North Star is a multi-part, transmedia project from artist Kambui Olujimi – incorporating paintings, a film, a sculpture, a zero-gravity flight, and a two-day symposium held at Lincoln Center. We worked closely together to find the best way tell the story of this complex and expansive project in book form, wanting to eschew the traditional idea of a catalog or mere documentation of the work. Pulling together personal writing, essays, interviews, and transcripts from the symposium, the book covers a wide range of subjects and documentation of this prolific work.

Printed by Conti
Published by Gregory Miller

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Art direction, design, production

Taking cues from the ubiquitous Greek diner coffee cup, ancestral lace, and the cryptic lyrics of its namesake song, Restorative Beer is a limited edition IPA by Ocelot Brewing in collaboration with Eleanor Friedberger from the Fiery Furnaces.

Listen to the song here.

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Art direction, design

Maison is an Upper East Side members’ club designed for women to make time for themselves. Founded by Ashley Wu as a response to the lack of ‘third spaces’ in the neighborhood, she knew there were other ambitious mothers searching for a similar place, too. Somewhere that wasn’t about adding to a long list of obligations by joining, but a place that was about sharing a respite with other likeminded people. Somewhere to reconnect, recharge, and relax in a stimulating, beautiful space close to home.

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Designed at Love & War
Role: Creative direction, Visual identity
Design support: Soomin Cha, Katie Waxtel
Interior Photos: Courtesy of Nicole Franzen

Your colour memory documents the immersive work by the artist Olafur Eliasson, as installed at Arcadia University Art Gallery. Part-catalog, part-historical research document, the book takes the reader through a graphic representation of the artist's work – a room of slowly-shifting colored panels meant to expose the concepts of color memories, after-images, and shifts in optical perception.

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Art Direction, Design, Print Production

In 1979, The Independent Feature Project (IFP) was founded to support the rising generation of indie filmmaking in NYC. 40 years later, between name confusion with the IFC network, and shifts in the industry as a whole, the organization was in need of a rebrand.

Building on their most visible endeavor, The Gotham Awards, the transformation began with a name and brand structure change, from IFP to The Gotham Film and Media Institute. Not only did this help connect the larger organization to the popular awards show and raise the stature of the org to its rightful place, it allowed all the sub-activities of IFP to flow under one unified system with room to expand.

Led by Kriston Rucker, strategist and partner at Love & War, I crafted a brand identity that celebrated the grassroots, irreverent history of the organization, and a visual system designed in the spirit of DIY.

Comprised of a custom typeface, a suite of gestural marks, and a texture library, the system is accessible to designers and non-designers alike, and does not rely on a strict set of rules to adhere to its brand guidelines. Even in the absence of licensed fonts, the identity system can be deployed using standard fonts and limited design software.

Though the organization has changed their logo since this initial rebrand, the system and principles of the core identity remain in strong use today.

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Designed at Love & War
Role(s): Art direction, Visual identity, Design

After spending years in lauded restaurants in NYC and California, Shaina and Joe Papach returned to their Midwest roots with a vision to transform the iconic Wisconsin supper club into a destination for a new generation, while remaining true to the format and approach.

The couple completely renovated an old baggage claim house nestled in the back of a historic train depot, which included its very own mid-century train car, now used as a private events space.

The name ‘Harvey House’ pays homage to the pioneer of railway dining, Fred Harvey, as well as Shaina’s grandfather. This sense of history and family guided the direction for the visual identity.

A custom typeface was created for the wordmark, accompanied by a pair of illustrated logos depicting the building and train car. The bright, cheerful yellow that adorned the train exterior becomes the primary brand color, and a set of vintage postcards from the hey-day of train travel were revived as playful souvenirs.

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Designed at Love & War
Role(s): Creative direction, Design, Brand illustration, Custom typeface, Signage design
Design support: Ilana Blady, Soomin Cha
Interior design: HOME Studios
Interior photos: Courtesy of The Harvey House

Visit The Harvey House website

Mi Selva is a book created in collaboration with artist Tatiana Arocha as a response to her experience at LABVerde, a residency in the Brazilian rainforest. A native of Colombia, Arocha’s work is rooted in her own complex relationship to the bio-political and vulnerable landscapes she grew up exploring. A departure from her labor-intensive, large-format work, Mi Selva offers an intimate, emotional view into the artist’s experience and history.

24 pages plus loose print, hand-bound, 2-color risograph publication. Edition of 50.

Available in the shop.

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Design, Printing, Production

Artist book to accompany Richard Torchia's exhibition Sun Pictures & Other Broken Images, at The Print Center, Philadelphia. Pocket-sized, with letterpress cover. 

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Design

A seasonal sandwich shop by day, restaurant by night – BKSS served high-end, bespoke sandwiches and small plates using all-local ingredients, with a mission to offer the best of farm-to-table cooking at an affordable price point. 

The identity riffs on the tongue-in-cheek nature of the name – an exclusive club open to everyone. Taking cues from heraldry, secret societies, and the local grocer, the logotype and was created from an old type specimen sheet discovered during the research phase, redrawn for the logo, and subsequently turned into a working typeface with the help of Derek Munn.

Postcards, buttons, and menus freely sample and repurpose old engravings to create a mashup of sandwich-themed insignias and icons. 

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Creative Direction, Visual Identity, Design

Layered, off-kilter, atypical: Some of the words Kambui Olujimi used to describe his vision of a catalog to commemorate his solo exhibition, Zulu Time, at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Early in the process, Kambui shared research images that had inspired him while creating the works for the exhibition. Most were sourced from the Internet, and covered a wide variety of topics from icebergs to time-clocks to public housing.

Rather than obscure the idea of using research images as part of the artistic process, we included it as a visual footnote to the formally presented work. Floating beneath essays and commentary, cyan-tinted photographic images tell a parallel story of Zulu Time, giving the reader a glimpse into the inner world of Olujimi’s process, and an invitation to ask questions and make connections they might not otherwise discover.

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Art Direction, Design, Print Production

Inspired by its fusion menu and communal attitude, a Catholic-sainted bird and a Japanese good luck cat coexist as the unofficial mascots of Martha – a neighborhood restaurant serving quirky American & Asian comfort food and cocktails.

The eclectic, experimental vibe of the restaurant is expressed through hand-drawn logos and playful, ingredient-inspired illustrations that adorn the menus, postcards, and social media images, along with bold, punchy photography of the colorfully-designed dishes.

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Creative Direction, Naming, Visual Identity, Illustration, Interior Styling, Photography, Menu Development

The Brakeman is an American Beer Hall by NoHo Hospitality, located in Downtown Detroit in the Shinola Hotel. Built from the ground up, the building echoes an old auto garage, and features a token-only currency system dispensed through a vintage-styled ticket booth.

Starting with the building itself as an object to design against, we drew inspiration from the aesthetics of utility, American workwear, and the role of The Brakeman in railroad culture and folklore.

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Designed at Love & War
Role: Creative direction, Visual identity
Designer: Youshin Song
Illustration: Ilana Blady

Photos: Courtesy of Bedrock Detroit, NoHo Hospitality, Motown Sign Co, and Elizabeth Moroz

Visual identity, collateral, and website for an apartment-style inn located in the tiny town of New Castle, NH. The owners transformed an 1820 home into six studio apartments with a modern-classic style. The identity compliments the established aesthetic – taking cues from 1960s minimalism, old-school prep, and the color palette of the rugged New Hampshire Seacoast.

greatislandinn.com

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Visual Identity, Design

As a Center for Urban Pedagogy Public Access Design fellow, I was paired with Legal Services NYC to visualize a tool to help Limited English Speakers understand their rights when it came to interpreter services within bureaucratic systems. We created a fold-out pocket guide that also served as a way to communicate their needs and rights – especially for those who had trouble speaking English.

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Art Direction, Design, Illustration

Identity design, catalog, invitation, and brochure for an exhibition of contemporary photographers making camera obscura images, at The Print Center, PA. Curious visitors can experiment at home with this optical technique: The takeaway brochure folds into a portable pinhole viewer, with instructions for use. 

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Art Direction, Design, Exhibition Identity

A bi-annual journal about the practice of drawing. Curated and edited by Yane Calovski, D examines this most fundamental medium through essays and images from artists and writers from around the world.

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Art Direction, Design

Oversized brochure for the ceramics artist Paula Winokur's solo exhibition at Arcadia University Art Gallery.

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Art Direction, Design