For my Typography II final project we had to come up with a creative concept and original way to express type. I decided to go the unconventional route and chose to do a photo series of my friends and their favourite words. These words were then going to be tattooed to their body by yours truly.  I thought to myself if Stefan Sagmeister can carve up his body full of type for the sake of design than surely I can tattoo some willing victims for the sake of a typography project!

I had seven incredibly helpful friends who let me put them through temporary pain with a needle and india ink and I can’t be grateful enough! Even though I am no tattoo artist and I have absolutely no experience with tattooing, I was extra careful and everything was thoroughly cleaned and sanitized and all participants were over the age of 18 years old and 100% willing.

So here they are with their favourite words.

[click to enlarge]

Photography by: Patrick Campbell
Assistant Photographer: Lauryn Youden

Thank you everyone who helped me do this!

This is something I worked on awhile ago for my Visual Communications class, here’s the process on how I came up with the final product.

Challenge: To capture the style and sound of the musical group and communicate it visually through the album cover.

Goal: First I observed their competition and took notes of their similarities. Then compared their differences and tried to communicate that visually to set them apart and make them really stand out. I focused on their lyrics and what they were trying to portray. I also used their fashion sense as an influence for my design. The ultimate goal was to create something that really stands out, something that was fresh, colourful and hip.

Moodboards: One of the most important parts in starting a project is setting the mood/tone. By selecting images, colours, prints, one should be able to understand the style you are going for. For this project I came up with 3 separate moodboards. For my final product I ended up using elements from the first two.

Concept Sketches: Quick sketches are the best way to come up with ideas and concepts. I ended up going with my 3rd concept.

Images/Design: With a clear vision in my mind I was then able to properly art direct the photography for the album.

Photos taken by Morgan Hirtle.

Final Product: And the final outcome!

For my Typography II class we were assigned to replicate a Vancouver building using type only (letters, numbers & glyphs). I immediate knew that I wanted to pick the Dominion Building. Easily one of the most beautiful buildings downtown.

After doing a little bit of research, finding out that it was built in 1910 by J.S. Helyer and that he supposedly died by falling off the building’s circular staircase, creepy! This building was built in the Second Empire style and influenced strongly by the architecture in Paris. Keeping that in mind, I decided to pick the typeface Didot which I felt fitted perfectly.

a few closeups of the detail:

I’m pretty sure this took me nearly 60-80hrs of work. This image is quite large so trying to depict in in a smaller image is kinda hard. But in a few weeks these will be projected somewhere in the city, and everyone is welcome to come! It was definitely a cool project (even if it was grueling). I am very excited to see how it will look at a very large scale.

A few months ago I got the chance to do the Art Direction for a music video ‘Rusty Hooks’ by Fatt Matt & DJ Moves. We had to work with a classroom full of children and it was definitely not an easy task but so much fun. Once done we had a video release party and I got to design the posters for the event.

Written & Performed by Fatt Matt and DJ Moves
Beat by Big Moves

Art Direction: Kelsey Yates
Dolly Grip/Lamp Op/Grip: Victor Prokopowicz
Production Equipment from PS Production Services
Director of Photography, Colorist and Post FX: Morgan Hirtle
Produced by James Brown
Directed, Produced and Edited by Matt Reed

Collage