A handmade design can really stand out among all the polished, digital pieces out there. So when a client asks me to hand-craft something, I’m happy to help.
Here, the Young Friends of the Earth Germany asked me to help them announce “The Pool,” a contest for design and art students to create campaigns about global warming. They asked for a poster that blended a mood board (a bulletin board of ideas and clippings) with David Hockney’s paper pools. I worked with them to create this design:
Here is our whole creative and collaborative process, from sketching to the finished product:
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YouPEC Conference
Design can help bring people together for a common cause. But can it do that within just a couple days? The Young Friends of the Earth Germany asked me to find out.
At their conference YouPEC — European Youth Perspectives on Energy & Climate, they needed to bring together young environmental activists from all over Europe, speaking many different languages, to collaborate closely on climate issues. They asked me to design something “more than a logo,” a meaningful emblem which everyone could rally behind.
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Photos 2, 4 and 6 (with blue t-shirts) © Liesa Johannssen / photothek.net. All other photos by Leslie Kuo.
Meet the Foomps
Following a serendipitous meeting with the Dutch illustrator and character designer Mieke Driessen, I followed up with this short profile of her work for Exberliner magazine.
Thumb-sized and thumb-shaped, pop-eyed Foomp puppets from Dutch artist Mieke Driessen are peeking from pockets of travelers around the world, many of them Berliners. In her goofy, participatory art project “Foomps Around the World,” Driessen hands out the hand-sewn felt critters to travel-happy friends and strangers, who post pics of globe-trotting Foomps on a collaborative online exhibition.
Dozens of Foomps were launched in Berlin in 2006 – Driessen spent the summer here, exhibiting at Zur Moebel Fabrik and other underground spots – and they’ve already hopped through Germany and around the globe. A peek on the website shows Foomps marauding in Moscow, riding a rickshaw in China, sunbathing in Spain, Mexico, and Thailand, and stuck up someone’s nose in Stuttgart. One little guy even traveled as a message in a bottle, which Driessen tossed off the coast of France. He can be spotted on the Foomp website, posing with his rescuers.
For jet-setting Exberliners who want their own photogenic, pocket-sized travel buddy, it’s easy to pick up a Foomp and join the project. Just mail-order from Driessen’s website or visit Berlin boutiques Luxus International, Kastanienallee 101, Prenzlauerberg, or Kabuff, Kopernikussstrasse 2, Friedrichshain.
First published in Exberliner magazine, February 2007. Photo courtesy of Mieke Driessen, © 2007.
Greenhouse
In these ‘plant portraits,’ a self-initiated project, I researched the inhabitants of different kinds of greenhouses and the people and objects around them. I used a simple medium-format rangefinder film camera to capture the atmosphere of the greenhouse and the peculiar light created by the glass walls.
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This was my first project looking at how people treat the plants in their environments and how plants struggle or thrive among man-made objects, which later led to my ongoing Urban Plant Research project.
Bike to Work Day
Bike to Work Day is held once a year by bike advocates in many communities around the US. Some friends and I organized one in New Haven in 2006. I helped plan the event, recruiting a local café to provide a breakfast pit stop to all those who rode that day. I also co-wrote the publicity copy and designed some simple black-and-white flyers that activists could easily print out on colorful paper and distribute.
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Yale Sustainable Food
About ten years ago, people from different parts of the Yale community came together as YSFP to learn about and grow sustainable food, and bring more locally grown foods to the cafeterias and to New Haven. I reached out to my alma mater and worked with the Office of the University Printer to help the project connect with the community.
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The consistent visual language and heartfelt content that I contributed to developing, working with the University Printer’s Office, helped the project take root and flourish at Yale. It is still going strong today.
Gastronomique
For this New Haven French bistro and juice bar with a tiny storefront and a big personality, I designed menus and business cards to help them introduce their new catering services.
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