DESIGN: Cultivate Cinema Circle

Born from a partnership with my Buffalo movie critic colleague Jordan M. Smith comes Cultivate Cinema Circle, a local screening series helping to “foster a healthy, fervent film culture in the Buffalo area.” After many discussions about the name and goals, I started to play with the word cultivate until the idea of harvesting radishes and the like from the ground materialized. From that initial thought came the decision to make a film reel into a vegetable plucked from the soil that can be shared with the world. And like…

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DESIGN: 2014 In Music

Tracklisting:Disc 11. “Dreaming” • Justin Nozuka • 01:39 • Ulysees, Warner Music Canada2. “Big Unit” • Adebisi Shank • 04:36 • This Is the Third Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank, Sargent House3. “Sing” • Ed Sheeran • 03:56 • x, Asylum/Atlantic4. “No Miracles” • Kid Ink (ft. Elle Varner & Mgk) • 04:37 • My Own Lane, Tha Alumni Music Group/88 Classic/RCA5. “Everytime” • Broods • 03:41 • Evergreen, Dryden Street/Island/Polydor/UMA6. “Philosophize In It! Chemicalize with It!” • Kishi Bashi • 03:21 • Lighght, Joyful Noise Recordings7. “First”…

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DESIGN: xoxobflo

The purchase of my Kelsey letterpress meant an opportunity to create a new brand with which to differentiate my design work from the printing. I’ll admit intentionally starting to brainstorm names that could have a more palatable accessibility with the social media generation we find ourselves in. I tried abbreviations, acronyms, and “internet speak” alternatives until I came up with a way to turn “Hugs & Kisses Buffalo” into effectively brief xoxobflo. Since the press ensures everything printed by me is Buffalo-made (and things that aren’t still by default come…

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DESIGN: 2013 In Music

Tracklisting:Disc 11. “A Whistling Tune from a Lonely Man” • Clint Mansell • 00:40 • Stoker OST, Milan Records2. “Young and Beautiful” • Lana Del Rey • 03:56 • The Great Gatsby OST, Water Tower Music / Interscope Records3. “Roar” • Katy Perry • 03:43 • PRISM, Capitol Records4. “Don’t Forget Who You Are” • Miles Kane • 03:22 • Don’t Forget Who You Are, Columbia Europe5. “Get Lucky” • Daft Punk • 06:06 • Random Access Memories, Columbia6. “Royals” • Lorde • 03:10 • Pure Heroine, Motown / Universal7.…

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DESIGN: Angel – Ratio’s Chocolate Nest Eggs

It didn’t take long after watching the season 4 “Angel” episode entitled Smile Time before deciding that I needed to design something in homage to the brilliant demon puppets. If anyone of the gang seemed to get short shrift it was the giant purple creature named Ratio Hornblower. The fact he was also the one who perfected the Nest Egg system the others used to suck the life out of their children viewership was just icing on the cake. The concept that I kept thinking about to bring it to…

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DESIGN: Upper 90 magazine, Spring 2013 issue

Upper 90 magazine Spring 2013 • Volume 2, Issue 1 Cover: Més Que – More than a pub Also Inside: BEST XI for men & women Brendan Murphy – New FC Buffalo boss High School Champs Jozy Altidore – Education and evolution in the Netherlands With its second issue, Upper 90 came out in Spring 2013 possessing editorial from writer Ruud Pompert on Buffalo’s very own soccer bar as well as the tale of American Jozy Altidore finding success in Europe. Alongside these tomes came updates on local teams—FC Buffalo,…

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DESIGN: 2012 In Music

Tracklisting:Disc 11. “Water Runs” — Reptar 5:14 | from Body Faucet; Vagrant Records2. “Dougou Badia” — Amadou & Mariam (ft. Santigold) 3:53 | from Folila; Nonesuch Records3. “Mind Your Manners” — Chiddy Bang (ft. Icona Pop) 3:16 | from Breakfast; Virgin, I.R.S.4. “Bright Whites” — Kishi Bashi 4:13 | from 151a; Joyful Noise5. “Little Talks” — Of Monsters and Men 4:25 | from My Head is an Animal; Universal6. “We Are Young” — fun. (ft. Janelle Monae) 4:10 | from Some Nights; Fueled by Ramen7. “End of the Line” —…

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DESIGN: City & Regional Magazine Association [spec]

An interesting design project came through the offices of Buffalo Spree Publishing, Inc. this October. As a member of the City & Regional Magazine Association and Media Partners (CRMA), every graphic designer at Buffalo Spree was allowed to submit logo entries to be judged by the association in order for a winner to be selected as their new identity. Sadly I did not make the shortlist. I do, however, really enjoy the three designs I created—each one evolving from the geometrically symmetrical Sforzinda. Imagined by Filarete (Antonio di Pietro Averlino)…

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DESIGN: Upper 90 magazine, Fall 2012 issue

Upper 90 magazine Fall 2012 • Volume 1, Issue 1 Cover: The 2012 College Season Preview Also Inside: Kendell McFayden – What makes a pro? Josh Faga – How to be a captain Empire United – Birth of a super club Upper 90 debuted in September 2012 with its Fall College Preview containing insight into the ensuing season for numerous WNY schools. The myriad teams about to face off had me thinking about the old FIFA games for Nintendo and resulted in the pixel-based graphics on the cover and elsewhere.…

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DESIGN: TZ Granite

Through Buffalo Spree Publishing, Inc., I was asked to design a new corporate identity logo for TZ Granite & Materials LLC in Orchard Park, NY as part of a new ad running in the Fall/Winter 2012 issue of Buffalo Spree Home. Formerly known as Tiede-Zoeller, the company was looking to keep a similar, angular font style but also clean up the length with a concise, attractive “TZ” image that could stand in for the full name. Working off a sans-serif font, I drew the “TZ” in a way that allowed…

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DESIGN: Ghostbusters — I Am Vinz

If I made a Ghostbusters shirt for The Gatekeeper, I couldn’t very well stop without doing another for The Keymaster. Unfortunately, when it comes to Rick Moranis‘ Louis Tully, there isn’t really a stand-out line besides his famous parroting of Egon’s, “Yes, have some”. However, to keep in tune with the previous design, I decided on “I am Vinz, Vinz Clortho”. It’s the beginning of a longer list of monikers that he speaks at a horse upon roaming the streets of NYC while possessed. Using the same font and effect…

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