From 2014–2017, I helped run Refresh Boston, a free meetup for Greater Boston's design and development community, and the local chapter of the international Refreshing Cities collective. I designed the Refresh Boston logo, helped set the group's goals, promoted the events, and booked speakers, venues, and sponsors.
We were proud to feature extraordinary speakers and consistently draw an engaged, inquisitive crowd. In my last year of involvement, I served in an advisory role.
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More Podcasts & Events
How to Draw a Startup is a new personal project of mine, a podcast miniseries about the evolving role of illustration in the tech industry. I spoke with over a dozen illustrators, designers, art directors, educators, and more to understand why illustration is used, how illustrated brands are crafted, and where illustrators fit in creative teams.
From 2014–2017, I helped run Refresh Boston, a free meetup for Greater Boston's design and development community, and the local chapter of the international Refreshing Cities collective. We were proud to feature extraordinary speakers and consistently draw an engaged, inquisitive crowd.
From 2012–2015, I co-hosted and co-produced Fresh Tilled Soil's podcast alongside my colleagues Tim Wright and Steve Hickey. Over the course of 150+ episodes we interviewed extraordinary leaders from Pentagram, Twitter, NASA JPL, Adobe, Etsy, Mozilla, Basecamp, Shopify, and more. Our goal was to produce an engaging and timeless resource for product desigers, entrepreneurs, and developers, carefully balancing education and entertainment.
IdeaPaint transforms nearly any surface into a dry erase whiteboard. Naturally, every surface at the company's Boston headquarters is painted with it, creating an office-sized canvas. Every other month, IdeaPaint invites a local artist to create an art installation in their unique space, covering hundreds of square feet with just dry erase markers. I love a good challenge, and couldn't turn down an invitation to be their December 2014 Studio Session artist.
On October 1, 2013, Fresh Tilled Soil held its first annual UX Fest. The event brought together Boston's UX community to explore how every aspect of a business–from design and technology to marketing and strategy–contributes to the user experience. The event was a success, and a year later, we held an encore. I’m proud to have helped conceive of and organize these events, contributed to the creative collateral, and led sessions.
More Brand & Identity Projects
In late 2019 and early 2020, Circle sunset, sold, or spun out every one of its consumer products, and dedicated itself to building B2B USDC services. Naturally, it was time for a rebrand! Though I had left the company months before, my friend and former colleague Kristine asked me to once again define the company’s illustrative brand—this time as a freelancer.
When I joined Circle as a product designer, I was hired, in part, for my background in illustration. But that “nice to have” soon became my central focus. I’ve spent years defining and evolving the Circle illustrative brand, cementing its place in our products, website, marketing campaigns, and more.
How to Draw a Startup is a new personal project of mine, a podcast miniseries about the evolving role of illustration in the tech industry. I spoke with over a dozen illustrators, designers, art directors, educators, and more to understand why illustration is used, how illustrated brands are crafted, and where illustrators fit in creative teams.
In 2018, CENTRE launched USD Coin, a stablecoin pegged to the value of the US Dollar. Less than a month later, Coinbase joined Circle to formally found the CENTRE consortium, and with that announcement came a whole new look for USDC. That’s right: even the most diehard crypto fan might not realize that for the first four weeks of its life, the world’s largest, fastest-growing stablecoin had a completely different visual identity. So who’s the poor sap who designed that first logo?
[cough cough]
Circle was founded on the belief that blockchain technology could usher in a more open and inclusive global economy. But such a future can’t be built within the walls of a private company. It requires open standards and partnerships. That’s why, in 2017, Circle announced CENTRE, a “foundation, open source project, protocol, and network aimed at breaking down the barriers which cost us money and time to connect to each other financially.”
From 2014–2017, I helped run Refresh Boston, a free meetup for Greater Boston's design and development community, and the local chapter of the international Refreshing Cities collective. We were proud to feature extraordinary speakers and consistently draw an engaged, inquisitive crowd.
In 2015, Fresh Tilled Soil celebrated its tenth anniversary. To set the course for the next ten years, I proposed that we revisit the company’s branding and identity. With most of our energy focused on clients, our own marketing collateral and website updates were squeezed into the margins, and the identity lacked a cohesive visual system. Leadership agreed, and soon Fresh Tilled Soil itself became my sole client.
CloudKid is an extraordinary, Emmy-nominated creative agency specializing in animation and interactive children's media. As a member of their team in 2011, I proudly contributed to a number of client projects, primarily a suite of games for the fantastic Fizzy's Lunch Lab.
When Fresh Tilled Soil made coded style guides a standard deliverable, they produced a simple framework to simplify the process of making them. When it came time to open source the project, it needed a name and a logo. Corkscrew was born, and along with it, a fun little duck.
In one of my favorite projects of 2015, I tackled a logo for an up and coming kids brand—and I mean "kids brand" literally; it's made by an 8 year old. Cole Benoit makes and illustrates awesome handmade paper puppets. I helped give his company, Papar Pupit Pepol, some professional polish.