montserrat design
design senior projects, ca 1998-2020

2002  <   2003   >   2004

			Sara Cawrse Dave Dello Russo Chris Dullea (Winders)
			Bill Hanscom Melodie Henry Mary Johnson
			Kaitlin McGrath Dave Robertson Gian Romagnoli
			Beck Rustic Nell Tallos Robert Toher
			Toshiyuki Wada Sandra Zevitas

 

• Sara Cawrse
  StarSeed

  Identity, and product merchandising, for a small business offering polarity massage, yoga, and foot reflexology. Result: three icons and sets of stationery for the respective services.
  thumbnail image above, detail, StarSeed polarity massage logo

  current —
  Digital Traffic Specialist at Hasbro

• Dave Dello Russo
  Synaesthesia

  Exploration of several formats/iterations, including
  interactive (Flash) website,
  a physical mechanism, and
  Orange Line animation of Dave’s Brain Guided Tour
  thumbnail image above, detail, sketch of machine (unrealized; one of several beautiful mechanical drawings)

  current —
  Dave Russo Art (and much else), at theprimatefiasco.com

• Chris Dullea (Winders)
  Torn

  Series of visuals and text that explore the cultural background of my immediate family... myself as the main subject... impact of growing up as a multi-racial (Irish-Hawaiian) individual and how different locations throughout the United States influenced my understanding of it... difference in racial awareness between siblings.
  conclusion:
  “I have been on the receiving end of racial injustice due to my bi-racial make-up... regardless of the communities racial diversity or counted population... I am tired of the preconceived notions that are automatically granted. I am tired of staying in the lines.”

  formats —
  photographs, writing, book (text typewritten)
  thumbnail image above, wall piece at opening (book would have been on shelf to right)

  current —
  Crullea Designs

• Bill Hanscom
  Dumb Angel Smiles

  Interactive (Flash) website devoted to
  “abandoned recording sessions which — if completed — would have followed the Beach Boys’ eleventh studio album Pet Sounds” *.
  Documentation includes sketches (page layouts, icons) and typographic treatments

  current —
  Conservation Technician for Special Collections, Weissman Preservation Center at Harvard Library
  Assistant Professor, Book Arts Program Coordinator, Montserrat College of Art

• Melodie Henry
  Dispelling the Stigma of Schizophrenia

  Book and series of posters, devoted to dispelling myths and stigma attached to schizophrenia, and to promoting awareness in society. Incorporated first-person accounts, poetry, research
  thumbnail image above, detail, from test-book, documentation

• Mary Johnson
  Lipstick

  documentation lost

• Kaitlin McGrath
  Casa Bella, Pysany

  Fall semester —
  Casa Bella : identity for an imaginary business selling gift baskets for people who already have everything
  Spring semester —
  Pysany Ukrainian Eggs : book, focusing on author/designer’s own egg designs
  tumbnail image above : detail, decorated Ukrainian egg (from process documentation)

  current —
  Senior Graphic Designer at Amergent

• Dave Robertson
  Singular Icons

  I wanted to tell a story of how small things greatly affect global warming. I started with something as innocent as a tree. Then starting with the tractor I showed how we all contribute to the warming of the planet....
  I made a series of movies to display the objects and the story of them for the seminar show. Unable to make the virtual objects in time for the end of the semester, I settled for a series of shots in a virtual gallery...
  thumbnail image above, detail from animation

• Gian Romagnoli
  A Wasteland Paradise

  An analysis and personal recreation of my recent experience of being away from home, and the steps one goes through to adapt and adjust, before returning to their origin.
  Using the photographs, writings and collected items, I will compress a week’s worth of information into a book, which will be broken down into sections based on the day and the corresponding phase of the cycle.
  Friday/Saturday (arrival); Saturday (adjustment); Sunday (exploration); Monday (absorbing/fitting in); Tuesday (boredom/branch out); Wednesday (disappointment); Thursday (reminisce); Friday (departure)
  I began to see that the best way for the book to remain consistent was to keep the design “tricks” down to a minimum.

  current —
  graphic designer, Big Burrito Restaurant Group (Pittsburg, Pennsylvania)

• Beck Rustic
  bag lunch

  bag lunch “makes bath products that smell like food”
  creation, identity, design relating to a (witty, humorous) line of bath products (lip balm, lotions, shower gels, bathing bubbles), including packaging, labels and promotional posters
  “The logo is the basis for the identity of ‘bag lunch.’ Its strong presence is seen throughout all bag lunch products. The lettering enclosed within the circle is transparent, which allows the color of the surface it is on to show through and therefore become united with the logo.”

  current —
  Gal in Charge, The New England Shakeup
  music festival
  also —
  Swelltune Records
  formerly, Good Lookin’ Design Co.

• Nell Tallos
  the half-tone dot

  original idea —
  series of posters and one book dealing with the ideas of and surrounding transience, estrangement, impermanence and displacement.
  “I deviated quite a bit from my original statement but it was necessary for me to do once I discovered something I felt passionate about. The half-tone dot has captured my attention in a way that nothing has before and all of the experience it took for me to arrive... was worth it... I am a storyteller and a printmaker and a designer and that’s okay with me...”
  thumbnail image above : detail, exhibition shot (Identify Me show), from documentation

  current —
  on personal sabbatical; previously, service manager/auto mechanic; bicycle builder/mechanic; sometime musician, screenprinter, &c.

• Robert Toher
  Transient Flourishes

  Video and sound piece, packaging, posters
  Initially, with the video I planned to take the material that I shot, in different places, and rearrange it, so that clips from each place were distributed uniformly... [later] I decided that it might be a better idea to keep each place relegated to one single time-place... so that one place comes and goes, and never reappears again... after arranging my project in sections, I labored, creating music and sound to accompany the video, as a sort of musical/auditory response to the silent visuals. All sound has been generated by my hands on an instrument, my voice, and field recordings. Many pieces were written, recorded, and mixed for each section, which created a bank of various compositions for each clip...
  thumbnail image above : detail, video still (from documentation)

  current —
  audio engineer and sound designer
  Public Memory (interview)
  Public Memory at bandcamp
  @public.memory

• Toshiyuki Wada
  Import Export

  Research and presentation relating to three questions:
  Why are MiniDiscs not sold in America?
  What makes MDs so popular in Japan
  Are MDs necessary now, when there are alternatives like MP3 downloads?

  formats —
  informational website (thumbnail image above)

• Sandra Zevitas
  The Typographic Anatomy of Garamond

  Exploration of “original” Garamond, Stempel Garamond, Granjon, Garamond 3, Simoncini Garamond, Sabon, ITC Garamond, and Adobe Garamond.

  formats —
  book, posters (for thesis exhibit)
  thumbnail image above : detail, draft of book, page 16, showing lower-case g (original and Stempel Garamond), annotations showing through from back of page

  current —
  Operations Coordinator (FedEx Ground), Paralegal Student (Certificate)