The Speed Cubers is a 2020 documentary on the lives of speedcubing champions Max Park and Feliks Zemdegs directed by Sue Kim. The documentary captures “the extraordinary twists and turns in the journeys of Rubik's Cube-solving champions Max and Feliks.” I was lucky enough to be asked to be Senior Art Director for this project. The film was short listed for an Oscar and won a Peabody Award.

Role: Senior Art Director

Players: Sue Kim, Chris Romano, Katie Turinski, Dylan Sylwester, Dan Vidmar

Gopuff is a consumer goods and food delivery service operating in over 650 US cities through approximately 250 fulfillment centers. Users can order items online or via the Gopuff app and get the items delivered. We teamed up with Gopuff’s design team to figure out the brand look and feel as well as some campaign spots and OOH.

Role: Design Director

Players: Azsa West, Darcie Burrell, Laura Wood, Madeline Trebenski, Ragen Fykes, Angela Iannarelli, Allison Berg, Danielle McCoy

Build-A-Dad

Introducing Build-A-Dad by Trolli! An edible substitute to satisfy all of your fatherless needs!

For Father’s Day this year we took Worm Dad to the next level and created a new product to call your very own. To qualify, call 1-844-WORM-DAD and tell us why you deserve Build-A-Dad. Maybe Worm Dad will send you something. Maybe not. Just like a real father, you never know if he'll show up!

Role: Design Director

Players: Edie Lawrence, Millicent Hailes, Ryan Hartsfield, Darcie Burrell, Azsa West, Oscar Bastidas, Dave Hagen! for cover art

We got to help reposition a company as iconic as Fisher-Price. So we created stories inviting adults back into the incredible world of kids. A world where play is how you communicate with each other. “Let’s Be Kids.”

Then in 2020, Fisher-Price celebrated its 90th birthday. It felt like the perfect time to showcase their rich history and all of the iconic toys that have touched so many lives over the past 9 decades. And what better way to do that than with a Fisher-Price toy museum! All for your pleasure to visit online. And even exit through a gift shop of mercy we designed ourselves.

With the help of the talented, indomitable forces that are Leila Fakouri and Vacation Theory, we fabricated nearly 100 “exhibits” featuring Fisher-Price toys, spanning 90 years of childhood. From there, we built an entire museum experience that lives exclusively on Instagram.

Role: Design Director

Players: Devin Gillespie, Heather Ryder, David Trujillo, Cameron Soane, Abby Christensen, Eric Reigert, Adam Sirkin, Lindsay Johnson, Patrick Cahalan

After we launched a successful KFC limited online store, we looked for the nest step to solidify the chicken salesman’s place in the fashion industry. We teamed up with Hypebeast to ask the father of streetwear and founder of Human Made, Nigo, to work on a capsule collection. After a trip to the KFC archives, Nigo created 11 pieces and an exciting lookbook. We then took over a KFC in New York City and transformed it into a mecca for hypebeasts to get their hands of the collection. Some of the hand painted buckets were re-selling for $10,000 on The Grailed and even Pharrell was seen wearing a piece the logo t-shirt.

Role: Art Director, Designer

Players: Hypebeast, Nigo (and amazing crew), David Trujillo

Kentucky Fried Chicken wanted to create a small merch store. We blew out the concept to deliver an online store filled with “artisanal” products to help any fan to achieve a Colonel Quality lifestyle. We not only designed the UX and look of the site but also every product we sold. It sold out in weeks and made every news worthy site including USA Today, Huffington Post and GQ. HypeBeast even came knocking at our door.

Role: Art Director, Web Designer, Product Designer, Stylist

Players: David Trujillo, Jarrod Higgins, Freddie Powell, Mike Weihs, Eric Baldwin, Heather Ryder, Devin Gillespie

With around 4 years of all things KFC, we have worked hard to maintain brand standards and work on all aspects of things the brand might touch. KFC have been incredible partners.

Place: Wieden + Kennedy

Role: Design Lead, Art Director, Stylist

Players: Mike Weihs, Dave Hagen, David Trujillo, Eric Baldwin

We gave KFC.com an overhaul
in content, navigation, layout and photographic style. We also used key influencers to help spread the word
of the new campaign.

Place: Wieden+Kennedy

Role: Art Direction, Food Styling,
Prop Styling, Designer

Players: Eric Baldwin, Karl Lieberman, Joe Albert, Jason Turner, Mike Weihs, David Trujillo

Epic React is Nike’s latest innovation in foam technology, giving runner’s an extra dose of runner’s high. To introduce the new technology we created the world’s first dispensary for runner’s high.

We teased the campaign by flooding Toronto with an old school local number. Thousands called to get the details.

We opened the doors on 4/20 at 4:20 with space details that mimicked the shoe’s foam cushioning. Optical illusion floor patterns and a run experience engulfed in binaural beats and euphoric caged lighting gave a euphoric feeling you could only feel with Reacts.

Place: Wieden+Kennedy

Role: Design Lead, Art Director

Players: Nicole Jacek, Antony Goldstein, Chris Groom, David Chathas, Ji Won Lee

Every August since 1999, Pendarvis Farms opens their gates for music fans in Portland to experience six stages, local food, sustainability and camping.

In 2017, we approached Pickathon with an idea to create an interactive light experience deep in the woods on the farm to compliment both the nature and the music.

We designed the “Light Field ” in an area on Bunny Hill where people could gather and have a sensory experience. We digitally connected lights into groupings that would “talk” to each other with movement when pushed in certain directions. For a more nature feel to become we dressed the PVC to appear to be reed-like with wood veneer and crafted leaves. When pushed and the accelerometers became off balance and lit up other surrounding reeds in the groupings.

Role: Designer and Builder

Players: Mike Weihs, John Brown, Nick Ostini, Lucas Swick

We were given the huge honor to create the opening titles for FITC awards in 2016. The project became a work of art with the journey of a character that represented the process of how an artist works. We designed and created all costume and hair pieces as well as make-up.

Role: Designer, Stylist

Players: Peiter Hergert, Karen Koch, Jeredon O’Connor, Daniel Moreno

For Laika's 3rd animated feature,
we created specialty kits to take influencers through the world of
The Boxtrolls. Personal labels were hand illustrated to make each person's experience unique. A "Build Your Own Boxtroll" contest allowed one winner to receive his very own stop motion character and birth certificate. And a mirror display was designed for an interactive experience.

Place: Wieden+Kennedy

Role: Art Direction and Design

Players: Caio Lazzuri, Jared Elms,
Paul Levy, Chelsea Guidry,
Figure Plant

Laika's very first animated feature,
Coraline opened the door to a new world. We paved the way for influencer gifts with 50 unique and handmade entomology like boxes that held treasured props from the actual film. This was just part of an incredibly successful and award-winning campaign.

Place: Wieden+Kennedy

Role: Designer

Players: Julia Blackburn, Azsa West,
Karen Koch, so many others

ParaNorman, Laika's second animated feature, jumped into the world of zombies and one outcast boy. From this, we created a  campaign where weird always won. We made and laser engraved coffins that held the zombies and were sent out in crates that had to be dug up with a tiny shovel. I wrote back stories for each of the seven zombies in order to design their unique coffins. Each zombie led back to the website and asked our fans to participate in the campaign. We also designed life-size fan gifts that mimicked movie props,
a tunnel wrap experience in San Francisco, and a tiny working ghost Instagram camera for Kevin Systrom.

Place: Wieden+Kennedy

Role: Designer

Players: Mike Giepert, Nathan Goldberg, Paul Levy, Mike Weihs, Chelsea Guidry, Kevin Shaw, David Trujillo, Kyle Pero

A gruesome campaign based on the seven levels of hell imagined through the EA video game Dante’s Inferno. Each level has it’s own handcrafted concept specific to the seven deadly sins. We created and sent out as packages to influencers that talked and tweeted about the video games launch including book covers, handmade flesh, and a death cycle.

Place: Wieden+Kennedy

Role: Designer

Players: Dominic Orlando, Adam Heathcott, Karen Koch, Thor Drake, David Neeval

Velveeta allowed us to design and
style some amazing social posts.

Place: Wieden+Kennedy

Role: Designer, Stylist

Players: Lloyd Winter, Kyle Pero,
David Kennedy

We created miniature topographies measuring 10x10 inches across to represent different regions and then
slowly released colored dye onto the paper. The reaction was filmed over several hours to create a pro-bono campaign for EcoTrust, a conservation organization based in Portland.

Place: Wieden+Kennedy

Role: Designer

Players: Andrew Wilcox,
Alisha Henson

The iconic Old Town strip club was
forced to shut its doors after being
in business since the 1960's. Artists
from all over Portland came together
to honor the establishment's closing
with a poster show. I spent the day with some of the amazing women that shake their asses like boss ladies.

Place: One Grand Gallery
Magic Gardens Show

Role: Art Director, Designer, Rear End Model

Thumbnail photo credit: Portland Mercury

Inside Magic Garden photo credit: Willamette Week

We worked with prolific songwriter and talented artist Daniel Johnston to create him a new website with handmade cassette type and figures sculpted after his very own characters.

Place: Wieden+Kennedy

Role: Type, Sculptor, Designer

Players: Don Shelford, Sam Tudyk,
Daniel Johnston

When I have time...
 

As part of Portland's 72 Hour Horror Film Festival, I designed and created all special effects and gore for the film "Vinyl," an original film created in 72 hours start to finish with close to no budget. We won first place for best screenplay, best original score, best director of photography and best over film for 2015.

In 2016, I did the special effects for “Holislay.”