OBAMA FOR AMERICA '12
Design | Creative Direction
Photo credit: Christopher Dilts
Merchandise became a huge part of the visual language of the 2012 Obama campaign. From the very beginning, the digital team knew that we wanted to stand out from other candidates by finding new and unique made-in-the-U.S.A. products to work with—we had 18 months of campaigning in front of us after all. Supporters were going to need the proper attire to get the word out. In the summer of 2011 I was responsible for designing many of the products we launched the store with—from baby onesies to knitwear and everything in between—all before hiring a design staff. Once we had a full staff of designers in place I took on a more creative direction role, planning larger merchandise rollouts, art directing the online store promotion, and managing production materials and schedules with our outside vendors. By Election Day 2012 we had launched dozens of product lines, printed two catalogs, and had partnered with some of the biggest names in fashion to create merchandise for our most stylish supporters and generated more than $40 million dollars for the campaign.
Press:
Obama 2012 Campaign Offers Wide Array Of Swag
Runway to Win: Obama Campaign Merch Raked in $40 Million
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE + INDUSTRY CHICAGO
Exhibit Graphic Design | Art Direction
Exhibit Designer: Kate Broz
Interior Design: Scout Chicago
Photo credit: J.B. Spector
The fully-functioning modular Smart Home: Green + Wired—conceived by the Museum of Science and Industry, designed by architect Michelle Kaufmann Designs™ and built by All American Homes® of Decatur, Ind.—was opened to the public in May 2008 redesigned in 2009, 2010 and 2011. As the exhibit graphic designer in 2010 and 2011 each new version of the exhibition meant that I had a new group of people to collaborate with, learn from, and be inspired by. In 2011, this meant collaborating with Gizmodo to pick and choose the best technology to outfit the new space, as well as SCOUT, a local furnishing store that finds and refurbishes select pieces from government offices, schools, universities, courthouses and libraries around the city of Chicago.
For this exhibit I was responsible for managing both the design and visuals within the exhibition including, branding, paint colors, garden signage, carpet tiles, way-finding and information panels, as well as graphics throughout the main museum promoting and directing visitors to the exhibit space. Over 300,000 guests have visited the Smart Home since May 2008 learning new ways to live more eco-friendly.
Graphics shown:
- Vinyl information panels
- Garden signage
JOHN G. SHEDD AQUARIUM
Exhibit Graphic Design | Art Direction
Exhibit Designer: Julie Adams
Photo credit: Brenna Hernandez
The Shedd Aquarium was planning to renovate one of their original galleries, Local Waters, to an updated exhibit space exploring the Great Lakes. They were looking for a more immersive experience to better connect visitors with the lakes and as the exhibit graphic designer on the project this meant taking the lack of colorful and flashy wildlife that live in these waters and making them cool—challenge accepted.
I was inspired by a page of bottle caps that I found while making mood boards and quickly became interested in the idea that these freshwater habitats, with their dark and broody first impression and friendly welcoming inhabitants, were just like your average midwestern dive-bar (watering hole, ha).
That led to this concept: Take a trip along the great lakes and you will find not only some pretty rad and friendly fish, but certainly a spot or two along the way to hang your hat.
My research started to reflect this concept while I pulled visuals of neon signage, rustic metal textures and stained wood. Though the “dive-bar” pitch wasn’t family friendly enough to make it past my initial explorations I still found ways to sprinkle the original concept through the 60 species habitat. And who knows, maybe someone will chuckle at the connection as they pet the prehistoric sturgeon with it’s subtle midwestern charm?
Graphics shown:
- exhibit panel system
- exhibit brand development
PETOSKEY, MICHIGAN
Brand Identity | Environmental Design
Designer in Residence: Jake Welchert
Photo credit: Every Last Morsel | Coolhouse Labs
I had the pleasure of developing the brand identity and designing the space for Coolhouse Labs, a startup incubator in Petosky, Michigan. I love working with small business owners who are just starting out and come to me gushing with passion for their venture. Founder and Managing Director, Jordan Breighner approached me with sketches and big ideas for what he was hoping this clean-tech-meets-wooded-midwest company could look like. We exchanged emails chock-full of photos of lake front views, pulling colors and inspiration from the science and data side of the tech community and the natural harbor town that he called home. We explored how the ripples in water made him think of collaboration and idea forming and how tree rings reminded us both of growth and nourishment—essential for the success of any start-up. Coolhouse Labs is now in its third year with 2 locations offering $50K accelerator programs to its applicants and over $200k in perks plus the opportunity for follow-on funding
OBAMA FOR AMERICA '08
Graphic Design | Production
Design Director: Scott Thomas
Rapid Response Design Director: Matt Ipcar
Design Manager: Jessica Teal
Production Manager: Wade Sherrard
As a graphic designer at national headquarters for the 2008 Obama Campaign I learned years of invaluable design experience over just a few months. Being new to the world of campaigning and campaign design I found that 100 hour work weeks were just what I needed to learn on the fly—seriously. I was fortunate enough to learn and collaborate with some of the most innovative and creative thinkers in the industry. They taught me that even under pressure we would only gain brand trust and loyalty with our supporters by paying close attention to the details. I was responsible for mostly print work, but jumped on to help with larger web projects and event signage when needed.
ORGANIZING FOR ACTION
Creative Direction
UX Designer: Adrianne Hawthorne
Visual Designer: Nikole Gramm
Web Developer: Ian Evanoff
When I arrived at Organizing for Action there were a few projects I knew I had to place at the top of my to-do list and redesigning the website was one of them. Once I hired a design team, I assigned a project manager, got all of the makers (developers and designers) in a room, bought snacks, and kicked off our next 6 months.
We started by interviewing everyone at the organization to see how they used our site and what challenges they were experiencing. There were some glaring problems with navigation and the call to action was unclear even to those who worked within the building. We had a lot of clean-up to do on the backend of the site, and while our UX designer worked on desktop and mobile wireframes, our visual designers began looking into iconography and color systems.
We launched our new site in November 2014 with an easy to use backend system that allows our digital staff to update content easily and quickly as needed. The newly designed navigation lets visitors take various actions that were unavailable to them before, sharing content with their social networks (easily sorted by issue), writing “Letters to the Editor” to the publication of their choosing, and shopping on our online store, to name a few. Each of the core issues has its own page of content and access to help visitors learn how they can get involved in the issues that are most important to them.
This project was a huge moment for both the organization and the design and development teams. After months of research, design, revisions and presenting to stakeholders the final product was something the entire organization was proud of and excited to release to our supporters.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Design | Silkscreen
Posters for Pride was a show put on by Idiot Pull in Chicago, Illinois. It brought together artists and designers to celebrate LGBT pride and benefit Equality Illinois, an advocacy organization that works to protect civil rights and end discrimination against LGBT individuals.
ORGANIZING FOR ACTION
Creative Direction | Design
Graphic Designer: Jonathan Black
UX Designer: Adrianne Hawthorne
The online store at Organizing for Action became a main source of fundraising in December 2014 when the digital team absorbed all responsibilities for designing, promoting, photographing and conceptualizing merchandise for the organization. Through the store, we’ve learned valuable information about our supporters based on their buying habits and we are having a blast making merchandise for them. Some of our top sellers, the Heartstrings Tee, Science Says So Bottle, and the Organizing& Tee, grew out of brainstorms about how we could dive deeper into the conversations surrounding these sometimes sensitive issues. Merchandise allows the creative staff to visually represent issues-based conversations in a way that other platforms do not and we get to make beautiful things while doing so.
ORGANIZING FOR ACTION
Creative Direction | Design
Graphic Designers: Nikole Gramm, Jonathan Black, Tyler Deal, Adrianne Hawthorne
Organizing for Action organizes around seven core issues: climate change, comprehensive immigration reform, gun violence prevention, health care, women’s rights, marriage equality, and economic security.
When I started at OFA, back in October 2013, it was clear that each of these issues had their own messaging, personality, and need for a unique set of visuals. The organization had been functioning off of their main logo (the Obama rising sun) since opening its doors in January 2013, and the design team was struggling to communicate across multiple platforms to different audiences.
Over 3 months, I led the design and development of individual brand identities reflecting the essence of each supporter base while building on the legacy of the Obama rising sun logo. OFA now has a clear set of visual communication in place for each of the seven issue campaigns.
Visit OFA's issue pages:
Climate Change
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Economic Opportunity
Expanding Equality
Gun Violence Prevention
Health Care
Women's Rights
ORGANIZING FOR ACTION
Creative Direction | Production
Design & Production: Nikole Gramm, Jonathan Black, Tyler Deal,
ORGANIZING FOR ACTION
Concept | Design Strategy
Producer: Stefanie Spiegel
Videographer: Adam Wisneski
During the research portion of the Issues Branding project, one of the project managers at OFA had written what it meant to be a part of Organizing for Action to him. His monologue was so beautiful that I asked him to share it with our video team during a brainstorm. After he read it aloud I explained to the group how I had hoped we could use this to better tell our story—and wouldn’t it be great if we could get Barack Obama in there as well? Oh, we did.
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE + INDUSTRY CHICAGO
Exhibit Graphic Design | Art Direction
Photo credit: J.B. Spector
“Live in the museum you say? Sure why not!”
That’s how this exhibit concept was born. The Museum of Science and Industry’s Month at the Museum received 1,500 applications asking for those interested in eating, sleeping and breathing science for 30-days while living inside the largest science center in the Western Hemisphere. The winner had full-access to every nook and cranny in the museum at all hours of the day and night. I was the exhibit graphic designer on the project, which allowed me to develop the brand and design the experience within the museum walls. For this project I collaborated with CB2 in Chicago to design both the public and private living quarters for our museum tenant. After spending weeks working with a bright orange palette, I was shocked to meet our winner Kate McGroarty, a girl with bright red hair. I presented her with a set of orange shirts that looked just like her hair, and we laughed about it all month long.
