Topographic Release Posters

For each new major feature release of Studio, I designed a new poster. Since our releases were named after significant mountains (in size or in personal meaning), and as I have a soft spot for maps, I landed on this topographic design scheme. The first three posters were created using a program called QGIS-LTR to extract contour data from real locations, then processed in Rhino 3D and Illustrator. The fourth mountain being a fictional place (a volcano in Hyrule from the Zelda game series) meant finding a suitable stl online and generating contours myself. Each poster also contains artwork to reference the new features and major changes that came with the release.

MIT Sports Summit Branding

I was in charge of creating new design, branding, and some marketing for the MIT Sports Summit Conference in Fall 2019.

Me with the banners I designed (photo from the event when I handed my camera to a friend):

I started by designing a new logo:

and then designed email invitations (through mailchimp):

I made posters to put around campus:

I made the name badges in inDesign, so that they could be generated from a spreadsheet:

And designed the programs in inDesign:

Also made for the event, but not pictured here: campus-wide digital display ad, teaser posters before full sized posters, invite graphic for alumni event, gobos for event projections, event presentation template, resume book cover.

I was also photographer for the event!

Illustrated Environments

This year (in 2020) the theme was:

kindness

As a long-time collaborator on the product design class at MIT that is 2.009 (and in pandemic times - 2.s009), I was invited to help create the animation that would kick off the class's final presentations. My role for this animation was to provide illustrations to be used as backgrounds, specifically for the second half (starting at 59s). I was asked to help imagine and create a futuristic “kindtopia” landscape merged with MIT’s campus, to be shown in a night-time setting.

And here's the result!

Music for this video was composed and performed by the very talented Sam Watkinson.

The animators responsible for the story, the first 59 seconds, and characters and motion for the entire animation are Or Oppenheimer and Marwa AlAlawi.

To see them in more detail, here are some of my favorite backgrounds that I made for this animation:

I was also responsible for coming up with a design for a "firework hauling futuristic vehicle". Although I had other concepts, we went forward with the more humorous firework-shaped hover truck:

Final illustration of the truck:

Isometric Animals

In Toy Product Design at MIT, students are organized into 16 teams, each with a unique animal. While I was a TA for Toy Product Design in 2017, I designed playful isometric representations of each animal:

Most of the animals were developed through sketches in my notebook (and there were a few non-animals as well):

I also used the animals indesigning the "play"-sentations poster to invite community members to the class' final presentations:

In addition to being on our signage, the animals were plotted and mounted to foam core to be used as table markers for students and audience members to find each team after the event:

Magical Illustrations

In 2015, the 2.009 Product Design class theme was:

Magic!

I was asked to create a set of magical semi-animated illustrations to be used as backdrops to a fun video for the final presentations.

It started with quick storyboarding based on a rough script:

And then more detailed rendering in pen and pencil:

And then I painted the scenes in photoshop, and layered them into after effects to give them a sense of depth through parallax:

Animated Animals:

Squid Hat

The Problem:

As a toy product design instructor, it would be my job to introduce my student team at their final play-sensations, and all of the instructors were going to present dressed up as their team animal.

I was the instructor for squid team, and this squid costume wouldn’t do.

The Plan:

If I was going to be a squid, I was going to be an awesome squid.

I made a sketch of a costume that I thought would be a more true squid representation, with a lot more dignity.

I cut rough sections of blue foam and glued them together around an extra hard hat we had on hand

One of my favorite tools is a good knife. You can see the one I was using here to carve the foam

Adding a pair of giant googley eyes really made the squid come to life. The eye is mostly held in as a press-fit

The Completed Costume:

The final (and very last minute) touch was to add “tentacles” which were made using a thrift-store dress. I attached the dress to the squid body and then cut it in the shape of tentacles.

Here I am with the studens of team squid, their incredible toy (Infect It!), and their mentor Jonah:

It was finished just in time for playsentations (this is me):

other people may have worn it better though:

Custom Masks

The mask patterns that I found online didn't fit Geoff's face, so I made a custom pattern using a 3D scan that I had. After a few iterations and tweaks, I've landed on a mask design that fits him really well.

If you'd like to make this mask yourself, here is a PDF pattern (to scale) with some instructions!

Larrisa & Scott

May 2018

Alice & Rob

July, 2017