The Hip-Hop Calendar is a 12-month 2018 calendar that documents hip-hop and the culture that surrounds it. This includes birthdays of rappers and other people associated with the genre, album releases, and notable events. Each month also includes additional information that expands and gives context to the significance of these events. I included images of magazine covers on each month to serve as a snapshot of the culture at that point in time. My approach was developing a visual language that integrated a grid structure and incorporated collage elements. The grid was essential in organizing the vast amount of information and the collage aspect symbolically represents bringing together all of the artists and figures throughout the years to put them on equal footing.
White privilege is a controversial topic that inspires a lot of discussion and dialogue. When we were given the task to “package the un-packageable”, I was presented with the opportunity to explore a concept as complex as white privilege in an interesting way. White Privilege Skin Care Products is a line of products that gives white privilege to black people. The line contains three products: Confidence spray deodorant, Benefit of the Doubt hand lotion, and Empathy bar soap. Each product gives the user a different aspect of white privilege. It also comes with a user’s manual that gives some background to the products and includes situations when the products would be useful as well as testimonials from satisfied customers.
In recent years, lead poisoning has been a hot-button issue that was sparked most notably by the water contamination in Flint, Michigan. My goal in this motion infographic was to explore how the presence of lead can affect communities and how cleaning up lead can lead to large returns. One of the main design challenges in creating this motion piece was figuring out a way to seamlessly transition through a variety of information while maintaining the through-line of lead’s adverse affect on communities. My approach was to directly connect each scene using lines to show how lead interacts with people.
The 2010s was the first decade since I’ve been alive that I really experienced all the way through with full cultural awareness. I wanted to do something to document what I listened to throughout these past 10 years without having to make a “best-of” list, which would have killed me. Even though this isn’t entirely comprehensive and doesn’t include other genres, it’s a pretty good summation.
I’ve been making year-end lists for the past couple of years now and decided to step it up this year and create a whole magazine-type thing with all of my favorites of the year. I’m pretty pleased with how it came out.
These are a series of abstract prints I made with a tri-tipped black marker on newsprint sheets. I started making marks on a sheet of newsprint one night and, after a few weeks, ended up with something that I thought looks pretty cool. When I show these to people, some say that they look like a bird’s-eye view of a city or a map. I look at these as more of an exploration of composition and forms with no particular meaning at all, but it’s cool to hear people’s interpretations. After a while, I started to refer to these as “Gaps” because of the gaps between the forms and lines and also because it rhymes with “map”.
These are a series of collaborations with talented designer and digital illustrator Jason Ihekona. We were classmates in the graphic design program at Oklahoma State University and always admired each other’s work. Though we have very different styles, there is a shared interest in abstraction that brings us together and results in a unique product. Jason has a gift for making color palettes and using Photoshop to create amazing textures, while I create the initial compositions by hand and digitize them. You can see what the original compositions look like on the “Abstracts” page. Jason took everything to another level when he made portrait prints of us, each based off of the color palettes of the first five collaborations.
The story of Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Riots is one of the most tragic and awful events in American history, yet it is not particularly well known. When we were given the project brief of researching something that explores an aspect of Oklahoma, I took it as an opportunity to learn more about this infamous stain on our history. I did a great deal of research that manifested in the creation of information cards that layout a comprehensive history from the rise of Tulsa, to how Greenwood rose to prominence, through the destruction of the neighborhood. The back of each card lays out the same information in a timeline format. A sleeve holds all the cards and has the title burned onto the front, which is a reference to the burning of the community.
Keda is a brand that was conceived to elevate instant ramen noodles and relate it more to the traditional Japanese dish. The name is derived from the town of Ikeda, a city in Osaka, Japan that is the home to the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum. Instead of flavors like chicken, beef, or shrimp, Keda uses seasonings found in authentic Japanese ramen dishes like miso, shoyu, and shio. The authentic feel is also reflected in the form and materials of the packaging. Products can be sold in either single packs or in a six pack that includes two of each seasoning.
This timeline is a representation of what has influenced my design style and explores where I might want to go in the future. At the bottom of the timeline, the roots of my interest in design and art started with the doodles I would draw in notebooks at school. These doodles are scattered throughout the rest of the timeline to represent where my interest in design came from. The structure of the timeline is based off the doodles I would draw which are based around patterns, lines, and geometric shapes. My other huge influence is music, especially hip-hop and the culture that surrounds it. Things like graffiti, album covers, posters, and record company logos played a large part in fueling my interest in design and art.
Unidentified is a documentary film that explores the cultural and historical impact of UFOs and our ideas about extra-terrestrials. My concept is based on a film that would explore questions such as “why do people think they have seen UFOs or been abducted?”, “what are people actually seeing when they say they’ve seen a UFO?”, and “how did we come to think of the saucer shape as the standard for UFOs?”. Through the title sequence I had to create the proper context for a film that would cover these topics. This meant that I looked for realistic looking UFO footage and documents that show people taking the subject seriously in order separate this film that takes a sober view from a film that is reliant on conspiracies and making outlandish claims.
Viceland is a cable channel that was launched in the spring of 2016 that produces original programming based around the Vice brand with subjects that cover a wide range of topics that usually focus on alternative culture. In creating the bumpers for the Viceland Music Awards, I based the visuals off the branding that already exists on the channel and applied those aspects in my own way. I envisioned this award show as being a much more low-key affair while still attracting diverse musicians, so I thought of Solange and clipping. as ideal performers that would fit into that aesthetic.
This is a collection of type collages I have done over the course of several months. My goal in the creation of each collage was to make an interesting composition while stretching my creative boundaries. I thought of them as a study of contrast in various forms.
Expect Respect is a series of posters that served as an exploration in the manipulation of typography. In this project, I used existing typefaces, type I created in the computer, and type that has been handwritten and distorted it using a scanner. My goal was to experiment with composition and aesthetics to create a plethora of different variations of the posters. The phrase "expect respect" was taken from a song lyric and resonated with me because of the malleability of its meaning depending on the context of which its said. When said by those in power, the phrase can be interpreted as a form of compliance, while disadvantaged groups can use it as a phrase of empowerment. I thought using the scanner would be an interesting way to demonstrate how the phrase can be warped to mean different things to different people. The different ways "expect respect" is displayed also references the phrases various uses.
