shirt

Wear your political crush

Show how much you crush on Barry too!

Infrastructure Geometry

Statistics by shape

Diagrams of living conditions in Nairobi, Dakar and Johannesburg for The World Bank

A Nice Place for a Tree

A Nice Place for a Tree

Promoting green sidewalks

A street campaign for more tree-lined streets in Chinatown

Charlie Brown Dance Card

Get your dance on

An instructional card on the festive dance moves from A Charlie Brown Christmas

Modernist Trading Cards

Collect them all!

A set of trading cards of the movers and shakers of the Modernist movement

Minimalist Logos

Brands turned abstract

Corporate logos turned into fine minimalist art

Flash cards have arrived

Flash cards have arrived

Last year I got a generous grant from Sappi Ideas That Matter to create flash cards on tenants’ rights with the NY grassroots organization Tenants & Neighbors. After working together for months and sending them out to the printers, the cards have arrived! The boxed set of thirty cards translates NY state’s official Tenants Rights Guide [...]

Milk and Muffin

Pensive countertop talk

A cartoon about a carton of milk, a muffin, and the fear of mediocrity

Alpha Girls

Alphabetical peep show

Vintage pin-up girl illustrations paired with the letters of the alphabet

Parties in Power

Political shifts over time

A timeline showcasing the shifts in political parties since the beginning of the United States

Typography 12″

Typography 12″

Electro and synthpop

Big electro and synthpop

Sea Monkey Landscape

Reimagining the mundane

Everyday objects combined with classic sea monkey cartoons for new amazement

Metropolitan Workers

Stop-motion extravaganza

A stop-motion animation about building space stations and friendship

Collage Series

Exercises with image

Continuing collection of collage work, analogue and digital

Making the Process Public

Making the Process Public

NYC’s Urban Omnibus generously gave me the floor to write about the process of working with the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) and The Street Vendor Project to create a fold-out poster demystifying the regulations of street vending in New York City. None of it could have happened without CUP’s Making Policy Public program, which pairs [...]

Crowdemployment & microsalaries

When companies are trying to make the Latest Thing, there are lots of rules about keeping things on the hush hush. Nokia House, the headquarters just outside downtown Helsinki, is ripe with security. Every door in the ginormous complex can only be opened with a personal electronic gadget, and the design floor is even off-limits [...]

Lego NYC

The funnest nod to NYC… by Christoph Niemann.

Two Birds, One Dish Rack

Going apartment-searching in Helsinki has been a fun introduction to different customs for small-space-living. Here’s one that should be spread to all mankind – Dish racks are installed like shelves in a bottomless cupboard above the sink where they can drip, dry, and be stored away in one fell swoop. And I brought my standalone [...]

Art of Packaging

Customized storage for guns, pipes, and medical tools at the National Museum of Finland. The art of packaging, ritual, and making your things feel special.

Parties in Power

Political shifts over time

Visualizing the shifts in political power since the beginning of the United States