Moon Babes of Bicycle City

PRINT • MULTIMEDIA

"Total Linguistic Freestyle." - Scuffington Post

A modern day monument to BMX Freestyle culture and innovative fiction, Moon Babes of Bicycle City is the latest novel from author, journalist, zinemaker, and co-founder of the Plywood Hoods Freestyle BMX Trick Team, Mike Daily.

In addition to the design and layout of the book itself, Daily and I collaborated to produce a series of videos, online recordings, and merchandise all leading up to the eventual launch: a novel, brimming with references to not only BMX culture, but beat poetry, music, television, literary references and more, all in genuine tribute to a culture that an insider like Daily is uniquely apt for: "Action NOW."

The book is currently available for purchase on Amazon.

Each project with Mike Daily has provided a unique opportunity to use more expressive, unexpected, and unorthodox approaches to design than most clients. For instance, the above-left papercraft model of the "BikeCardoba" was included with each pre-order bundle of the book. Despite the more experimental design language, readability and functionality remained a priority throughout each portion of the project.

The book's variety of content, in addition to the primary manuscript, includes a complete reference to the fictional "BikeCardoba" manual—inspired from '70s-era service manuals—with a variety of visual and literary gags included.

The final third of the book is dedicated to members of the "Bike Club"—members of the BMX community with their own submitted photographs and stories, each expressing their personal history and love of the sport. The nostalgic perspectives and oft-analog photography allowed for some very expressive layouts.

Bill Bunting

Mat Hoffman

Sticker credit: Patrick Richardson

Tompkins Square Park, NYC

In both anticipation of and alongside the release of the book, Daily and I continued creating social media-focused videos and advertising to promote the project. We worked with Bike Club members such as X-Games Gold Medalist Mat Hoffman, video artist and DJ Mark Eaton, James White, and others to generate as much enthusiasm around the multi-media project as possible.

FOR THE KINGDOM, IF I CAN

MOTION • DOCUMENTARY

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS ON YOUR OWN."

FOR THE KINGDOM, IF I CAN

For the Kingdom, If I Can was an always-evolving documentary aiming to humanize the ongoing opioid epidemic in Middletown, Ohio from the perspective of those affected both directly and indirectly by the crisis.

Through a series of interviews with Middletown citizens, the video establishes the economic troubles that a once-booming steel town now faces in the modern day, as well as how the presence of small-town individualism and social stigmas only serve to provide more barriers to proper treatment and discussion of the problem.

Neighboring counties are dealing with the epidemic by forsaking such  individualist rust-belt tendencies, but facing the stigma of social benefits means the citizens of Butler County (and in turn, Middletown) are having to find new ways to connect and keep each other strong.

I spent many weeks discussing with my professors to determine the project's most realistic goals, and its effects on both myself and the people I would be interviewing. During this period of introspection, I realized: as a youth, my growing up in Middletown was something I was embarrassed by. I didn't want to be associated with the town, or the social norms implied from growing up there. Yet, I'd also realized that under any sort of criticism, I would jump to Middletown's defense—despite my own propensity for self-deprecation.

"You can't escape it. And even when you do,

       you wonder if you're doing the right thing.

              it's ingrained."

— Cameron Meek

Former Middletown, OH Resident

I began to see my hometown in news headlines from NPR, and notably in J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy—long before the Netflix adaptation. I knew it was my chance to try and right my wrongs—I could perhaps show Middletown in a fairer light, bringing attention to citizens as victims of their upbringing, while still recognizing the faults allowing the opioid crisis to propagate.

 

I could no longer blame my fellow citizens for believing in their symbols of hope, no matter how I may have felt in my youth—after all, hope was all some citizens of Middletown seemed to have left.

Interviewing recovering addicts, treatment center staff, and others affected by the opioid epidemic had been a truly eye-opening experience. Many of the staff were quick to jump at the opportunity to share their views and desire for aid with an audience of outsiders.

Much of my own thoughts and writings around the issue were on display in a printed book alongside the completed video at DAAPWorks 2018, "The Show."

 

The current final version of the documentary can be viewed below.

Wildflower

MUSIC VIDEO

"I'd miss the rain—

 and even the pain of being alone."

In late 2019, friend and fellow designer Matt Boylson reached out hoping to work together on a music video project for Nashville, Tennessee-based folk musician Veronica Stanton's track "Wildflower."

Boylson had worked with Stanton extensively to create a coherent brand with a focus on three particular recurring elements: the historical heritage of Nashville, a love of natural/recurring patterns of flora and fauna, and elegant simplicity.

As co-producer, I was on-location for all shots of Stanton, and was the primary editor for the project.

Boylson had approached me with the concept and a series of storyboards in-hand; focusing on the track's paradoxical expression of desires to be seen and loved, yet fear of "dying in a vase"—dreaming of an idealized romance,  yet fearing the loss of freedom and independence therein.

This contradiction would be represented by contrasting and overlaying an isolated Stanton with Boylson's outdoor film, creating a dream-like, almost wistful, double-exposure effect throughout.

The full video can be viewed in its entirety below.

Baha Mar hotel & casino "Lucky 8"

ENVIRONMENTAL • ANIMATION

In the Fall of 2017, my tenure with Rockwell Group was predominantly spent designing and animating the Pachinko board content for the Nassau, Bahamas Baha Mar Hotel Casino's "Lucky 8"—a large installation whose digital content was entirely designed by the graphic and LAB teams at Rockwell.

In a very short amount of time, my supervisor Donna Pallotta and I were tasked with conceiving and animating a unified design direction for the Pachinko function of the board, with the only specification being the use of 4 DPI LED screens, and that the "balls" would be "emojis."

From the beginning, Donna and I chose to focus on using a colorful native wildlife approach, while remaining grounded to compliment the more "over-the-top" element of the emojis. Many different treatments of gradients, specular highlights, and other minor elements were planned out before finalizing any one particular element—ensuring a coherent, consistent final system.

Following the initial direction phase, we moved to approaching the design from a functional view—considering what images, icons, and so forth would animate best on such a unique field, and which of our icons would function as "flippers".

Once done, I created a series of storyboards to properly plan out how each individual icon would animate in 3 states—"Appear," "Active," and  "Ambient."

Each icon was designed and animated at a large scale, with much consideration given as to how each graphic would appear on the 4 DPI LEDs. As such, every graphic was tested during the design phase to ensure visibility and interpretation was not an issue for such a low resolution screen.

The design team also worked to create a "Fortune" screen as well—and you can continue to see attendee's social media posts using the tag #Lucky8BahaMar.

THE OTHER SIDE

MOTION • ACTIVISM • AWARD-WINNING

AWARD

WINNING

"IT'S NOT ALL BLACK AND WHITE."

The Other Side was an award-winning multi-media project aiming to establish empathy of others and generate thoughtful, open discussion on matters of race and police behavior, specifically around Cincinnati, OH.

Our group's goal was to learn of and address biases that exist within the Cincinnati community from a position of empathy towards people of color. The primary deliverables aimed to connect with audiences across a variety of touch-points, including emotionally charged imagery, public installations, social media awareness, and political activism.

The Other Side was a group project created with fellow designers Becca Kaiser, Allie Lozinak, and Rachael Rosa.

My individual responsibilities were to aid in the design of the original posters and wordmark, cooperate in outlining the concept, and to film and edit the final video piece (shown below).

The project attempted to cross multiple boundaries with various applications—connecting with those within the area through a public installation (as sketched below), and even those outside of the Cincinnati metropolitan area through social media/video promotion.

Much of the project relied on creating a visual language that communicated across barriers while avoiding alienation of parties involved. Many peer-reviewed early entries were specifically critiqued for this purpose.

The video portion of the project was created as a means of sharing real people's emotions and opinions from the streets of Cincinnati, encouraging open-mindedness in a time of stress and frustration for many parts of the community.

The Other Side was selected as 1 of 17 posters (out of 340 total submissions) to be selected as part of the “VIP” presentation at the 2017 Undergraduate Research Conference, selected because “the subject matter is particularly relevant to (1) Cincinnati, or (2) the current state of affairs on a national/global scale".

experience

oct 2019 – apr 2020, freelance 2021 & 2022

rockwell group | new york, ny

Environmental / Motion Designer

  • Designed directly with various in-house studios on external and internal projects.
  • Included motion graphics for upcoming theatrical productions, as well as visualization of pre-COVID environmental installations.
  • Collaborated with CEO David Rockwell on animation-integrated presentation files to display during public speaking appearances.
  • Developed unique templates for presentation material on a per-client basis.

 

JAN 2017 – May 2017, co-op position

tier1 performance solutions | covington, ky

Graphic Designer

  • Focused primarily on gathering experience with print production methods and abilities.

 

sept 2015 – dec 2015

infinite scale design group | cincinnati, oh

Environmental Graphic Designer

  • Worked with newly-minted Cincinnati-based branch team to create environmental graphics for the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship, 2016 NHL All-Star event, and 2016 NHL Stadium Series events.
  • Created both production and presentation material for official NHL Hockey Puck statues to be visible at street-level for such events.

education

Class of 2018

University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH

Bachelor's of Science in Design, cum laude

College of Design, Architecture, Art, & Planning.

Primary focus on Print & Motion Design.

awards & rECOGNITION

Fall 2017

SEGD expo | NEw york, ny

SEGD Member / Expo Attendee

 

Spring 2017

University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH

Recognition, Top 10%

University of Cincinnati Undergraduate Research Conference. Recognition for "The Other Side."

skills

Software Knowledge

Print Suite (PS, AI, ID.)

Motion Suite (AE, Pr)

Cinema 4D & 3DS Max

Windows & Mac OS

Audio Production & Mixing

Contexts

Environmental Design & Wayfinding

Book-level Print Production

Design for Web/Social Media

nathan powell design

MOTION • COMMUNICATION • PRINT