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 MARCH/APRIL 2019 VOLUME 61 NUMBER 1

COMMUNICATION ARTS
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FEATURES INTERACTIVE ANNUAL
28 Communication Arts at 60 104 Websites/Microsites
by Patrick Coyne 134 Mobile
Our editor reveals how a family business became the leading
journal of visual communications. 136 Social
144 Environmental
36 Timeline
A 60-year overview of visual communications and its 160 Other Interactive Media
relationship to society, culture and technology. 166 Student Work
60 Pioneers
by Ruth Hagopian
Thirty-one designers, advertising creatives, illustrators and
photographers who have left behind unforgettable work.

76 Exhibit
The latest and best in visual communication from here
and abroad.

83 Student Showcase
Our editor’s fifth annual selection of portfolios by fourteen
promising students of visual communication.

98 25 Years of Interactivity
A brief visual history of innovation in interactive media, from
early websites to virtual reality.
FRESH
Editor/Designer
Patrick Coyne

Executive Editor
Jean A. Coyne

Managing Editor
Esther Oh

178 180 182 Associate Editor

Weitong Mai Cole Wilson Monochrome Michelle Yee
With fluid lines and thoughtful This Brooklyn-based photog- In the realm of virtual reality,
Editor At Large
details, a London-based illus- rapher captures everything from a Parisian studio is redefining what Anne Telford
trator unravels tricky concepts. soccer cleats to food in just the art can look like.
right light. Art Director/Designer
Joni Rivas

Production Director
COLUMNS Lauren Coyne

Design/Production Associate
10 12 18 Isabel Bagsik
Design Culture Advertising Voices
Looking through her past Ernie Schenck asks six Ellen Shapiro looks at how Production Assistant/Customer
columns for CA, Wendy advertising creatives to pick designers have adapted—and Service Representative
Richmond reflects on the the game changers that have are still adapting—to the Khader Yanni
enduring relationship between upended the industry. times.
creativity and culture. Competition Coordinator/
Administrative Assistant
Rachel Whitaker
24 184
Education Insights Archivist
Across the country, In a Q&A, writer and game Nancy Clark Lewis
organizations supported by designer Erin Hoffman-John Software Engineer
the Coyne Family Foundation sheds light on the game Srividhya Gopalakrishnan
are making an impact, as Sam industry.
McMillan uncovers. Technology Administrator
Michael Hoyt

Advertising/Circulation Director
Dirk Moeller

DEPARTMENTS Contributing Editors

Sam McMillan
5 Contributors/Directory Wendy Richmond
Ernie Schenck
6 Editor’s Column
16 Favorites Founder
Richard Coyne (1926–1990)
186 Book Reviews
188 Index to Interactive Annual 25
190 Overheard

Volume 61, Number 1
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CONTRIBUTORS DIRECTORY
Features
Ruth Hagopian (ruth.hagopian@gmail.com) is
a freelance writer and editor whose profiles of
designers, photographers and artists have appeared
in Create, Digital Graphics and Print magazines. She
was also a publisher of Online Design magazine and
a partner in Visual Strategies, a San Francisco–
based design firm. In this issue, she profiles 31
pioneers in the fields of design, advertising,
photography and illustration.
Columns
Sam McMillan (wordstrong.com) is a San Francisco
Bay Area–based writer and brand strategist, and
regular contributor to Communication Arts. In this
issue’s Education column, he discovers how the
Coyne Family Foundation is supporting diversity
initiatives across the country.
Wendy Richmond (wendyrichmond.com) is a visual
artist, a writer and an educator whose work
explores public privacy, personal technology and
creativity. Her latest book is Art Without Compro-
mise* (Allworth Press). In the Design Culture
column, Richmond writes about the value of
diverse culture.
Ernie Schenck (ernieschenck.myportfolio.com) is
a freelance writer and a creative director. He is an
Emmy finalist, a three-time Kelly nominee, and an
award winner at Cannes, the Clios, D&AD, the
FWAs and the One Show. In the Advertising column,
Schenck presents six advertising industry
game changers.
Ellen Shapiro (visualanguage.net) is a graphic
designer and writer based in Irvington, New York.
Author of The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Clients
(Allworth Press) and more than 200 magazine
articles and posts about design, illustration, pho-
tography and visual culture around the world, she
has been contributing to Communication Arts since
1991. In this issue’s Voices column, she asks
prominent names in the design industry to speak
to its past, present and future.
Book Reviews
Michael Coyne (mcoyne90@gmail.com) is
a freelance writer. Having previously worked for
Communication Arts, he now plans on attending
graduate school for a master’s degree in
creative writing.
Rachel Elnar is a designer, a writer and a cofounder
of TypeEd (type-ed.com), which helps graphic
designers with grids and hierarchies and with
choosing typefaces.
Exhibit
BBDO Toronto bbdo.ca
Cossette cossette.com
Date of Birth dateofbirth.com.au
D8 d8.uk
Andy Fackrell andyfackrell.com
FCB Inferno fcbinferno.com
formascope formascope.design
Pentagram pentagram.com
Craig Ward wordsarepictures.co.uk
Wieden+Kennedy wk.com
Fresh
Weitong Mai weitongmai.com
Monochrome monochrome.paris
Cole Wilson colecwilson.com
Advertiser’s Index
An Event Apart C2
Creative Hotlist 11, 23
Shutterstock C4
Zahara Reps C3
Call for Entries
Design & Advertising 2019 7, 185
Photography 2019 19
Corrections
In the 2019 January/February issue, for the Kiliii Yuyan feature starting on page 44,
Yuyan was born in Annapolis, Maryland, not Washington, DC. His early years were
spent shuttling back and forth between the United States and a village in what is
now northeastern Manchuria, not southeastern Siberia. His grandmother kept
picture books of a Nanai boy riding the back of an orca, not a sturgeon. He
enrolled in a skin-on-frame, not a skin-on-bone, kayak-building workshop.
On page 131, Lucas Sharp should have been listed as type director as well as
a typeface designer on the Beatrice typeface project.
On page 163, Dawson College is located in Montréal, not Toronto.
In the 2018 November/December issue, on page 141, the credits for the “Haircut”
video project should have been listed as: Edd Baptista/Steven Kim, art directors;
Brandon Tralman-Baker, writer; Natalie Armata/Alanna Nathanson, creative
directors; Dan Wong, Eggplant Picture & Sound, managing director, creative; Jules
Casting, consultant; Kristofer Bonnell, OPC, director of photography; Griff
Henderson/Cameron Lasovich/Stephen Sora, Saints Editorial, editors; Saints
Editorial, editorial company; Jamie Pennock, Eggplant Picture & Sound, voice
talent director; Dan Horton, Eggplant Picture & Sound, sound engineer; Jason
Jeffrey, OPC, director; Sam Javanrouh, Eggplant Picture & Sound, visual effects
artist; Helen Thach, Eggplant Picture & Sound, visual effects supervisor; Mark
Driver, Eggplant Picture & Sound, colorist; Gino Cantalini, strategist; Max Brook,
OPC/Stephanie Hickman, Saints Editorial/Candice McHugh, Eggplant Picture &
Sound/Tory Osler, Saints Editorial/Nicola Treadgold, Eggplant Picture & Sound/Rob
Tunnicliff, Brave Productions/Harland Weiss, OPC, producers; Kristen Huys, agency
producer; Brave Productions/OPC, production companies; Eggplant Picture &
Sound, post-production company; Giants & Gentlemen, ad agency; Testicular
Cancer Canada, client
Communication Arts | commarts.com 5
 EDITOR’S COLUMN Patrick Coyne
W elcome to the 60th anniversary issue of Communication
Arts! Looking back at this amazing journey has been
bittersweet, as we’ve rediscovered so much historical
work that continues to inspire, but we’re also forced to acknowledge
the passing of so many of our industry’s early innovators.
In addition to my article on the history of the magazine, we’ve
included an update of our visual timeline, which we first published
20 years ago. Special thanks to our editor-at-large Anne Telford and
her husband, Stephen Orr, who has a background in academic
research, for curating the political and cultural content for the first
40 years of the timeline.
We’ve also included 31 brief biographical sketches of creatives who
helped define the field of visual communications. Choosing whom
to profile was difficult. The most frustrating part of this issue was
omitting people and projects we felt were significant, and there is
so much more we wanted to include.
We hope you will consider this issue a valuable reference into our
field’s rich history.
2019 Interactive Annual
The big surprise for this year’s competition was the increasing
number of websites submitted and, subsequently, selected as
winners. Only one mobile submission was selected for inclusion
and, for the first time since we added the
category in 2011, not a single tablet entry was
selected. The environmental category, the
second largest in terms of submissions,
continues to showcase some of the most
innovative work.
6 Interactive Annual 2019
“I was impressed with experiences that left the screen or played
out across multiple locations, platforms and devices,” juror Josh
Goldblum says. “The projects that blended fabrication, hardware
and technology really stood out.”
“I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of projects that touched upon
relevant social issues and tried to bring attention to a cause,” says
juror Isabel Kantor.
“I was surprised by the marketing and social initiatives and how they
are more functional than ever before,” juror Megan Meeker says.
“Some of this year’s campaigns really blur the lines between product
design and marketing.”
“Integrated digital campaigns were one of the strongest areas in this
year’s judging, and I applaud those that took the time to truly
understand their clients, and work from simple, great ideas,” says
juror Michael Kern.
Several jurors commented on how technological limitations actually
encourage creativity.
“Any emerging technology brings us a new set of limits to play
within, and we’re seeing a lot of creators exploring these limits and
figuring things out in cool ways,” juror Pablo Vio says. “Natural
language processing and speech input are areas where boundaries
are being challenged right now, and those challenges are bringing
about a lot of creative answers.”
“Mediums always have technical
limitations, but the gems focus on
transcending the medium with
Photographs by Steve Castillo
 DESIGN &
ADVERTISING
2019 COMPETITIONS
DEADLINE: MAY 3, 2019
Promote your talent by entering our highly respected juried com-
petitions in graphic design and advertising. If selected, your
award-winning work will be meticulously reproduced in the 2019
Design and Advertising Annuals and on the Communication Arts web-
site, assuring you maximum exposure to our international audience.
Each winning entrant will also receive a personalized Award of Excellence,
milled from solid aluminum.

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 EDITOR’S COLUMN
JOSH GOLDBLUM is ISABEL KANTOR is
storytelling where users forget what
the founder and a senior technology
platform they are even on in the first
chief executive director at R/GA in
place,” says Meeker.
officer of Bluecadet, New York. She
Despite all the attention given to the an experience helps drive inno-
potential of augmented reality (AR), design agency with vation by working at
the jury found this year’s AR submis- offices in both the intersection of
sions wanting. Philadelphia and New York that works with technology, business and culture. In the past,
cultural institutions, universities and mission- Kantor had led R/GA’s Software Platform Lab, part
“There was no shortage of disappointing
driven organizations. He has overseen the design of the Technology Consulting effort globally, and
AR applications in contention this year,”
and development of interactive experiences and managed the technology team at R/GA Bucharest,
Goldblum says. “AR has definitely made planning strategies for clients such as Doctors where she helped pioneer R/GA’s integrated
technical strides, but if the tech is Without Borders, the Bill & Melinda Gates cross-office collaboration model. Before R/GA,
presented just for its own sake, it won’t Foundation, MoMA, National Geographic and the Kantor started her career as an engineer at ESI
carry the project.” Smithsonian Institution. As a pioneer in the Design, MindShare and Ford Motor Company,
“There was an industry-wide trend to technological transformation of the cultural where she developed interactive experiences.
pitch and execute virtual reality (VR)/AR sector, Goldblum is a frequent speaker at Kantor holds a master’s degree from New York
industry conferences and symposia. He lives University and a bachelor’s degree in computer
work that was poorly thought out and
with his wife and two children in Philadelphia. science from Grinnell College.
rapidly executed,” says Kern. “I have yet
to see a well-rounded campaign that
actively integrates these technologies
with mass-market appeal.”
“For any physical exercise or movement applications, the technology
“Mobile web was also surprisingly weak,” Kern says. “For as much
needs to have a certain level of fidelity so that users can use it for
as people are on their phones and utilizing mobile tech, sites are
more than five minutes at a time without starting to feel dizzy,”
just not doing anything new or pushing the envelope. It was
says Kantor. “That’s a very big hurdle that I’ve seen a lot of projects
disappointing to not see people taking advantage and thinking
still dealing with, even very recently.”
uniquely about the mobile form factor.”
“VR is a wonderful technology with a currently limited audience,”
“Story development and expressing the intent behind the project
Kern says. “People just don’t want to wear devices as a general rule.
were stumbling blocks for many of the entries I saw,” says Vio.
When the screens become embedded chips and contact lenses, we
“A lot of projects lean too heavily on technology to elevate the will be really close, but that’s still relatively far in the future.”
concept rather than taking a few steps back and really crafting
a story that connects with users in a meaningful way.” How will the continued diversification of personal electronic
devices affect interactive design?
In addition to requesting comments on this year’s submissions,
“I believe interactive design will become a lot more specialized, and
I also asked the jurors a series of questions about the future of
we’ll have just mobile interaction designers, just VR interaction
digital interactivity.
designers, etc.,” says Kantor.
What business, cultural and social developments will alter the
“First, the tools are still lagging behind how most of the great
role of interactive media in the future?
interaction designers of our generation think,” Kern says. “When the
“As leaps in technology become unlocked, machine learning will tools catch up, our job will get easier. Secondly, new devices will
scale at a much larger percentage and be ingrained in almost every challenge us to keep learning and alter the paradigm of how we
daily interaction inside and outside our homes,” says Meeker. interact with the world around us.”
“Imagine: even the smallest microinteractions, like changing the
“As the sharing economy progresses, we’ll be able to interact with
temperature, will become a thing of the past since your devices,
our own personalized information on any surface or texture that we
home and even Lyfts will all have smart sensors and remember your
pass,” Meeker says. “Designers will need to solve for temporary
patterns and preferences.”
ownership of products, asking questions like, ‘What information can
“Recent issues around privacy and the segmentation and reliability be digested within 30 seconds?’ and ‘Will users respond via touch,
of content should inform the content we make and how we present sound or thought?’”
it,” Goldblum says. “I’d love to see more work that creates and
“As creatives and makers leading interactive design, it is our respons-
promotes more inclusive conversations and communities across
ibility to not only have our fingers on the pulse of the latest and
various identity lines.”
greatest inventions, but also to learn from user behaviors and
What breakthroughs will be required for VR to become more consumption habits,” says Vio. “As long as we keep user empathy at
widely accepted? the core of how we adapt to new interactive paradigms and new

8 Interactive Annual 2019

 MICHAEL KERN is
executive creative
director and
a cofounder of Salt
Lake City, Utah–
based Welikesmall
(WLS). Kern’s passion for
storytelling through design, technology and
strategy-based communication derives from
a desire to give meaning to the world around
him and create emotional connections. At WLS,
Kern has worked with clients including Adobe,
American Express, Disney, Google, Nike,
PlayStation, Reebok, Specialized and Starbucks.
His continued focus is on pushing the possi-
bilities of design, pursuing cinematography and
directing opportunities, thinking, creating
permanent good, raising his family, and riding
a bike fast.
MEGAN MEEKER is
a product design
manager at Lyft in
San Francisco,
California. She has
been working in the
Bay Area for more than
a decade, focused on the intersection of the
physical and digital and creating products for
the connected world. Inspired by the fusion
between hospitality and machine learning,
Meeker orchestrates initiatives with thought-
ful design solutions that are accessible for all.
She continues this work at Lyft, managing the
insurance, safety and support teams distrib-
uted across various headquarters, states and
time zones. Outside of the office, Meeker
pursues the craft of calligraphy and is always
up for a round of golf.
PABLO VIO is
executive creative
director and one of
three founders of
Jam3. Currently
based out of the
company’s headquarters
in Toronto, Canada, his approach to storytelling,
complex programming and high-concept design
has lead to acclaimed interactive projects for
Facebook, Ford Motor Company, Google,
Microsoft, the National Film Board of Canada and
the United Nations. His vision has helped grow
the company from a three-man operation to one
of the world’s top design and experience studios.
Now, with more than 70 employees from Toronto
to Los Angeles to Montevideo, Uruguay, Vio’s
current focus is on daily operations and expan-
sion of the creative department.

devices, we can design for any platform. Our will to evolve how we
work and adapt our approach will be imperative to keep pushing the
envelope within interactive.”
Selection for this year’s annual required a minimum of three out of
five votes. Judges were not permitted to vote on projects with
which they were directly involved; I voted in their stead. The
winning projects, including links and case-study videos, can be
viewed on our website at commarts.com. I would like to extend our
grateful appreciation to our jurors for their conscientious efforts in
selecting our 25th Interactive Annual.
Robert Grossman, 78, was a prolific illustrator who chronicled and
caricatured a half-century’s worth of politicians, pop culture figures
and social issues. He also drew the occasional book and album cover
and made animated commercials. Despite all of his politically
oriented drawings, he may be best known for the poster he created
for Airplane!, a 1980 disaster-movie parody. Grossman received a BA
degree at Yale University in 1961, where he edited the humor
magazine The Yale Record. In his career, Grossman drew more than
500 magazine covers, including our 1971 Sin special issue, guest
edited by Peter Bradford, Ralph Caplan and Philip Gips.

In Memoriam Susan Jackson Keig, 99, was an internationally noted graphic

It is with deep sadness that I acknowledge the recent passing of designer and art director with a career spanning seven decades.
several influential members of the creative community. She held various positions, from working as superintendent of
art for the Medford School District in Oregon, to teaching at the
Jim Ales, 60, spent seventeen years as design director of the
University of Kentucky and the Institute of Design, to working
Monterey Bay Aquarium, where he helped build a cohesive identity
in design firms as a graphic designer and art director, prior to
for one of the world’s most respected marine wildlife nonprofit
opening her own consultancy in the mid-1970s. Keig is recipient of
organizations. Ales worked with the aquarium to spearhead its
more than 250 awards, including being named a Fellow of the AIGA
Seafood Watch program, which promotes sustainable consumption
Chicago chapter and a distinguished alumna of the University of
of marine life. Among his many honors, Ales was awarded the AIGA
Kentucky. We published an article on Keig in 1971, and she was one
Environmental Leadership Award for his work at the aquarium and
of our original contributing editors when the magazine launched
was selected as a Fellow of the AIGA San Francisco chapter in 2015.
He was a judge for us in 2007. in 1959.

Rolland “Ron” Anderson, 82, was known as the godfather of
Minneapolis advertising. Anderson’s advertising career began in
1962 at Knox Reeves in Minneapolis, where he eventually became
a creative director and mentor to young talent including Sue Crolick,
Nancy Rice and Tom McElligott. Outside the agency, Anderson
was also part of a freelance ad team with McElligott and Pat
Fallon called Lunch Hour Limited prior to the formation of Fallon
McElligott Rice. We published an article on Anderson
in 1978. He was a judge for us in 1979.
Jane Maas, 86, started her advertising career at Ogilvy & Mather in
the 1960s, rising from junior copywriter to creative director. In 1976,
she became senior vice president at Wells, Rich, Greene, where she
helped develop the I Love New York tourism campaign featuring
graphic designer Milton Glaser’s iconic heart. In 1982, her appoint-
ment as president of Muller Jordan Weiss made her one of the first
women to lead a major New York advertising firm. In 1989, she
became president of the New York office of Earle Palmer Brown,
where she retired as chairwoman. ca

Communication Arts | commarts.com 9

 DESIGN CULTURE Wendy Richmond
Culture is Sticky
T his issue marks the 60th anniversary of Communication Arts
magazine, and like any anniversary, it’s an opportunity for
reflection. I reviewed the columns I’ve written in CA (since
1984!), looking for those that still resonate. I found one from
November 1999 that was an indicator of topics I would pore over
in the new millennium. It began with this paragraph:
“We know the world through frames and filters. Some filters are
tangible, like television, the internet, newspapers and magazines.
Some are ephemeral, like current styles and trends. And some are
deeply entrenched, like the environments in which we were raised,
or the cultures that embrace or reject each of us.”
As my experiences have accumulated over the years, I’ve watched
filters shift, each one influencing the way I see the world and my
place in it. The most persistent of all was (and still is) the filter of
cultural identity.
As an artist, I’m especially lucky when I’m exposed
to—and can participate in—the wealth of cultures
outside of my own.
The definition of cultural identity is how one perceives oneself in
terms of belonging to a group, whether that group is based on
nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, lifestyle and so on. As an
artist, I’m especially lucky when I’m exposed to—and can participate
in—the wealth of cultures outside of my own. These interactions
bring depth to my work; they make me a better communicator.
But including elements of other cultures comes with the potential
of appropriation. I was thinking about this tension in March 2002 in
my column titled “Respecting Culture.”
“Artists and musicians (think Picasso and Paul Simon) have incorpo-
rated foreign culture in their work. Is it appropriation or creativity?
There is such a thing as cultural wealth, and once it has been offered
to the public, the original owners have no other choice but to share
its value and witness its transformation. On the other hand, sharing
culture can instigate empathy and mutual growth, where both
parties benefit.”
In December 2004, I wrote about the filter of culture again, because
I needed to understand my own conflict: I wanted to include other
cultures in my work, and my motivation was admiration and a desire
for connection. But did I have the right?
I had just visited Tijuana, Mexico, and was excited by the adrenaline
I felt as I walked through the city: “I saw stores, houses, signs and
cars that were unique assemblies of resurrected materials.”
10 Interactive Annual 2019
I remember how much I enjoyed the vibrancy of this kind of assem-
blage, and I wanted to bring its riotous color and abandoned objects
into my work. But I was conflicted. “Along with this inspiration,
I had a feeling of separateness: this is not my culture, so I can only
be an observer.”
“In order to create something that truly communicates, the work
must be authentic, and authenticity requires first-hand knowledge.
I was afraid that any adoption—or adaptation—of someone else’s
culture would be appropriation… Worse yet, I did not appreciate the
fact that I had a distinct cultural identity of my own.”
When I was writing that column, I sought the advice of a wise friend,
and he gave me an alternative perspective. “You do have a cultural
identity,” he said, “and it is an amalgamation of cultures. Culture is
like chocolate at 98 degrees. It’s sticky, and you can’t help getting it
on you.”
My friend made me realize that as
Americans, we are exposed to many
cultures, and we absorb everything
from mannerisms and gestures to ideas
and beliefs, and that becomes part of
who we are as unique individuals.
This was a turning point for me. Instead of seeing myself as limited
to a static cultural identity, I started to recognize that I am part of
an ever-changing cultural consciousness. Sticky culture is exciting!
That recognition has since influenced my choices of where I live and
what I seek for intellectual and creative nourishment. Now, more
than fourteen years later, I enjoy an environment that celebrates the
mixture and morphing of cultural identity.
But I have a new and growing worry. As this multiplicity spreads and
is exuberantly shared, it is simultaneously being shut down. The
value of diverse culture is being questioned at our borders.
We have a president who is disgusted by the stickiness of culture
and does not want to “get any on him.” Cultural identity has become
a divider. As citizens, we know how dangerous this is to our nation’s
health and safety. But there is another, more subtle danger: this
barrier-making can rob us of our creativity. Without diverse culture,
we will have lives—and, by extension, art, music, dance, theater
and literature—that are sterile, colorless and exclusionary. Do you
want to be an artist in a country that blocks culture at its borders?
This is a threat to our work. If we don’t share our cultural identities,
we’re doomed. ca
© 2019 W. Richmond
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 ADVERTISING Ernie Schenck

60 Years of Blockbusters, Culture

Shapers and The Advertising That
Changed Everything

C ommunication Arts has seen some insanely great work in

the last 60 years. And yet, precious little of it has turned
advertising upside down and, in some cases, influenced our
culture and who we are as a society. I asked six prominent names
in advertising, one for each decade in the years since CA started
publishing, to pick the one. The mutant. The game changer that
We freed ourselves from the borrowed elegance of Detroit ads,
the columned mansion, the beautifully gowned woman… (Helmut
Krone) Don’t let the low price scare you off. (VW) It makes your
house look bigger. (VW) The Chivas Regal of scotches. (Chivas)
Mass transit. (VW Bus) It was all so desperately simple. (Sir Alan
Parker) Ugly is only skin-deep. (VW)

’70s
rocked everything.

’60sWhat can you say about advertising in the ’60s. It was Mount St. Helens.
It was the San Francisco earthquake. What happened at Doyle Dane
There was more to the ’70s than Donna Summer, Apollo 13 and the
Pentagon Papers. In advertising, Coca-Cola was teaching the world to sing,
and a soon-to-be iconic brand was getting Americans to see fast food in
Bernbach (DDB) forever upended the business and the world. And Ted Bell a way they never had. Joey Cummings remembers.
was there. Smack dab in the middle of it all.
Joey Cummings: In 1971, a small fast food
Ted Bell: Think small. (VW) Lemon. (VW) Joey Cummings is
chief executive
chain and its Chicago agency, called
Ted Bell is a best-
Have you ever wondered how the man who officer at The Joey Needham, Harper & Steers, were inspired to
selling author.
He was a junior drives the snowplow drives to the snow- Company in New disrupt a price-driven category by talking
copywriter at plow? (VW) You don’t have to be Jewish York. As a creative
about the “why” (the big buzzword of
DDB, president director, Cummings
to love Levy’s. (Levy’s Jewish Rye) We try has held the today) of the brand. Keith Reinhard, later
and chief creative
officer of Leo harder. (Avis) It’s ugly, but it gets you creative reins at to be my boss for many years, saw a gaping
Burnett, and there. (VW) I sometimes wonder if it pays Bozell, TracyLocke,
opportunity. The consumer insight was:
worldwide creative Ted Bates, Saatchi
to make beer this way. (Utica Club) Adver- moms get tired of preparing meals, kids get
director of Young & Saatchi, DDB
& Rubicam. tising is the art of persuasion. (Bill Bernbach) Chicago and Leo tired of “finish your peas, please” and dads
It lets me be me. (Clairol) The 60-second Burnett. get put off by the high cost of eating out.
excitement. (Polaroid) We don’t take off until everything is kosher.
“You Deserve a Break Today” was an idea with emotional bull’s-eye
(El Al) Sometimes playing it safe is the most dangerous thing you
precision. It was brilliant in not only describing “why” McDonald’s
can do. (Bill Bernbach) Tsk, tsk.
existed, but also in putting “you”
(Chivas) We have to sell a Nazi
at the center of this great brand’s
car in a Jewish town. (George
purpose. The campaign was
Lois) The car was so utterly
grounded in creating “content”
preposterous, we had to
(another buzzword today) that
Americanize it as quickly as
instilled important and uplifting
possible. (Helmut Krone) Starting
human values and behaviors.
Dec. 23, the Atlantic Ocean will
be 20% smaller. (El Al) Will we Told in jingle, in dance and in
ever kill the bug? (VW) An idea poignant stories that tickled your
can turn to dust or magic, funny bone or tugged at your
depending on the talent that heart, the campaign created what
rubs against it. (Bill Bernbach) later became the “Chicago” school

12 Interactive Annual 2019

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 ADVERTISING
of advertising. It taught young creatives how to birth a big emotion-
al idea based on a pivotal consumer insight, craft a story, write
’80s
a lyric and even write the notes the lyric underscores.
The ’80s marked the rise of the outlier. The Davids who went toe to toe
with the Goliaths. Fallon McElligott Rice. Wieden+Kennedy. Leonard
Monahan Saabye. They proved great work could happen anywhere. If
anyone knows the ’80s, it’s Tom Monahan.
Tom Monahan: Arguably, the 1980s may be
Tom Monahan was
the greatest turning point in the history of
a cofounder of the
highly acclaimed creative advertising thanks to one ad.
Leonard Monahan Apple’s “1984” not only influenced television
Saabye and a advertising forever after; it upped the ante
former advertising
for creative in all media.
columnist for CA
from 1990 to Prior to “1984,” we did commercials. After
2000.
“1984,” we did films. Anthems. Events. And it
wasn’t just because Chiat/Day hired big-
time film director Ridley Scott. The concept was grander than
grand. Production bigger than big. It turned buzz into the holy grail
of communications.
After “1984,” commercials became less, well, commercial. “1984”
showed no product. Yet, in extremely dramatic fashion, it made
a hitherto niche brand into a category, not to mention an advertising
industry leader, stealthily unveiling a product line with intelligence
and ’tude that changed the world.
Yes, many advertisers still like to create commercials that sell, sell,
sell. But “1984” separated visionary marketers from career ad hacks,
proving that compelling brand building could happen through bold,
elegant storytelling. The industry has not been the same since.
“1984” also substantially elevated the world’s biggest marketing
stage, the Super Bowl. That “event” concept has permeated virtually
all media ever since. It illustrated return on creative investment in
inarguable fashion. It ran once. It got millions of “free” impressions
before YouTube made such a thing child’s play. It turned creativity
into a hard asset. Good will. Suddenly, even accountants could
understand this hitherto esoteric thing, “The Concept” (well, kinda).
Hail, “1984”!
14 Interactive Annual 2019
’90s
The ’90s. Oh mama. What a decade. If you loved long copy, this was
your time. High concept was the coin of the realm. Design was an
obsession. Craft mattered. And few creatives lived every moment of it
like John Doyle.
John Doyle: When I first saw the Nike
One of the most
awarded creatives
Women’s Fitness campaign, I was the
in advertising, father of two little girls and a toddler son.
John Doyle is a It made me feel that my daughters not
freelance art
only had permission, but also the right to
director and
dream and to realize their dreams; that my
creative director.
son could witness that in his sisters and
his mother; and that I could learn from them as well and be
inspired by their lives.
It was a campaign from a company that needed to establish
a dialogue with women, to reach women who were not athletes,
but who had the physical, inherent capacity and desire to partici-
pate in sports. Many women heard it and felt it.
More than any other advertising of the decade, the Nike women’s
campaign had the greatest cultural and ad industry impact by far.
Although few came close to the truth and authenticity in the Nike
women’s campaign, the work was subsequently emulated for the
entire decade.
Nike was the messenger that enabled a voice to be expressed at
a time it needed to be heard the most. It was a collaborative
effort. Nike recognizing the importance of reaching women, and
Wieden+Kennedy looking within itself and assigning writer Janet
Champ and art director Charlotte Moore to the task. The culture
and the intensity of client and agency had to be of one accord and
one conviction in order to produce a campaign like this. They
were. And they did.
1998–2008
There aren’t enough numbers on the Richter scale to measure the
earthquake that was branded entertainment in the early 2000s. By now, we
all know how Fallon and BMW turned the ultimate driving machine into the
ultimate turn-the-industry-upside-down machine. Greg Hahn explains.
Greg Hahn: The decade ushered in
Greg Hahn is chief
creative officer of monumental changes in technology and
BBDO New York. media. Seated directly behind all that
change was Advertising.
In terms of the above, BMW Films stands as the poster child for the
shift that took place. (Full disclosure, I worked at BMW’s agency,
Fallon, during the launch, but did not work on the groundbreaking
first round and the work I’m referring to. All interest is nonvested.)
BMW Films changed the entire model of Advertising. Starting with
the math and the media. In the early days of the internet, even
before broadband became broadly adopted, BMW Films placed
a bet on online content. Reversing the traditional model, it put
all the money on the production and very little on the media.
Betting that if the content was of great quality, people would
seek it out.
It also changed many God/David Ogilvy–given rules of the tradi-
tional commercial. Gone were the normal time constraints and
typical product shots and proof points. This was Movieplex-style
entertainment that showed, not told, how badass BMWs were.
At that time, very few car clients wanted you to put bullet holes
and kidnap victims in their cars. But BMW and Fallon understood
that in order for this to work, it had to feel vastly different
than Advertising.
BMW Films launched in 2001, and suddenly after its unprecedented
success, a lot more Advertising began to look and feel a lot less
like Advertising.
2009–2018
These last ten years have been as wild and wooly a ride as any we’ve
ever known, both as an industry and as a society. It’s been up. It’s been
down. And it’s been chock-full of surprises. Including Rob Schwartz’s
pick for game changer of the decade.
Rob Schwartz: The decade begins with
Rob Schwartz is
the chief executive Obama and ends with Trump. The end of
officer of TBWA\ civility and sanity, and the beginning of
Chiat\Day NY. sheer WTF?
2009–2018 sees a rise in our obsession with
technology. From next-generation iPhones to the launches of iPad
and the Square payment system. It’s also the beginning of platforms
like Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. And the thorough disman-
tling of traditional TV. In advertising, we see the thorough digital
transformation of damn-near everything.
So what’s the game-changer idea of the decade? The one idea
we never saw coming that suddenly altered the way we think
about everything?
Before I unveil the Game Changer, here are some runner-ups: Dove’s
Sketches, Prudential’s Day One and Nike’s FuelBand. I also can’t
ignore Bing’s Decode Jay-Z, Gatorade’s Replay and State Street’s
Fearless Girl.
But the idea that changed the way we think about ideas was Small
Business Saturday, from American Express.
The idea was so simple yet so powerful: inspire shopping at small
businesses right when America does its holiday shopping. It was
a stunt that became a movement that became an official resolution
passed by the US Senate. Unanimously.
Today, it’s on the national calendar. Thursday is Thanksgiving.
Then Black Friday. Then Small Business Saturday. The idea changed
our lives. It also spawned other behavioral changing ideas, like
REI’s #OptOutside.
In a decade of incredible ideas, Small Business Saturday stands out
as the game changer. It changed business. It changed consumer
behavior. It changed the game for anyone thinking about how to
create on behalf of a brand.
What about you? What would your six have been? Email me at ernie.
schenck@gmail.com, and I’ll include your list on Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn. ca
Communication Arts | commarts.com 15
 Five Interactive Designers Share
Their Treasured Finds
CANDY CHIU JOHN MAEDA
candychiu.com Automattic Inc.
Hong Kong, China Boston, MA
Motivational tunes: I have a customized Useful tools: For the organizing work I do
Spotify playlist that mainly includes jazz on the internet, I use the Chrome extension
and math rock, but I especially like the Toby. The interface design tool Figma is also
music of the Japanese band toe and the Tai- impressive; it’s especially good for collaboration
wanese indie band No Party For Cao Dong. This indie band broke across distributed teams.
the boundaries of music, which made its music become even more Inspirational reading: Oliver Jeffers: The Working Mind and Drawing
successful. In a similar way, designers also wish to break the Hand because I didn’t know the whole context behind why he
boundaries of visual design, to both bring a nice experience to users dipped me in paint.
and seek their own identification as designers.
Creative challenge: To get inspired, I make new things that make
Trend source: For websites, it would be siteInspire, as only the me uncomfortable. An example is my new YouTube channel, John
best websites will be featured. I also sometimes join seminars to get Maeda Is Learning. I have so much respect for YouTubers now!
inspiration from what designers are sharing. Although we sit in front
Guilty pleasure: Shopping. I grew
of our monitors looking at different designs, we seldom really
up in a family business, and my
listen to how other designers think. So, going to seminars can
mother’s only escape was to go to
bring reflection and improvement.
the mall. She always brought me
Workday necessity: I always bring my Bose QuietControl 30 noise- along, so I learned to love shopping.
canceling earphones when I go to work, as my commute takes
Reliable help: I am dyslexic;
a long time.
luckily, my assistant is always able
to decode me.

16 Interactive Annual 2019

JENNY JOHANNESSON
Malmö, Sweden
Favorite collaborator: Aristide Benoist!
We’ve already worked together on two
projects—my portfolio and the Epicurrence
site—and it was a dream. I’ve never worked
with a developer who nailed the implemen-
tation of my designs in combination with
such smooth and perfectly timed anima-
tions. He’s very passionate about his work,
and it shows.
Valuable platforms: Winning site of the
day on Awwwards and The FWA made my
portfolio traffic shoot through the roof.
Other than that, Twitter has turned out to
be very engaging. I actually once landed
a job at Ueno through designer Chad Tafolla,
someone I got to know on Twitter.
Underappreciated resource: Pinterest. It’s
a great tool to collect and organize all the
design inspiration I run into on the web.
It’s not all cooking and interior decorating
on there.
Primary stress reliever: A tough workout
followed by a good night’s sleep. I also have
almost all notifications off on my phone.
That helps too.
BRYAN BRAUN
Sparkbox
Dayton, OH
Daily routine: I enjoy biking to the office. It
gets my blood pumping and helps me feel
energized for the day.
Go-to tools: All of my personal projects go
into Evernote. It’s easy to search, and it’s
available on all my devices. When I’m work-
ing with others, it’s hard to beat Dropbox.
Eye-opening read: Aarron Walter’s book
Designing for Emotion helped me see that
great design work requires that you
understand things like psychology and
human behavior. Graphic design skills will
only get you so far.
Mind-blowing work: I recently started using
Vimeo, and I was way impressed by its
video upload workflow. It wasn’t splashy or
anything—just intuitive every step of the
way. I love seeing complexity made simple.
It’s like magic.
End-of-day reward: That feeling of progress.
It could come from closing a Jira ticket,
seeing a new subscriber or watching
a feature go live. Whenever I look back on
my day and see
that tangible
forward motion,
I’m feeling great.
TIFFANY TAYLOR
Netflix
Los Angeles, CA
Workflow management: Abstract offers
multiple services to help designers, but
the main aspect I love is its version control
for Sketch files. Using the tool does require
you to change your design workflow, but
the benefits of being able to collaborate
and not worry about file versions are so
worth it.
Creative fuel: I use Google Play Music to
stream music and am always working to
a beat. I mix it up between lo-fi hip-hop
and chillwave stations when I want to
concentrate, and when I need to recharge,
I listen to indie Korean hip-hop. Since I don’t
understand much Korean, the lyrics never
distract me like English language music
does; the production of the beats and the
way the rappers flow their verses are
incredibly addictive.
Following now: I’ve followed so many brand
accounts on Instagram based on the aes-
thetics of how they present their companies
in each post. Some standouts are Brandless,
Allbirds, and several cosmetics companies,
like Glossier, 3CE and romand.
Communication Arts | commarts.com 17
 VOICES Ellen Shapiro
Looking Back and Looking Forward
appy birthday, CA. You’re 60 years old!
For 40 or so of those years, most graphic designers did more or
less the same thing. Sure, there were stylistic debates and regional
differences. In 1980, a poster for a country music festival in Texas
and a poster for a lecture on architecture at an Ivy League college
could have been featured on the same page of the CA Design
Annual. The two posters would have looked very different, but the
two designers most likely had similar educations in art school or
university art departments. Surely, both sketched their concepts
on tissue, specified the type from a typesetter’s specimen book,
received repro proofs, cut them out with an X-Acto knife and
pasted them up on illustration board using a T-square and triangle.
In the past 20 years, things changed so rapidly, thoroughly and
remarkably that any ten different designers in different cities, or
even in the same office (or coworking space or airplane cabin),
might be doing entirely different things. They could have graduated
from institutions with different kinds of design programs, or not
attended a design program at all. Successes are being achieved by
self-taught designers who learned their craft via online platforms
High and low are not at war with each other, but
part of a wide spectrum.
like LinkedIn Learning, where some courses are taught by Sean
Adams, chair of the graphic design department at ArtCenter College
of Design. High and low are not at war with each other, but part of
a wide spectrum.
The profession, expanded
The way the public thinks about designers has changed too. When
newsstand magazines do an issue or story about design, it’s almost
always fashion or interior design. Or industrial and product design.
But to those who do think about graphic design, it isn’t a rarified,
ivory-tower profession like it was mid-last-century. When we close
our eyes and imagine the designer of the present or future, it isn’t
Paul Rand, solo, in suit and tie, consulting to the chief executive
officer of Westinghouse. It’s more likely a group of diverse young
individuals setting up the interior of a museum shop or working at
flickering monitors on the skyscraper floor where MTV animations
are created.
18 Interactive Annual 2019
Graphic design has expanded way beyond print to include motion,
sound, narrative, web, interactive, user interface—even perfor-
mance, virtual reality, writing and theory. No one knows this better
than Warren Lehrer. He earned his MFA in 1980, began teaching
soon after, and is a founding faculty member of the Designer as
Author program at New York’s School of Visual Arts and head of the
graphic design program at Purchase College, State University of
New York. “There used to be one unspoken presumption about the
kind of work graphic designers do—corporate—and one narrow set
of accepted aesthetic parameters—corporate modernist,” Lehrer
recalls. “I never fit into those boxes, so I appreciated getting my
hands on as many tools and methodologies as I could. Luckily, the
usual conventions have been blown wide open. The best design
educators I know are emphasizing meaning, storytelling, content,
voice, metaphor, perspective, and the work’s potential impact on
humans, communities and the planet. In addition to teaching craft
and process, they help students discover what they care about and
want to contribute to.”
For Lehrer and many others, the possibilities of authorship and
entrepreneurship have opened up new opportunities, often
necessitated by economic realities. With
each financial meltdown—from the 1987
stock market crash, to 2000’s burst of
the dot-com bubble, to 9/11, when every-
thing came to a standstill for weeks and
months, to the 2008 global financial crisis—more and more
designers began researching market needs and developing products,
writing books, opening online stores and getting their stuff in
brick-and-mortar stores. “The embrace of design authorship also
reflects the maturation of the field as well as an acknowledgement
of our roots,” says Lehrer, who himself is the author and designer of
books that are also performance pieces. “The pioneers of modern
graphic design were poets, artists, inventors, revolutionaries. We’re
coming full circle.”
So, what do we call ourselves now?
Still, it might seem like half the world doesn’t value graphic design
as much as we’d like. Too many people, including potential clients,
think they can do it all by themselves with a few keystrokes. Or that
they can get it online for $5. Or that they can get us to do it cheap,
cheap, cheap. Or that it’s a technical trade, given the way computer
graphics has replaced auto shop for low achievers at many high
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 VOICES
schools. On the other hand, the whole world wants to be a brand. If
the phrase “graphic design” never really caught on in the vernacular,
the word “branding” surely did. Twenty years ago, brands were Sears
and Coca-Cola and their ilk. Now Sears is in bankruptcy protection
and sugary soft drinks are being debated in state senates and
banned by school boards. But everybody and everything is a brand.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Contemporary culture is almost
entirely composed of brands,” says Debbie Millman, chair of the
Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts and author
of Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits. “Everything we consume—
even the most basic commodities like water and salt—are brands,”
she says. “Experiences are brands. People are brands. Brands are so
persuasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psycho-
logical, moral, ethical and social consequences that they leave no
part of us untouched. Historically, brands were pushed down from
the corporation to the people. But the equation has flipped,”
Millman explains. “Branding has become democratized, and the
“The Pink Pussy Hat is proof positive that
branding is not just a tool of capitalism. It
can bring people together for the benefit
of humanity.” —Debbie Millman
results are not commercially driven. #PinkPussyHat and #Black-
LivesMatter and #MeToo are brands that were created by the
people for the people, not for financial gain. They, and many others,
are being created to signify what people believe. The Pink Pussy Hat
is proof positive that branding is not just a tool of capitalism. It can
bring people together for the benefit of humanity.”
True, massive social transformations can materialize when an idea
goes viral—something that would have been unthinkable even ten
years ago, before Arab Spring became synonymous with internet
activism. As brand strategist Marty Neumeier wrote in The Brand
Gap: How to Bridge the Difference Between Business Strategy and Design:
“A charismatic brand is any product, service or company”—now,
let’s add concept or movement—“for which people believe there’s
no substitute. Any brand can be charismatic, even yours.”
Graphic design, democratized
We’re all in favor of democracy and the kind of democratization
Millman describes. Many of us, though, aren’t fans of the democra-
tization that made design tools accessible to all. Heather McGowan,
a “future of work” strategist based in Boston, credits the personal
computer and software for making design so accessible that “just
about anyone can create or attempt to create a digital design
product—from a logo to a website to a movie or video game.” Are
just-about-anyone’s products professionally designed? No, but
to them, good enough. The deluge of ads pushing services like
99designs and Fiverr and platforms like Wix and Squarespace have
helped this trend along immeasurably. This democratization,
20 Interactive Annual 2019
says McGowan, combined with instant global connectivity via
social media, email and text meant that designers in first-world
countries began competing with people in cheaper labor markets.
“The atomization of digital design work—the precursor to total
automation—exploded the massification of design services,” she
contends, so that thousands of people could offer low-cost services
online. “It also allowed more and more people to express them-
selves creatively, which is fantastic,” she adds, “but it has created
a Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias in which people of low
ability or talent have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess
their abilities as greater than they are.”
On the plus side, I must add, global connectivity has created a way
for talented artists around the world, especially in Asia and Eastern
Europe, to promote themselves and attract significant clients and
projects. Some of the most interesting work on Behance, Instagram
and stock sites is created in places like Ukraine and Romania.
Tony Cordero, head of creative at Liquid Agency in
San Jose, California, frames things in even broader
terms. “What we’re seeing is a recurring democrati-
zation of technology. It happened in the initial era
of desktop publishing, when suddenly everyone with
a Mac, fonts and a printer thought they could open
a design shop. There will always be services like
Fiverr,” he says, “which embrace technology to offer
low-cost ways to get things done. But, as many buyers experience,
those services focus on commoditizing production. Once you
ask them to solve a design challenge and not execute a task,
the system breaks. Those business are built on the premise of
assembly”—and often imitation—“not ideation.”
What’s really changed?
So, how do people of greater abilities and talents—whether trained
in design school or self-taught—communicate their value in a huge
global marketplace where online bidding and buying might be more
the norm than the exception?
Ed Gold, author of three editions of The Business of Graphic Design
and former chair of the Communications Design department at the
University of Baltimore, has been to more design offices than most
people on the planet. Gold estimates that in addition to running
a large design department and teaching, he’s visited 50 to 60 firms
and interviewed 100 designers.
He told me that he’s arrived at a surprising conclusion: Not much of
real importance has changed at all.
“Sure, the tools we use have completely changed,” he says. “Design
offices have gotten smaller. Most of us have reduced our staffs; the
competition is far more widespread; many deliverables have shifted
from print to electronic. But we’ve adapted to those changes, and
some of them have helped us thrive. Our unique contribution
to society has never changed,” he asserts. “We still have to create
visual ideas that no one, including ourselves, ever thought of
before, and we have to execute them in stunning and thought-
 provoking ways. And we can’t use the same solution twice. That
makes our profession even more challenging, since most businesses
find a process that works for them and repeat it over and over. Or
they sell things other people have designed and made. All of which
are reasons I believe that the people who practice our profession
are so unbelievably special.”
“While everything we now call ‘the business of graphic design’ will
change over the next 60 years,” Gold concludes, “I really doubt that
the thinking part of our profession will ever change—assuming that
we’re not under three feet of water by then. And assuming that we
come up with more effective ways to advertise our abilities and
talents to the public.”
Not everyone’s offices have gotten smaller, however. Dana Arnett,
current AIGA president (Adams and Millman are former presidents)
and founding partner of VSA Partners, with offices in Chicago, San
Francisco and New York, has prospered by building a large, sustain-
able organization with fourteen partners and a staff of more than
150, including strategists, user experience architects and infrastruc-
ture engineers. “As content and channels continue to blur across
devices and platforms, design is the great differentiator for making
meaning in our media-rich society,” Arnett says. “This disruption is
an avenue for designers to explore new pathways and methods for
thinking, creating and generating value.” He encourages everyone
to read the new AIGA Design Futures report (aiga.org/aiga-design-
futures), which examines seven trends shaping the practice of
design. “It’s intended to help all of us prepare for the changing
demands of clients and the emerging opportunities for design
influence,” he says.
Staying useful and relevant
In Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, best-selling author Yuval
Noah Harari posits that over the next few decades, we humans will
lose our economic usefulness. He points out that, for the most part,
pilotless drones have already replaced soldiers fighting in the
trenches. Robots and 3-D printers are replacing garment workers.
Let’s make sure that the next generations of
designers love what they do too.
Algorithms that know the position, speed and destination of every
car on the road will navigate those roads more safely and with less
stress for all of us—and put every Uber, Lyft and taxi driver out of
business. Many travel agents, stockbrokers and medical diagnosti-
cians are already obsolete. After all, who can search and analyze
data and get answers faster and more accurately than IBM’s Watson?
So, what about us “creatives”? Will those of us who craft images
and words to communicate messages be out of business too?
Hmm. Last October, the auction house Christie’s offered a paint-
ing—a portrait of a nobleman in a gilt frame—that had been created
by an algorithm designed by a Paris-based collective of artists and
machine learning researchers. How was it made? Well, after being
fed a data set of 15,000 portraits painted between the 14th and
20th centuries, a “generator” made a new “old master” image. It
sold for $432,500. With many more to come.
AI, or artificial intelligence, is also applying itself to writing. A New
York Times story, “A.I. Is Beginning to Assist Novelists,” profiled
an author who types in the beginnings of his thoughts and
sentences—which his computer analyzes and finishes. The author
is more than pleased by the “lovely language” and creativity of the
computer’s work.
Last fall, Gmail started trying to finish my sentences. After a few
frustrating hours, I turned that feature off, but I kind of like its
suggested responses to emails, like “Great idea!” “Thanks for the
tip!” and “That would be fun!”
The idea that everything we have come to value as craft, profession
and passion will be no longer valid, and that we might become as
irrelevant as a travel agent in a world with TripAdvisor, doesn’t
sound like much fun. I can’t help remembering “The Future of
Non-Productive Work” by Michael Harrington, a reading assigned
in The Critical Essay, a class I took when I was a student at the
University of California, Los Angeles. In the 1960s, Harrington
predicted that when computers take over our jobs, everyone will
get paid for butterfly watching and stamp collecting. That doesn’t
sound so appealing, either. We love what we do.
Let’s make sure that the next generations of designers love what
they do too. Jim Cross, who headed the Los Angeles office where
some of the world’s most exquisite annual reports were designed,
muses about his training and skills: “I was fortunate to have worked
in the pre- as well as the post-computer eras,” he says. “I knew how
to use chalk and markers to comp concepts crisply and freshly. My
instructors taught me to indicate typefaces by sharpening a pencil
based on the point size and whether the face was to be serif or
sans serif. Because print was the medium I worked in, I knew how
to paste up boards for reproduction and use overlays for what might
be called layered art today.”
More importantly, Cross knew how to listen to
clients to discern the essence of the company
story, and then craft—and present and sell—
a solution that eloquently expressed it.
“Much has changed, including the aesthetics,” he says. “Now it
seems that the purpose of many pieces is to entertain, surprise or
excite, sometimes at the expense of the audience, who can’t even
remember the product or service. We’ve got to keep in mind what
will remain constant through the years,” he asserts, “the ability to
conceptualize and create work that communicates with clarity,
strength and integrity.”
New paradigms in education
How do you teach communicating with clarity, strength and
integrity in an era when students need to learn how to use
ever-more-complex software in order to get a job? Ina Saltz,
Communication Arts | commarts.com 21
 VOICES
an influential designer who’s been teaching at the City College of
New York for eighteen years, is one of the educators committed to
preparing young people for the future. “Students need to be ready
to play a role that encompasses many nongraphic aspects: user
experience, strategy and psychology, and business and leadership
skills. They need to network, to leverage their social media skills to
promote themselves and make themselves visible. Their portfolios,
bios and resumes need to be on multiple platforms. It’s a tall order,”
Saltz says, “and one way to make room for all the new essentials is
to shift software training online, allowing time for more individual-
ized classroom critiques.”
“For the first time, we have the tools that give us the luxury of
time to think,” says Sean Adams. “As more of the work we do is
automated by AI, templates and machine learning, clients will
increasingly value our thinking. Anyone can download a nice
template, but designers will always be needed to come up with
smart, unexpected and at times provocative ideas.”
Futurist Heather McGowan has the most provocative idea ever.
“We need to establish design training as foundational literacy for
the entire workforce,” she says. “I don’t mean that everyone should
be able to create desirable artifacts, but they need to learn the
important skills of problem finding and framing, problem-solving
through user-centric processes, propositional and iterative thinking
through prototype testing, and expression through use of visuals
and new media.”
“For the first time, we have the tools that give us
the luxury of time to think.” —Sean Adams
Are we ready?
Nancy Lerner, principal of Otherwise Incorporated, a Chicago firm
that serves artistic, civic, educational and social communities,
answers, “Yes. Here, we pride ourselves on being versed in many
different disciplines. We are all about issues, options, system shifts
and possibilities.” Two-thirds of the creatives in Lerner’s office are
under the age of 30, and she notes that many young designers see
design as a vehicle for purpose and want to participate in broad
movements for change. “Our job is to encourage and harness that
yearning for meaning.”
That yearning was evident when I visited Parsons The New School
in New York City last fall to speak to a class of second-career
graphic designers. They were young professionals from all over the
world whose undergraduate majors ranged from philosophy and
political science to media studies and art history. They’d begun
careers in coding, sports coaching, media buying and real estate
marketing—and believe that graphic design offers them, and
the world, more. The students’ aspirations—“We want to make
a difference, and we want to be listened to”—were summed up
in this comment by Vanessa Douglas, who’d worked in nonprofit
management: “We’re not here for decoration. Let us help you!”
22 Interactive Annual 2019
Design thinkers?
Just like “commercial artists” ultimately became “graphic design-
ers,” the title “graphic designer,” for many, has morphed into
“design thinker.”
Design Thinking, with initial caps, has been the subject of articles
in publications from Harvard Business Review to The CEO Magazine
and Entrepreneur. Marty Neumeier explains: “Design thinking caught
fire in the business world because the same approach we designers
use to address creative challenges can also be used to address
business challenges: strategy formulation, decision making, busi-
ness modeling, crisis management, even leadership itself. To
address a deficiency in traditional business thinking—that business
leaders can’t imagine what they don’t know—design thinking
inserts a step called ‘making,’ which is what we creative people do
for a living. We propose concepts that traditional thinkers can’t
imagine. We sketch, prototype, document, test, explain. Our making
skills change what clients know and what they do. We’re the key to
their innovation.”
Whether design thinking is a buzzword or a true paradigm shift,
the ripple effect is so big that august institutions of higher edu-
cation are following the lead of IDEO, the company that started it
all. A virtual course in Design Thinking has been posted online by
Stanford University, free for all to access. Cornell Engineering School
offers a Design Thinking Certificate “to help working professionals
stand apart” via “the high-quality learning experience of an Ivy
League institution.” Courses include Gather-
ing User Emotions, Generating User-Centered
Solutions, Design Prototyping, and Testing
and Iteration. A similar program is offered by
the EMERITUS Institute of Management in
collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan
School of Management, Columbia Business School and Tuck School
of Business at Dartmouth.
This is serious business. And it goes way beyond posters and things
printed on paper. Alas, many of those elegant annual reports don’t
exist anymore; most public companies post their financial results
online. But every manufacturing company wants to be the next OXO.
A new Wild West? Or of real consequence
to the world?
“Today, we find ourselves back in the Wild West of design that we
felt at the advent of the internet,” says Tony Cordero. “We need
to keep sharpening our abilities and stay open to leveraging new
tools, trends and solutions. We don’t know what the future will
bring, but at our agency, we’re preparing by surrounding ourselves
with critical thinkers who can solve problems in different creative
ways and by forming partnerships that expand our skill sets into
areas like virtual or augmented 3-D spaces.”
Phil Balagtas, founder of Speculative Futures, an international
community of meetups, offers this optimistic set of possibilities:
“We will need to play a distinctive role on a global scale. Govern-
ments and corporations will find value in a new kind of thinking
through design. To be truly relevant, we will need to be part of
preemptive planning for large-scale problems like climate change,
natural disasters, rising populations, terrorism, disease and food
production. We will retain our identity as experience designers, but
we’ll need to anchor ourselves deeper into the operations of
businesses so that institutions will employ our research, strategy
and critical thinking skills.”
“If we learn how to truly examine and appraise what we do in a way
that emphasizes relevance to the rest of the world, society will
understand what design is and value its contributions in the same
way art, music and architecture are valued,” says Khoi Vinh,
principal designer at Adobe. “Then we’ll finally be able to explain
what we do to our parents. Halleluyah!” On a more serious note,
Vinh adds: “In truth, the future is already here. At our MAX confer-
ence last October, we previewed Project Aero, which lets designers
create augmented-reality experiences from the work they do in
Photoshop and Illustrator. And Adobe XD, our new UX/UI design tool,
debuted the ability to prototype voice interactions alongside
traditional tools for apps and websites—a huge game changer that
instantly turns us into voice designers as well as visual designers.
Right now, we’re actively helping our users translate the timeless
principles of good design directly into new immersive technologies.”
“Thirty years ago, I assumed we’d all be wearing silver jumpsuits in
2019,” says Sean Adams. “I’m not good at predicting the future,” he
admits, “but looking back, I’m endlessly surprised that what we do
at its core is the same today as it was 60 years ago: we work with
clients to determine an issue, address a specific audience, design
a solution and execute it across multiple media. One of the most
powerful, enduring symbols of the 1950s, William Golden’s CBS
eye—which signified the company’s shift from radio to television—
was applied to print and TV ads and promotional items. The breadth
of media is different than the 1951 options, but we still use words,
forms, colors and imagery to communicate ideas. Therefore, I sug-
gest that we all wear silver jumpsuits as a sign of unity.”
Has anyone suggested that a sense of humor is also necessary for
the profession’s long-term relevance? That wouldn’t be a bad idea.
When Paul Rand consulted with the chief executive officers of
Westinghouse and IBM, he surely employed humor as part of the
arts of presentation and persuasion.
What will the pages of the CA Design Annual look like 2079? Even
the wisest can only speculate. As Yuval Noah Harari writes in 21
Lessons for the 21st Century, “Nobody can predict the changes we will
witness in the future. Any particular scenario is likely to be far from
the truth. Change itself is the only certainty.” ca
Communication Arts | commarts.com 23
 EDUCATION Sam McMillan
Opening Doors. Providing Opportunity.
Making Impact.
The Richard and Jean Coyne Family Foundation
In Seattle, the AIGA Link Program has done more than ten outdoor murals around the city. This mural at Seattle Canine Club (left) was designed and led by
San Francisco–based artist Chelsea Wong, a former Link student and the daughter of Link founder Paula Wong. In Philadelphia, students in a University of
the Arts Summer Institute photography course (right) learn about natural light and portraiture through an in-class shoot.
H istorically, the graphic design industry has included few
people of color. In 1965, the wake of the Watts riots, one
designer decided to do something about that. Bill Tara,
an illustrator and contributor to Communication Arts, started the
Tutor/Art program. Working with inner-city high school students
in Los Angeles, Tara helped them build their portfolios so they
could apply for art school scholarships.
Students coming out of the Tutor/Art program achieved a phenome-
nal track record of receiving scholarships. Richard and Jean Coyne,
the cofounders of Communication Arts, were so impressed with the
results that after Tara died, they decided to create a foundation to
carry on his work.
Twenty-nine years later, the Richard and Jean Coyne Family
Foundation supports seventeen nonprofit programs across the
country working with underrepresented youth. Grants range from
$20,000 to $50,000 a year and are disbursed to organizations
including AIGA, ArtCenter College of Design, Cooper Union and
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, as well as smaller
community organizations such as Project Osmosis in Chicago and
Inneract Project in San Francisco.
Jean Coyne and Patrick Coyne, Richard and Jean’s son, administer
the foundation’s giving. As he explains, “While we do fund scholar-
ships and mentoring programs at the college and university level,
24 Interactive Annual 2019
© Steve Belkowitz
we like to distribute money directly to organizations where one or
two people in their community looked around and said, ‘We need
to make a difference.’ We want the money to go directly to the
people who are passionate about mentoring their own local kids.
That’s where we make the impact.” His goals haven’t wavered
much from Tara’s original aim: provide an introduction to graphic
arts, illustration and photography (and now, digital media) so
talented students of color can develop skills, build portfolios, win
scholarships and enter the visual communications industry as
professionals capable of earning a living.
You can’t become what you can’t see
For students of color from immigrant families or low-income
backgrounds, there may be a lack of knowledge of graphic design
as a viable profession. So Vernon Lockhart, a graphic designer and
executive director of Project Osmosis in Chicago, makes sure
designers of color show up and represent. “Osmosis is like a book
mobile for design,” he says. “We visit schools and get kids to look
around their classrooms. We ask, ‘How did the lights get here?
Why does the furniture look like that?’ The answer is, ‘They had
to be designed.’ The lights, the furniture, the shoes the kids wear.
Those were designed by people: lighting designer, furniture
designer, fashion designer. Project Osmosis exposes students to
the path of a designer and what they do.”
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 EDUCATION
Project Osmosis runs Design Explorers programs that pair high
school students with mentors in different design disciplines;
conducts a ten-week business incubator for students; hosts
a citywide design competition; and holds a two-day Design Youth
Forum in connection with the University of Illinois at Chicago
School of Design and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
One hundred twenty students from across the city participate.
“More than 50 designers of color are working in the [design]
profession because of Project Osmosis,” Lockhart says. “We would
not have done what we’ve been able to do without the founda-
tion’s support.”
The Worldstudio Foundation launched in 1993. As cofounder Mark
Randall recalls, “The issues we wanted to address then have not
changed. If anything, they’ve gotten worse than ever. We never
see other cultures expressed in a white, Eurocentric view of
design. We live in a multicultural society. To be truly reflective
of what we are as a culture, we need to be inclusive of all kinds
of creative viewpoints.”
With support from donors including the Coyne Family Foundation,
Worldstudio Foundation offers need-based scholarships for college
students from the first year through the graduate level. With each
scholarship awarded, Randall looks for talent, minority status and
the student’s desire to use design as a tool for positive social change.
Since 1995, Worldstudio Foundation has offered around fifteen to
twenty scholarships a year, and began collaborating with AIGA in 2005
to execute the program. Cumulatively, more than a million dollars
has been awarded to over 700 students. Some of those students
have gone on to work at Pentagram, teach at Parsons School of
Design and exhibit artwork at the Whitney Biennial.
In Seattle, the AIGA Link Program works with 30 students a year,
conducting classes with high school juniors and seniors at twelve
schools throughout the Seattle area, offering portfolio workshops
and awarding scholarships. As Terry Marks, one of the Link Program
coordinators, says, “Our great hope is to work with kids who may
not know that college could be in their future.” Reviewing the
application essays is eye-opening, Marks says. “There are kids who
were withdrawn, locked-in, suicidal, retching in the bathroom, who
write, ‘This program has given me a rung up the ladder to normalcy.’”
The Link Program earmarks $25,000 from the Coyne Family Founda-
tion to award five students a year with scholarships. “This kind of
amazing, selfless giving needs to be talked about more,” Marks says.
“The Coyne Family Foundation has allowed us to impact at least 30
students a year since 1994. That’s a significant number of lives.”

The San Francisco Bay Area’s Inneract Project (IP) “empowers underrepre-
sented youth through design education and links them to opportunities to
explore design in career and life.” From top to bottom: Teachers and
students at IP’s Mobile App Bootcamp at Facebook. Students design
wallets out of paper at IP’s Youth Design Academy 1, Oakland location.
Students get help on a design exercise during IP’s Youth Design Academy 1,
San Francisco location. Students get assistance on a design exercise that
deals with developing a built environment.

26 Interactive Annual 2019

© Connor Fenwick

© Connor Fenwick
Project Osmosis student photographer Connor Fenwick took both of these images at the 2018 Osmosis Design Youth Forum, held at the University of
Illinois at Chicago’s School of Design. A student (left) works with design teacher volunteer Gregory Stapleton and Osmosis instructor Cyaira Adams;
another (right) works on a graphic design project.

Maurice Woods, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Philadelphia, says, “I still have all the typewritten letters from
Inneract Project, sees the case for diversity in the design industry Jean Coyne. There’s an authenticity to the way they manage their
as the “universal question” his organization is trying to solve. funding. They do it for all the right reasons, not to have their names
“There are not enough designers of color behind the wheel to on a plaque on the wall.” Since 1990, the Coyne Family Foundation
represent our culture. We need a true representation—one that’s has made possible scholarships for 286 high schoolers taking first
more accurate,” Woods says. year–level courses at the University of the Arts’ Summer Institute
Working with African American, Latino, and Asian students in and Saturday School.
middle school, high school and beyond, Inneract Project aims to
From agreement to action
“empower young people of color to envision their future through
Twenty-nine years after the Coyne Family Foundation began,
design,” Woods says. The Coyne Family Foundation helps under-
demographics of minorities in the field have improved, but by
write the free programs at Inneract Project, including a youth
woefully small amounts; in 2017, the second annual Design Consen-
design academy, design boot camps, classes and workshops, as
sus by AIGA and Google reported that only 8.1 percent of the more
well as studio and museum tours. “Ultimately, we are trying to
than 13,000 designers surveyed were Hispanic, 10.4 percent were
get kids of color to own their culture and the way that culture is
Asian and 3.4 percent were African American. “Everyone says
represented,” Woods says. “Design is a conduit to all the things we
we need more diversity,” Patrick Coyne says. “But I’m not seeing
interact with every day. There’s no better profession than design
action. We need new ideas, new faces, new viewpoints, new
to promote diversity of thought in the world.”
approaches and more new organizations to get involved.”
“Most of our students weren’t even born when the Coynes started
“The creative workforce does not represent the diversity of the
supporting ArtCenter for Teens and ArtCenter at Night,” says
general public. There is a disconnect there,” Coyne says. “Creative
Darryl Mori, senior director, Foundation and Government Relations
work is being produced from a single viewpoint, which creates
at ArtCenter College of Design. Over 24 years, the Coyne Family
a monocultural bias. I believe if we can get people from more diverse
Foundation has given scholarships to ArtCenter so low-income
backgrounds into the industry, we’ll see breakthrough work—
students with the potential to pursue a college education can
something new, exciting and original. Designers are creators and
afford it. “Art schools are inherently expensive,” Mori explains.
curators of culture. If we are all coming from the same, limited
“High student/teacher ratios and equipment costs make it an
background, we’re missing a lot of opportunity.”
expensive educational model. The scholarships are crucial to
leveling the playing field. Cumulatively, Coyne Family Foundation Looking toward the future, Coyne hopes to increase the foundation’s
contributions have added up to over a million dollars. That’s a lot rate of support and build a network of mentoring organizations
of people who have been affected by the Coyne Family Founda- across the country so they can share best practices, leverage what’s
tion’s generosity.” working, discuss problems and find solutions. “Instead of doing this
alone, let’s talk to similar organizations in other cities,” he says,
If there’s a single thread that ties together the philosophy of
“so we can build relationships, convince other institutions to get
giving at the Coyne Family Foundation, it is its sustained support
involved and create even more opportunities.” ca
and personal involvement in the mission. Erin Elman, director of
the Pre-College and Outreach Programs and dean of the College Visit coynefamilyfoundation.org to learn more about the organizations
of Critical & Professional Studies at the University of the Arts in the Coyne Family Foundation proudly supports.

Communication Arts | commarts.com 27

 Communication Arts at
BY PATRICK COYNE
Above: Lloyd Pierce designed our inaugural cover, which featured
mechanical-color screen tints and the original CA logo, designed by
Freeman Craw and closely related to his Craw Clarendon Condensed.
Right page: Dick Coyne and Bob Blanchard.
Typographer Jay McKendry with some of the foundry type used to set
the first issues of CA.
Cover of a prepublication tight comp used to obtain subscriptions
and advertising.
Bottom: Cover and two spreads from a sixteen-page prelaunch
brochure. The largest use of the brochure was for counter displays in
art stores that were selling subscriptions and single copies of CA.
Brochures were also mailed to key people in the field to solicit
subscriptions and attract submissions of work that might be shown in
the magazine.
28 Interactive Annual 2019
60
M ost magazines begin as a marketing exercise—
identify an underserved audience and determine
potential revenue from advertising and ancillary
activities. The creation of Communication Arts, however,
was a solution to a problem unrelated to publishing.
In the mid-1950s, my father, Dick Coyne, and his business
partner, Bob Blanchard, were running a successful design
firm on the San Francisco Peninsula that included their own
in-house typesetting shop. They also wanted to build a color
separation and litho-stripping facility in order to provide
better service to their growing list of clients and satisfy their
interest in improving reproduction techniques, but there
simply wasn’t enough work from the design business to keep
such a facility profitable. After numerous discussions, their
best idea was to launch a commercial art magazine to pick
up the slack.
There certainly was a need. At the time, there wasn’t a true
national magazine on the subject, and the ones that were
available reproduced work so poorly that they really weren’t
worth reading. Dick and Bob’s goal was to showcase quality
work from around the country, showing as much in color as
possible by using offset lithography to reproduce work
originally printed by letterpress, the most common printing
method during that time.
One of the biggest obstacles was the lack of accurate screen
tints in the four-process colors to match the special inks and
colored papers used on letterpress. Dick and Bob’s solution
was to create process color screen tints in 10 percent
increments and then print master sheets showing all the
possible combinations.
“One thing was certain: we couldn’t do the kind of magazine
we wanted without the litho prep facility,” Dick said. “And
since no other ideas had emerged, it looked like we couldn’t
have the prep facility without the magazine, and our curiosity
and interest in improving reproduction techniques would
be squelched.”
On the assumption that the publication could succeed,
Dick and Bob proceeded with their plans. A cameraman and
a litho stripper were hired. A horizontal camera with glass
screens for separations and halftones was installed. Film
processors were not yet available, so all the film had to be
developed by hand.
“With that marvelous new toy back there, it was more difficult
Communication Arts | commarts.com 29
 CA AT 60
to concentrate on the design
work,” Dick said, “but our litho
personnel were busy creating
the master screens and film
for the color charts.”
Given the concept behind the
publication—a trade magazine
printed by lithography that’s
more dependent on circulation
than on advertising—it was
essential to build a broad subscription base in a hurry.
“The name assumed a great importance in our thinking—
maybe too much importance,” Dick said. “When we were
planning the magazine, we changed the name about once
a day. At times, three or four people in our design studio
could be working on a magazine project, each with a dif-
ferent name. We didn’t want to live with the generic term
commercial art, but we weren’t sure we could live without it.
We settled on a compromise. Like most compromises, it was
never very satisfactory.”
Volume 1, Number 1
CA, The Journal of Commercial Art was published in August 1959.
It was the first magazine in the United States printed by
offset lithography. “The name was more popularly received
by the art store owners than by many practitioners in our
field, who believed commercial art invoked images of some-
body in a closet-sized room with a bare light bulb and
a green eyeshade,” Dick said.
After a few issues, and Design was added to the title. Two
years later, the name was changed to CA Magazine. The Journal
of the Communication Arts was added as a subtitle in 1964, and
the name was finally changed to Communication Arts in 1969.
“Art director clubs were very
important years ago,” said
Jean Coyne, Dick’s wife and
current executive editor.
“We also had people sta-
tioned in various cities who
would feed us information
about up-and-coming
people and who we should
keep our eye on.”
Advertising, however, was a disappointment. The first issue
carried only ten pages. The December 1959 issue carried less
than two. In order to increase revenue, Dick and Bob decided
to launch an annual competition, whose winners would be
published in an Annual in the magazine.
“We were in trouble and needed to do something with impact,
something that would get attention,” Dick said. “At that time
we asked ourselves if another show was really necessary.
But we figured the field could stand another.”
That first competition, held in 1960, received more than 5,000
entries for design, advertising, illustration and photography
work. A jury of seven creative professionals was invited to
select which projects would be included in the Annual. As
an added experiment, four parallel juries selected their first,
second and third choices in each of the categories of work
that had been selected by the main jury. One parallel jury
consisted of three consumers; another had two corporate
presidents, and an executive vice president representing
management; the third had three advertising account
managers; and the last had an artist, a designer and an art
director. The experiment resulted in very little consensus,
and it was never repeated.

“Our initial content included a number of how-to articles, the
best I’ve read,” Dick said. “We also tried to balance the
editorial with idea and stimulation features.”
Regional art director clubs were also valuable wellsprings of
editorial content.
“The parallel juries didn’t work at all,” Jean said.
Despite the initial rough start, it quickly became apparent
that the competition’s benefit to the magazine would be
more than just financial.
“When we launched the first competition, we weren’t totally

Robert Miles Runyan and Jim Art Shipman, Dallas-based

Fitzgerald designed the Neiman Marcus art director,
cover for CA-60, the first CA designed this 1962 cover as
Annual. The winners of the a statement on the fleeting
competition were selected life of newspaper advertising.
by a jury of seven. Four This was also the first issue
parallel juries (consumers, after our conversion to
management, ad account bimonthly circulation.
executives and creatives)
chose first, second and third
choices in each category.
Interestingly, the only entries
that were unanimously
chosen by all four parallel
juries were two McCall’s
spreads, art directed by
Otto Storch.

30 Interactive Annual 2019

 Left: The CA Color Guides was a series of books published in the early
1960s showing the result of overprinting inks in different combinations of
10 percent increments. While commercially successful, color consistency
was crucial, requiring Dick to supervise the entire press run. “That almost
killed him because he had to be on press all the time, watching,” Jean said.
“I think that’s the closest he thought about quitting.”
This page: Production for the first 30 years before the introduction of
desktop publishing. Because most of the work shown in the magazine
had been previously printed and could not be cropped, layouts
had to be extremely accurate. Many featured projects
had type or other elements close to the edges,
and after a 60 to 75 percent reduction, toler-
ances became very tight. Artwork was measured,
and reductions were calculated on enlarged reduc-
tion wheels recalibrated for accuracy (above).
Full-size layouts were done on precision squared light
tables (left) using templates showing the folios and margins.
Paste-ups were done on 70 lb. coated printing paper taped right over
the layouts. Rules were first inked by hand and corners were scraped
using a knife while working under an engraver’s glass for accuracy. The
balance of the overdrawn rule was easily opaqued on the negative film.
The windows were created with red stripping film and lithographer’s tape.
Type proofs were set into position with tape. While not very presentable,
these paste-ups were extremely accurate and only had to last long enough
to make it to the darkroom for a negative line shot. For reasons of quality
and savings in time and money, much of the stripping was done in-house,
with pages delivered as four-ups to the printer, ready to burn plates.

One of our best-received covers “Frodo Lives!” Two of the

appeared in 1966, when the buttons on this 1967 cover
Ajax white knight commercials carry that message. These
were brightening our television buttons, along with beads,
screens. Los Angeles–based amulets and so forth, were
photographer Peter James common hippie adornment.
Samerjan rented the same suit Our decision to show them
of armor used in the commer- was triggered by the rock
cials and hired actor Calvin posters we reproduced in
Brown, who obviously enjoyed the issue. The posters had
the idea as much as we did. a rare appeal, and they
offered a new kick for
those who were attracted
to the subculture they
reflected. William Arbogast,
photographer.

Communication Arts | commarts.com 31

 CA AT 60
aware of what a wonderful door we had opened,” Dick said.
“No research effort could duplicate the awareness this gave
us on what is going on everywhere. As a plus, we got to
spend a few days with a group of interesting people.”
There were many memorable moments in those early years
of judging. For instance, in 1961, the jury was invited to
attend a reception at the Art Directors and Artists Club of San
Francisco. A chartered bus delivered the jury to the event. But
when it was time to leave, several jurors were not to be
found. “Dick said, ‘Don’t worry about them; they’ll find their
way back to Palo Alto,’” Jean said. “I was a worrier, so I was
worried, but everybody showed up to judge the next day.”
The most notable incident occurred in 1962 when CBS
creative director Lou Dorfsman accidently drove a rented
camper through a covered pedestrian crosswalk at the
hotel where the competition was being held, demolishing
the walkway’s roof. “We thought the hotel was going to
bill us for the damage, putting us out of business,” Jean said.
“They never did.”
Despite the added income from competition entry fees, ad
pages dropped off and new subscriptions dwindled when the
economy fell into a recession in the early 1960s, causing the
new business to struggle financially.
“I don’t remember how many times we debated giving up… or
wondered if tomorrow was the day that somebody else
would make that decision for us,” Dick said. “But we hung on
stubbornly… cut the staff, cut our salaries, worked longer
hours. Blanchard and I not only wrote and did the layouts, we
did most of the litho stripping too. We didn’t bother with
paste-ups—we put the magazine together in negative film
flats, ready to burn plates. Anything to save time and a buck.”
To address the increasing debt, the design studio was sold to
the employees, the type shop was spun out as a separate
company and the color separation division was eventually
sold to the printer. As the economic and physical punish-
ment dragged on, Blanchard left to go into business for
“Not qualified” had been the
explanation for the lack of
minority participation in the
visual arts. Why not qualify
minority talent? Bill Tara,
a contributor to CA in the ’60s,
created Tutor/Art, training Los
Angeles inner-city high school
students so they could prepare
portfolios for art school.
A story on Tutor/Art was
included in this 1968 issue.
William Arbogast,
photographer.
32 Interactive Annual 2019
himself, but Dick stuck it out, finally managing to get out of
debt in the early 1970s by sheer force of will.
During that decade, circulation grew substantially, as did
competition entries. The illustration and photography
categories were spun off into their own competition and
Annual in 1976. In 1983, the Design and Advertising Annual
was split into two Annuals by discipline, as was the Illus-
tration and Photography Annual in 1984.
Transition
At the end of 1989, Dick arranged for the sale of the magazine
to me; my brother, Eric; and my sister, Marti. In 1990, Dick
was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer and died of
a stroke less than three months later. While his death was
a terrible blow to all of us, we continue to have a lot of pride
in keeping his legacy alive. We’ve also been fortunate that our
mother, Jean, who was involved with the business from the
beginning, remains actively involved. My daughter, Lauren,
and her husband, Dirk, are also on staff. My son, Michael, is
a contributing writer. The fact that CA is really a small family
business has been one of the keys to its success, as economic
decisions are not based on increasing short-term shareholder
value, but on providing value to subscribers.
Evolution
Like the rest of the industry, the next big evolution for CA
followed the dawn of interactive media.
At the 1994 Design Annual judging, all nine judges huddled
around a computer, viewing the first interactive media
entries we’d ever received. It took them 30 minutes to review
the projects—all three of them. We still had thousands of
print entries to judge within three days and realized the
whole system would collapse if we got more interactive
entries in the future.
Our solution was to launch a fifth competition, for inter-
active design, in 1995, publishing our first Interactive
Annual that same year.
A reproduction of a limited
edition poster created by Dick
Hess and Sam Antupit, this
1969 cover was an idea
inspired by the unfortunate
incident when pop artist Andy
Warhol was shot. Everyone
agreed that the image made
a statement by symbolizing
a decade of artistic, social and
political unrest. Stettner-
Endress, photographer.
 Above left: Our first desktop-published issue was May/June 1990,
produced with Ready, Set, Go! publishing software by Manhattan
Graphics on three Apple Macintosh IIci workstations, each with
100MB hard drives and 5MB of RAM—priced then at $10,000 each.
Far from a smooth transition, it quickly became a crash course in
typesetting. Ream after ream of bond paper spewed from our
laser printer as we worked on the rag, letterspacing, word spacing
and kerning, all the while discovering typos and paragraphs that
had reragged themselves between versions of the same page.
Today, like most publications, we use Adobe software running on
iMacs in a server/client topology.
Below left: During the transition years, when we’d receive some
artwork as printed samples and some as digital files, layouts
were produced using a proprietary program that automatically
calculated the reproduction size of a project after we keyed in
the original dimensions. After positioning the projects in a page
configuration, the program created a data file that included page
geometry and image box definitions. InDesign interpreted the
data file to build a document. Image files were then imported
and positioned.
Below: Proofreading is still done in hardcopy form—typically
three rounds of reading and correction, and then proofs are
assembled into sixteen-page forms as they would run on press.
We’ve still found it best to look at the pages in a format that’s
as close as possible to the final printed form.

A special 1972 issue on the A major part of this 1974 issue

environment, edited and was devoted to the creation
designed by Dugald Stermer. of annual reports during tough
The cover was a needlepoint financial times. Photographer
rendering by Mary Stermer William Arbogast was given
from the 1970 cover of Dugald the “burning question” assign-
Stermer’s book The Art of ment. His solution would have
Revolution. We received several been just as relevant during
letters from subscribers the recent Great Recession.
grumbling that if they wanted
environmental coverage, they
would join Friends of the Earth.
Alfredo Rostgaard, symbol;
William Arbogast, photographer.

Communication Arts | commarts.com 33

 CA AT 60

In 2009, we revamped our publishing model again, cutting
our frequency to six issues a year instead of the confusing
eight-issue schedule—five Annuals, one for each compe-
tition, and three multitopic issues—we had been following
since 1984. In 2010, we added our sixth and final competition,
for typography. Today, every issue we print contains winning
work from one of our six juried competitions—Design, Adver-
tising, Typography, Illustration, Photography and Interactive
Media—along with feature profiles and columns.
Our most recent change has been the digitizing of our entire
archive of issues. Nancy Lewis, our archivist and my wife,
supervised the scanning of more than 70,000 pages of
content and processed them for publishing online through
electronic publishing platform Issuu. We hope readers will
find this a valuable addition to their subscriptions and an
important tool in researching the history of visual communi-
cations—it certainly has been invaluable in the production
of this anniversary issue.
Thank you
CA is fortunate to have been staffed by such talented team
members over the years. I’d like to publicly thank them
for all they’ve done to help us grow. I’d also like to thank
our numerous contributors who have written for us.
A special thanks to our initial contributing editors—William
Condit, Wendell Davenport,
Ira Goldblatt, Susan Jackson
Keig, Tobias Moss, James
Peck, Emile Pirro, Ted
Poyser, Harold Quiram and
Robert S. Robison—who
were our eyes and ears until
the competitions helped
bring new work to us.
Thanks also to Art Inman,
our original printer, whose
faith in the magazine and generous credit and financial aid
carried the magazine through some difficult years and who,
up until his death in 2007, served as a member of our board
of directors. Also, thanks to our current printer, Schumann
Printers, Inc., which shares our vision of quality. Thank you
also to our advertisers who believe in us.
Many thanks to our distinguished jurors—all 1,339 of them
to date. Not only did these fine people contribute their time
and energy for the judging, but they have also been a tre-
mendous help in defining our editorial direction.
Personal thanks have to go to my father, Dick Coyne, whose
belief that the magazine was worth doing made it the
success it is today. I feel fortunate to continue his personal
vision of quality. “This is a good field. I’ve never regretted
being a part of it,” Dick said. “It offers a unique amount of
challenge, excitement and personal satisfaction—also, the
opportunity for anyone with adequate talent, who is willing
to work hard and always give it their best shot, to achieve
a good monetary reward.”
Most importantly, thank you to all of you, our readers, for
supporting us with your ideas, advice, subscription dollars
and competition entry fees so we can bring you the quality
publication you deserve. As all publications continue to
struggle with declining advertising revenue and increasing
competition for atten-
tion, we are grateful for
the support you have
given us these past 60
years. As Dick once said,
“The magazine will be
around as long as it can
perform enough service
to this field that you
believe it’s worthwhile
keeping CA alive.” ca

Our 1991 cover, Frog Spurn, RJ Muna’s 1997 cover photo-

is one from a set of fifteen graph, from a series of nudes
illustrations for Bizarre for a gallery show, provoked
Birds & Beasts, published comments from readers. Some
by Dial Books/USA and felt that “ ... the contempt
Pavilion Books/UK, with an shown for this model is not
environmental theme, justifiable.” Others saw “ ...
written and illustrated by a dance move, one that each
London-based James interpreted in his or her own
Marsh. This was an way; most of us saw cele-
extremely popular cover, bration and joy.” Muna said,
and we went on to “What would it look like if you
reproduce it as a poster asked a dancer to express the
and lapel buttons. concept of noise?”

34 Interactive Annual 2019

 The sixth iteration of commarts.com was launched in early 2016.
In order to build the site, we had to venture outside our small
company for help. After interviewing several firms, we decided to
ask Code and Theory to design our site due to its experience in
creating content-heavy sites for the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg
and Hearst. The team came up with a beautiful, fully responsive
design that we feel accurately reflects our aesthetic and brand.
Based on the results from reader surveys, we organized the
content by discipline, by specific print issue and in a customizable
image gallery. We also added Book Reviews and Favorites to our
existing mix of feature profiles and columns.

For the Gallery view (left), one of our biggest challenges was
updating eleven years of legacy data, which has necessitated a lot
of manual work to clean up. Also, adding tags so projects can be
filtered by media and industry type in the Gallery view required
four interns more than two months to view 31,479 projects and
their captions in order to determine the most appropriate tags.
Our Magazine view (above) gives subscribers online access to every
single issue we’ve published. Subscribers can also download PDFs of
each issue included in their subscription. Individual issues can also
be purchased and downloaded.

Edel Rodriguez’s 2006 Randal Ford’s 2014 cover

depiction of Che Guevara image of his son, photo-
generated angry letters from graphed after falling off
both Che supporters and a bathroom counter,
detractors. It also generated elicited several complaints
more newsstand sales than from readers who found
any other multitopic issue in the image offensive. Ford
our recent history. explained: “As a photo-
grapher, I believe you find
your personal work and
voice in your surroundings,
and I felt like the ‘shiner’
needed to be documented.
It showcased a tough
personality that is often the
case with two-year-old
rough-and-tumble boys.”

Communication Arts | commarts.com 35

 60
1959 1960

graphic design & advertising

YEARS International Paper
logo: Lester Beall

TIMELINE Saul Bass designs title sequence

and directs shower scene for
Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho
The following 24 pages pro-
vide a brief, 60-year overview
of the evolution of creativity Communication Arts
in visual communications and first issue
its relationship to society,
culture and technology. First Parisian Bakery
created 20 years ago for our identity: Marget Larsen

40th anniversary, this timeline

was expanded for our 50th NASA “meatball” Litton annual report:
anniversary, and now again logo (revived in 1992):
James Modarelli
Robert Miles Runyan &
Associates
for our 60th. VW Beetle print campaign
begins: Doyle Dane Bernbach
We’ve included projects and
campaigns that have been
noted as influential by our
competition judges, other pub- Exodus film logotype:
lished sources or individual Westinghouse
Saul Bass & Associates
logo: Paul Rand
creatives. Work from the
most recent years was chosen
solely from our Annuals due
to the absence of corroborative
sources. Space constraints lim-
Monet exhibition
ited our coverage to work from poster: Norm Gollin Eagle Shirtmakers
print ad: Weiner &
the United States and Canada, Gossage
and the positioning of work
is approximate; exact dates
are often difficult to ascertain “Around the world” ad for Hunt Foods print ad:
IBM: Benton & Bowles Young & Rubicam
due to a lack of public docu-
mentation, conflicting dates
Xerox photocopying Kennedy and Nixon
found in multiple sources and
politics & culture

machine debate on television

project durations that span Cuba: Castro takes
power
more than a year.
France: de Gaulle
becomes president
Our selection is not intended
Hawaii becomes 50th
as a comprehensive history; it state
is, of course, open to debate George Grosz dies
U2 spy plane shot down
Ornette Coleman
releases Free Jazz
US nuclear sub
circumnavigates Earth
underwater

as you will certainly cite differ- Robert Noyce creates

planar integrated John F. Kennedy elected
Frank Lloyd Wright dies president
ent projects as having an circuit, allowing
Barbie introduced commercial
influence on your own career IBM 401 computer
development
as a creative professional.

36 Interactive Annual 2019

 1961 1962 1963

United Parcel Service Commemorative postage stamp for

logo: Paul Rand the centennial of the Emancipation
Proclamation: Georg Olden

Burlington Industries
annual report:
George Tscherny
Eros magazine: Hillside Press
Herb Lubalin, art director logo: Keith Bright
Holiday magazine:
Frank Zachary,
art director

Levy’s Bread print ad:

Doyle Dane Bernbach
CBS Television Network print ad: Show magazine:
Lou Dorfsman/Al Amato Henry Wolf, art director

Wolfschmidt vodka print ad:

Papert, Koenig, Lois American Broadcasting Company
trademark: Paul Rand

Chun King TV commercial: BBDO, agency;

Freberg Ltd., production company

Helvetica (Linotype), a reinterpretation of

existing Grotesks by Edouard Hoffmann and T. Eaton Co. Ltd. print ad:
Max Miedinger in 1957, becomes one of the Jack Parker, art director
most widely specified typeface families in
the US during the ’60s and ’70s. Redesigned National Broadcasting Company ad:
and expanded as Neue Helvetica in 1983 Chermayeff & Geismar, designers; Avis Rent a Car ad campaign:
McCann-Erickson, agency Doyle Dane Bernbach

Newton Minow, FCC Alan Shepard first Campbell’s Soup Cans: Roper poll shows 36%
chairman, lambastes TV American in space Andy Warhol of Americans favor TV
as a “vast wasteland,” as an information
Amnesty International Seattle World’s Fair:
calls for more federal source vs. 24% for print
formed Man in the Space Age
regulation; the same
John F. Kennedy
day, Hubert Humphrey Berlin Wall constructed Cuban Missile Crisis
assassinated, Lyndon
calls TV “the greatest
Ernest Hemingway kills John Glenn becomes B. Johnson becomes
single achievement in
himself first American to orbit president
communication that
Earth
anybody or any area of Assassination of Édith Piaf dies
the world has ever Dominican Republic The Jetsons
Army-Navy football
known” president Rafael Trujillo
Anthony Burgess’s game: first instant replay
Molina
First manned space novel A Clockwork Martin Luther King Jr. in television sports
flight, Yuri Gagarin MIT develops first time- Marilyn Monroe dies Orange gives “I Have a Dream” Digital Equipment
orbits Earth sharing computer speech Corporation introduces
Thalidomide birth First interracial network first minicomputer
defects commercial: Wisk
detergent

Communication Arts | commarts.com 37

 TIMELINE
1964 1965
graphic design & advertising

Fuller Paints Company logo:

Saul Bass & Associates

Chicago magazine: Carl Regehr

Knoll International
corporate identity:
“The blind are also color Unimark International
blind” newspaper ad
during debate of Civil
Rights Voting Guarantee
Bill: Carson/Roberts Rebellion, in denim
blue and Carnaby Street
brights from London,
gives the decade
a youthful look

Mobil corporate identity:

Chermayeff & Geismar

Talon trade ad:

Delehanty, Kurnit & Geller
The White Father book cover:
Milton Glaser

Lyndon Johnson political TV commercial

(during his campaign against Barry
Goldwater); the “Daisy” TV commercial of New York subway system map:
a girl picking daisies cut with a countdown Vignelli Associates
to nuclear explosion was shown only Coty lipstick print ad: Papert, Koenig, Lois
once: Doyle Dane Bernbach, agency; Tony
Schwartz, production company Chivas Regal print ad:
Doyle Dane Bernbach

John Orr Young chas­ Mary Quant makes First appearances at

politics & culture

tises his colleagues for miniskirts popular local Washington, DC

their support of ciga­
Mandela condemned
rette advertising in his
to life in prison; South
monthly newsletter
Africa excluded from
AC Nielsen Company Olympics due to
ceases measuring radio apartheid
audiences
Khrushchev ousted
Surgeon general’s from power
report links smoking to
G.I. Joe, first “action
lung cancer
figure” doll for boys,
introduced
Martin Luther King Jr.
receives Nobel Peace
Prize
Escalation of Vietnam
War
Cassius Clay wins
heavyweight crown
Beatles first US concert
franchises by Ronald
McDonald
IBM “introduced
programmed composi­
tion for the paper tapes
driving Linotype
machines”—“basis
of computer typeset­
Winston Churchill dies
ting” or “The notion
of storing type as Malcolm X assassinated
mathematical formulae
in digital form intro­ Great Northeast blackout
duced by the German Le Corbusier dies
firm Hell”
Warning labels required
on all cigarette packages

38 Interactive Annual 2019

 1966
Mother & Child masthead:
Herb Lubalin/Tom Carnase/Alan Peckolick
Mobil (public
service anti­
drunk­driving
print ad): Doyle
Dane Bernbach
Alka­Seltzer: “Man vs.
Stomach” animated TV
commercial: Jack Tinker &
Partners, agency; Electra,
production company
Psychedelic poster:
Wes Wilson
Exxon logotype:
Raymond Loewy Volkswagen “floating Beetle” ad:
Doyle Dane Bernbach
China: Cultural
Revolution begins
(1966–1976)
Anti­Vietnam
demonstrations in US
Dr. DeBakey implants
first artificial heart
during surgery
India: Indira Gandhi
becomes prime
minister
First concerts by Velvet
Underground Maxfield Parrish dies
Riots in Watts, Los
Angeles
1967 1968
Bob Dylan poster: Mexico City Olympics
Milton Glaser stamps: Lance Wyman/
Peter Murdoch and
Associates
Che Guevara
cover for
Evergreen
Review:
Paul Davis
Woolmark trademark:
Francesco Saroglia
John Wanamaker
newspaper ad: in­house
Hunt­Wesson Foods print
ad: Young & Rubicam
Esquire magazine
cover: George Lois
Los Angeles County
Human Relations
Commission news­
paper ad “Is your
neighborhood all­white
or all­American?”:
Chiat/Day
Public Service newspaper ad:
Doyle Dane Bernbach
CBS News “Black
History” series
newspaper ad:
Lou Dorfsman
TV stations required to Che Guevara executed Student riots
give equal time to anti­ in France
Dr. Christiaan Barnard
smoking messages
performs first Martin Luther King Jr.
Expo 67, successful heart assassinated
R. Buckminster Fuller transplant
Czechoslovakia invaded
designs US pavilion
Mexico City Olympics
Six­Day War
Stanley Kubrick film
2001: A Space Odyssey
North Korea seizes the
USS Pueblo Robert F. Kennedy
My Lai massacre assassinated
Richard Nixon elected
president
Communication Arts | commarts.com 39
 TIMELINE
1969
graphic design & advertising
West magazine: Mike Salisbury
ITC Avant Garde Gothic:
Herb Lubalin/Tom Carnase
Friends of the Earth “Memo to the
Fur Industry” trade ad: Vietnam War protest poster:
Freeman, Mander & Gossage Art Workers’ Coalition
Mary Georgene Berg
politics & culture
Wells Lawrence earns
$225,000/year, highest
salary for a woman in
the world
NAB Code Authority lifts
ban on advertising of
feminine hygiene
sprays and powders
Vidifont introduced by
CBS Television; one
of the first electronically
generated typefaces
for TV
40 Interactive Annual 2019
1970
Alka-Seltzer “Mama Mia”
TV commercial: Doyle Dane
United California Bernbach, agency; Zieff Films,
Bank “best tellers production company
in town” TV com-
mercial: Doyle
Dane Bernbach,
agency; Richards
& Myers, produc-
tion company
Direction Sports print ad: Chiat/Day
The Push Pin Style:
published by
Communication Arts
The National Urban
Coalition (the Advertising
Council), various celebrities
and Hair cast members sing
“Let the Sunshine In” TV Herman Miller’s Sweet
commercial: Ketchum, Corn Festival poster: Stephen
MacLeod & Grove, agency; Frykholm/Philip Mitchell
MPO Videotronics,
production company
Bell System “bell”
American Airlines poster: trademark: Saul Bass
Fred Troller Associates & Associates
Public Broadcasting Solzhenitsyn wins
Service begins Nobel Prize for
literature
First Concorde flight
Richard Nixon becomes War in Vietnam spreads
president to Laos and Cambodia
Woodstock Chile: Allende elected
de Gaulle dies
France: de Gaulle Apollo 11—Neil
resigns, Pompidou Armstrong first person Kent State massacre The Beatles give their last
elected on the moon studio perfomance
Apollo 13 mission
Libya: Gaddafi takes Saturday Evening Post
The first Earth Day is
power folds after 148 years
celebrated in the US
Tate-LaBianca murders; US troops first
Manson arrested withdrawn from
Vietnam
News reports of the My
Lai massacre
Chappaquiddick
 1971 1972 1973
“Swoosh” symbol:
designed by student
Carolyn Davidson,
sold to Nike for $35

Jockey Tall Man and Big Man

underwear trade ad: Levine,
Huntley, Schmidt & Beaver Peridot Films poster:
Push Pin Studios

Smithsonian
Traveling
Exhibition poster:
David Ashton

Perdue chicken print ad:

Scali, McCabe, Sloves, Inc.

Mennen Company American Tourister

packaging: Ernie Smith print ad: Doyle
Official symbol Dane Bernbach
for the US
Bicentennial:
Chermayeff
& Geismar Pacific Film Archive poster:
David Lance Goines

American Airlines poster:

Doyle Dane Bernbach

Beethoven piano concerto poster:

Photosun print ad: Florence Eiseman Clothes poster: Dan Friedman
Warner, Bicking & Fenwick, Inc. McDonald, Davis, Weller

Tobacco advertising Metroset introduced by NAB Code Authority Senate Watergate

banned on TV MGD Graphic Systems lifts ban on advertising hearings begin
(Rockwell International); of tampons and sanitary
Stronger warning labels First commmercial fax
fonts stored digitally as napkins
against smoking machines
outlines
required on packs Running Fence environ-
First oil crisis
First antialiased digital mental sculpture: Christo
David Hockney swim- Recession
fonts developed at MIT
ming pool paintings Texas Instruments pro-
NAB and networks agree duces pocket calculator Arab-Israeli War
A Clockwork Orange
to limit TV commercial
film: Stanley Kubrick Watergate break-in Britain, Ireland,
time in children’s
Denmark join EEC Picasso dies
China admitted to UN programming slots from Nixon overwhelmingly
16 minutes per hour to reelected president Lyndon B. Johnson dies Roe v. Wade decision
26th Amendment gives
The Ed Sullivan Show 12 minutes per hour legalizes abortion
18-year-olds the right
to vote ends; All in the Family Nixon visits China
debuts
Intel invents micro-
processor

Communication Arts | commarts.com 41

 TIMELINE
1974 1975
graphic design & advertising

National Zoo environmental graphics:

Wyman & Cannan

Southern Airways “Orgy” TV

commercial: McDonald & Little,
NASA “worm” logo agency; Sedelmaier Films,
(discontinued in 1992): production company
Danne & Blackburn

Department of Transportation
symbol signs: Cook and United Airlines
Shanosky Associates trademark: Saul Bass National Air and Space Museum
& Associates poster: James Miho

Earth tones marked the ’70s. Rusts,

oranges, browns and the infamous
avocado green often make the ’70s
the butt of color jokes

ITC Garamond
(adapted from M.F. Benton):
Tony Stan

7UP: live and animated

Busby Berkeley–style
“U N C O L A” TV commercial:
J. Walter Thompson, agency;
Robert Abel & Associates,
production company

Hebrew National beef hot

dogs “We answer to a
higher authority” TV com­
mercial: Scali, McCabe,
Sloves, agency; Steve
Horn, production company

Kawasaki “lets the good times roll” campaign: Ragú spaghetti sauce “Now that’s
Cunningham & Walsh Italian!” TV commercial: Waring & Wall Street Journal campaign:
LaRosa, agency; Bob Giraldi, Jim Johnston Advertising
production company

Moreno invents smart Steve Jobs and Steve Death of Franco and
politics & culture

card for storing and Wozniak design the Chiang Kai­shek

processing computer Apple I
Khmer Rouge takes
data
First laser phototype­ Phnom Penh
Solzhenitsyn expelled setter introduced by
Start of Lebanese
from USSR and stripped Monotype
Civil War
of Soviet citizenship
First word processors
Jaws is first $100
Arafat welcomed at UN with VDTs introduced
million film
by Wang, Vydec,
End of dictatorship in
Hank Aaron breaks Lexitron and Linolex End of US involvement
Portugal
Babe Ruth’s all­time in Vietnam
Home Box Office
Nixon resigns, Gerald home run record launched by Time Inc. Altair 8800 first
Ford becomes president
Patty Hearst kidnap­ personal computer
Gunsmoke ends after
ped by Symbionese on market
20 years
Liberation Army Byte begins publication
Bic disposable razor
Apollo­Soyuz mission

42 Interactive Annual 2019

 1976 1977 1978
NBC introduces new
logo; discovers it to
be almost identical
to that used by
the Nebraska ETV
Network

“Powers of Ten” film:

Charles and Ray Eames

Bell Centennial designed for AT&T,

specifically for telephone directory
typesetting: Matthew Carter

Wet magazine
launches:
Leonard Koren

Kawasaki: “Ultimate Trip” TV commercial

(Hallucinogenic imagery of motorcycle ride
caused this ad to be censored by ABC and
CBS for being “antisocial,” “inducing people
to take drugs” and “contributing to the
use of drugs by motorcyclists”): J. Walter
Thompson, agency; Robert Abel & Associates,
production company
US National Park Service’s Unigrid system:
Vignelli Associates/National Park Service

Fresh Paint poster:

Implement, Ltd.

Campaign for North Carolina Department of Tourism:

Nike marathon poster:
McKinney Silver & Rockett
John Brown & Partners
CBS Records Chicago album cover:
John Berg

WTBS becomes US Supreme Court Punk music movement Showtime cable John Paul II first
“superstation” on decision permits lawyer in England network launched Polish pope
cable TV advertisements for first by Viacom
Star Wars film Norman Rockwell dies
time
Cray 1 supercomputer Italy: Aldo Moro
Sadat visits Israel Epson introduces
Apple Computer assassinated by Red
US Bicentennial dot matrix printer
founded, Apple I US tests neutron bomb Brigades
Roots published launched San Francisco mayor
Man Ray dies Camp David
George Moscone and
Roots TV agreements: Sadat
Apple II introduced; first supervisor Harvey Milk
miniseries airs and Begin receive Nobel
personal computer with are assassinated by
Peace Prize
Jimmy Carter elected Hewlett-Packard color graphics capability former supervisor
president portable micro- Jim Jones cult suicide Dan White
Mao Tse-tung dies;
computer in Guyana
Gang of Four coup
First optic fiber attempt crushed by First test-tube baby
phone lines Deng Xiaoping born, in England
France: Centre Georges
Pompidou opens

Communication Arts | commarts.com 43

 TIMELINE
1979 1980
graphic design & advertising

“Stars in Motion” symbol

for 1984 Summer
Olympics: Robert Miles
Runyan & Associates

Washburn College Bible:

Bradbury Thompson
BMW North America “The Ultimate Driving
Machine” print ad: Ammirati & Puris

The Napier Company

jewelry print ad:
Lord, Geller, Federico,
Einstein

ITC Franklin Gothic (M.F. Benton, 1904):

Vic Caruso

Federal Express “When

it absolutely, positively
has to be there overnight” Brigham Young University
TV commercial: Ally & poster: McRay Magleby
Gargano, agency; Sedelmaier
Productions, production
company

Maxell print ad: Scali, McCabe, Sloves

Nikon print ad:

Scali, McCabe, Sloves

Fetish: The Magazine Architecture Dallas poster:

of the Material World: Pirtle Design
Helvetica poster: Jack Summerford
Doublespace

HJ Heinz annual report: Absolut Vodka print ad:

Corporate Graphics TBWA Advertising

NAB Code Authority lifts Sony Walkman CNN launched by

politics & culture

ban on advertising of Ted Turner

pregnancy test kits and
“jock-itch” remedies
Adobe Systems
introduces PostScript
ESPN launched
Soviet army invades
Afghanistan Walter Cronkite hands
over CBS anchoring
First laser printer- duties to Dan Rather
copier
First Nielsen reports for
Three Mile Island syndicated
accident programming
Iran: fall of the Shah, Iran-Iraq War begins
rise of Khomeini, Margaret Thatcher John Lennon killed
Iranians take US elected British prime Second oil crisis
embassy and hostages minister
Ronald Reagan elected
Vietnam invades president
Cambodia, expels Poland: Solidarity
Khmer Rouge movement led by Lech
Sonia Delaunay dies Walesa

44 Interactive Annual 2019

 1981 1982 1983
Vertigo clothing store
logotype: April Greiman

Wendy’s “Where’s the

beef?” TV commercial:
Tulip Time poster: Dancer Fitzgerald
Herman Miller Sample, agency;
Corporate Communications Sedelmaier Productions,
production company Lite Beer from Miller TV
commercial: Backer &
Rudy VanderLans
Spielvogel, agency; Steve Horn,
founds and art
Inc., production company
directs Émigré

Technicolor annual Perrier “Earth’s First

report: Robert Miles Soft Drink” print ad: Dallas Zoo logo: Richards,
Runyan & Associates Waring & LaRosa Sullivan, Brock & Associates

L.J. Skaggs and Mary

C. Skaggs Foundation
annual report:
A History of Graphic Vanderbyl Design
Design: Philip B. Meggs
A Day in the Life: Rick Smolan
The San Diego
Zoo print ad:
Phillips-Ramsey

1984 Summer Olympics poster:

April Greiman/Jayme Odgers

Honda Motor Company poster:

Needham, Harper & Steers

Alaska Airlines TV commercial:

Chiat/Day/Livingston, agency; Knoll hot pepper
Sedelmaier Productions, poster: Pirtle Design Royal Caribbean print ad:
production company McKinney Silver & Rockett

FCC deregulates radio First Space Shuttle flight USA Today founded First laptop computer— Final episode of US invades Grenada
broadcasting Epson HX-20 M*A*S*H
Iran frees US hostages NAB TV Code struck Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet
Page-makeup systems down in US v. NAB Compaq Computer American and French program introduced
Prince Charles marries
introduced using menus Corporation founded; scientists identify AIDS
Lady Diana Spencer Home Shopping R. Buckminster Fuller
and mouse interface first IBM PC clone virus
Network launched dies
Death of Bobby Sands
First digital type Ridley Scott’s film Strategic Defense
(of the Provisional First artificial heart
foundry, Bitstream Inc., Blade Runner, based on Initiative
IRA) after 66 days of transplant, by Dr.
founded by Matthew Philip K. Dick novel
hunger strike William DeVries Compact disc
Carter and Mike Parker
introduced
MTV launched Falklands War
First AIDS cases
recognized Sandra Day O’Connor State of emergency
appointed first woman declared in Nicaragua
France: Mitterrand
justice of the US
elected president Israel invades Lebanon,
Supreme Court
expels PLO from Beirut
Egypt: Anwar Sadat
First IBM personal
assassinated
computer

Communication Arts | commarts.com 45

 TIMELINE
1984 1985
graphic design & advertising

AT&T digitized globe

logo: Bass & Yager

Nike outdoor board for 1984 Summer

Olympics: Chiat/Day ™

Early Emigre typeface designs: Zuzana Licko

John Hancock Financial Services

“Real life, real answers” TV
commercial: Hill, Holliday,
Cosmopulos, agency; Pytka,
production company
Rolling Stone “Perception/Reality”
“1984” Apple Macintosh print ad: Fallon, McElligott, Rice PepsiCo:
TV commercial: Chiat/Day, “Archaeology”
agency; Fairbanks Films, TV commercial:
production company BBDO, agency;
Pytka, produc-
tion company
Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler TV
commercial: Ogilvy & Mather, agency;
Pytka, production company

Royal Viking Line

company publication:
Children’s Jonson Pedersen
Defense Fund Hinrichs & Shakery
poster: Fallon
McElligott

1984 Summer Olympics environmental graphics: Sussman/Prejza & Co.

One from a series of

Nancy Reagan red and red or yellow
power ties are ’80s color staples.
Money and power were sociological
earmarks of the decade. Red,
black and glitter gold are fitting
colors to sum up this era
Shoshin Society posters
commemorating the
bombing of Hiroshima:
BYU Graphics
Potlatch annual report: Jonson Swatch watch poster
Pedersen Hinrichs & Shakery parodies Herbert Matter’s
Swissair poster from the
1930s: Koppel and Scher

First laser printer Christo wraps Pont Great Britain and

politics & culture

introduced by Apple Neuf Ireland sign Anglo-Irish

(using PostScript) Agreement
Soviet Union:
PageMaker introduced Gorbachev elected New Coke introduced
by Aldus Corporation secretary general of
Communist Party
I.M. Pei selected to
design the Grand Spain and Portugal
Louvre enter EEC
India: Indira Gandhi State of emergency
assassinated declared in South Africa
Ronald Reagan
Apple Macintosh reelected president
launched
AT&T broken up
Geraldine Ferraro runs
for vice president

46 Interactive Annual 2019

 1986 1987 1988
Next Computers
logo: Paul Rand

Progressive Corporation
annual report: Nesnadny
& Schwartz
American Express “Membership has its
priviliges” print ad: Ogilvy & Mather

Steuben Glass “The

Clearest Form of
Expression” print ad:
Doyle Graf Mabley

Hanna Winery label: The Zolo playsculpture: Higashi

Office of Michael Manwaring Glaser Design

Royal Viking Line print ad:

Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein

Cracker Barrel Old

Country Store
annual report:
Thomas Ryan Design

“I Heard It Through the Ralph Lauren Chaps poster:

Grapevine” California Duffy Design Group
Raisins TV commercial: “This is your brain on drugs”
Foote, Cone & Belding, TV commercial: Levi’s 501 jeans The Society
agency; Will Vinton keye/donna/pearlstein, agency; TV commercial: of Text book
Productions, produc- Pytka, production company Foote Cone & cover: MIT
tion company Belding, agency; Press Design
Power & Light,
production
company

“Joe Isuzu” TV commercial:

NYNEX Yellow Pages
TV commercial: Chiat/Day,
Expeditors International annual report: agency; Koetz & Company
Van Dyke Company production company
Della Femina, McNamee
WCRS, Inc., agency; Museum of Modern Art exhibition poster:
Travisano DiGiacomo Films, April Greiman
production company

Burger King: Herb
campaign is enormous
flop
Adobe Illustrator
software introduced
Chernobyl disaster
Start of perestroïka and
glasnost
Fontographer (by Altsys)
first software enabling
users to design high-
resolution typefaces
on personal computers
Launch of first
permanently manned
space station
Titanic found
Challenger disaster
Channel Tunnel project
announced
Libyan “line of death”
KRON-TV San Francisco van Gogh Irises sells B-2 Stealth Bomber Peace agreements in
is first major-market for $49 million Cambodia
First world conference
station to air a condom
World population five on AIDS Pakistan: Benazir
commercial
billion Bhutto becomes prime
George H. W. Bush
AC Nielsen introduces minister, “First woman
Iran-Contra Scandal elected president
“people meter,” leader in a Muslim
replacing diary system Baby M trial about Pan-Am 747 explodes country”
surrogate motherhood from terrorist bomb over
Rupert Murdoch
Lockerbie, Scotland;
launches Fox INF Treaty signed by US
270 die
Broadcasting Co. and USSR to eliminate
intermediate, land-
Start of intifada
based nuclear weapons
HyperCard introduced
Black Monday on Wall
Street

Communication Arts | commarts.com 47

 TIMELINE
1989 1990
graphic design & advertising

Eveready Energizer “Still

Il Fornaio identity:
Michael Mabry Design
Nike: “Bo Diddley” TV
commercial, first of
Bo Knows campaign:
Wieden & Kennedy,
agency; Pytka, pro­
duction company
Going” pink bunny TV
commercial: Chiat/Day/
Mojo, agency; Coppos
Films, production company
Template Gothic (Emigre) experimental typeface
inspired by common plastic lettering templates but
with a postindustrial twist of irregular nuances in
the character shapes within the typeface: Barry Deck
Time Warner
annual report:
Frankfurt
Gips Balkind

Reebok “Bungee” TV com­

mercial: Chiat/Day/Mojo,
agency; Plum Productions,
production company

Groucho poster: Seymour Chwast Nike Air “Just Do It” print ad: Wieden & Kennedy

Keds Corporation “Shoeshine

kit” print ad: Leonard Monahan
Lubars & Partners

Bathhouse Theatre poster:

Art Chantry

Beach Culture magazine:

David Carson
Bicycling West poster: Gerald Bustamante

The Timberland Company print ad: Mullen

Madonna Pepsi­Cola 7.1 magnitude Loma Channel Tunnel workers South African Nelson
politics & culture

commercials pulled by Prieta earthquake rocks link up under English Mandela freed after 27½
BBDO after one airing San Francisco Bay Area Channel years of imprisonment
due to controversy over
US invades Panama Canon Qpic still­video Children’s Television Act
the “Like a Prayer”
camera, records single
video Sony camcorder Hubble Space Telescope
frame images onto
launched
Canon color laser copier Romania: Ceausescu floppy disk
and wife executed and Iraqi troops invade
Time Inc. and Warner Reunification of Germany
government Berlin Wall demolished; Kuwait and seize petro­
Communications merge
overthrown collapse of Eastern Lech Walesa elected leum reserves, setting off
($14 billion)
European communist president of Poland Persian Gulf War
Dalai Lama wins Nobel
Tiananmen Square “regimes”
Peace Prize General Manuel Noriega Margaret Thatcher
massacre
surrenders in Panama resigns as British prime
Mikhail Gorbachev
Salman Rushdie minister
named Soviet president Yugoslav Communists
condemned to die by
end 45­year monopoly First democratic election
Ayatollah Khomeini
of power in Haiti
after publication of
The Satanic Verses Soviet Communists Global ban on CFCs,
relinquish sole power to start in 2000
48 Interactive Annual 2019
 1991 1992 1993

WIRED magazine:
John Plunkett/
Apriori clothing print ad: Barbara Kuhr
Weiss, Whitten, Carroll, Stagliano
Knoll stationery standards:
Chermayeff & Geismar
Metro Furniture brochure: Michael Mabry Design

FF Meta (FontShop International), a humanistic

sans serif typeface family: Erik Spiekermann

The Village Voice Harley­Davidson print ad:

subscription ad: Carmichael Lynch
Mad Dogs & Englishmen
Dr. Martens print ad:
Cole & Weber

The Dunham Company boots “They get the job Nike TV commercial: Healthtex print ad:
done” print ad: Doyle Advertising & Design Group Wieden & Kennedy, agency; The Martin Agency
Pytka, production company
IABC poster: Black & Decker annual
Pattee Design report: Cook and
Shanosky Associates Earth
Everlast activewear Technology
print ad: annual report:
Goldsmith/Jeffrey Rigsby Design

Saturn “A Different
Kind of Car Company”
TV commercial: Hal
Riney & Partners,
agency; Dektor
Higgins & Associates,
production company
Myriad Multiple Master (Adobe Systems,
Inc.), first multiple master typeface: Robert
Slimbach/Carol Twombly Chicago Board of
Trade annual
YMCA/Chicago annual report: VSA
report: Samata Associates Partners, Inc.

UN forces win Persian Start of civil war in Maastricht Treaty takes Supreme Court David Letterman leaves
Gulf War Yugoslavia effect, creating reaffirms right to NBC for CBS
European Union abortion
Many advertisers, South Africa: end of Final episode of Cheers
including Procter & apartheid Emperor Akihito visits Bill Clinton elected
Vaclav Havel elected
Gamble Co. and major China; Sino­Japanese president
Russia: Boris Yeltsin Czech president
airlines, pull ads during trade agreements
inaugurated—first Hurricane Andrew,
news coverage of the Fire kills 72 Branch
freely elected president UN intervention in $20.6 billion damage in
Gulf War Davidian religious cult
Somalia South Florida alone
Last three hostages members as ATF
Collapse of communism
freed in Lebanon Yugoslav Federation Johnny Carson retires assaults their compound
in Russia; Gorbachev
broken up in Waco, Texas
temporarily deposed in Three Baltic republics Ruth Bader Ginsburg
military coup win independence Riots in Los Angeles Israeli­Palestinian appointed to US
after four officers accord Supreme Court
Founding of CIS
acquitted in Rodney
(Commonwealth of Toni Morrison wins NAFTA approved
King beating case
Independent States) Nobel Prize for literature

Communication Arts | commarts.com 49

 TIMELINE
1994 1995 United States
graphic design & advertising

Holocaust Memorial
Museum:
Ralph Appelbaum
Associates
The Document Company
Xerox trademark:
Landor Associates

Racism poster:
James Victore

VizAbility CD-ROM:
Rolling Stone: Fred Woodward MetaDesign
Little Caesars Pizza
“Training Camp” TV
California Fluid Milk Processor commercial: Cliff
Advisory Board “Got Milk?” TV Freeman & Partners,
commercial: Goodby, Silverstein agency; Propaganda
World Cup Soccer ’94 & Partners, agency; Propaganda Films, production
environmental graphics: Films, production company company
various design firms

Altoids “The Curiously Strong

Mints” poster:
Leo Burnett Company

Seven titles: Kyle Cooper

Consumers buy corals,

soft yellows and yellow-
greens. Effects such as
pearlescent, iridescent,
holographic and metallic
are changing the future Norwegian Cruise Line “It’s different out here” print
of color ad: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

TIME print ad:

Fallon McElligott

FedEx corporate identity redesign: The Public Theater poster:

Landor Associates Dewar’s print ad: Leo Burnett Company
Pentagram Design

Olympic skater Nancy Nelson Mandela elected Republicans take

politics & culture

Kerrigan attacked president of South Africa control of Congress

Mexican ruling party Richard Nixon dies US Shuttle rendezvous
presidential candidate with Russian space
Northridge earthquake
Luis Donaldo Colosio station Mir
assassinated
Kobe earthquake
Rwandan tribal warfare
Singer Selena slain in
kills thousands
Texas
Jacqueline Kennedy
Oklahoma City federal
Onassis dies
building bombing
Major League Baseball
Fighting escalates in
players strike, no World Criminal trial of O.J.
Bosnia and Croatia
Series Simpson opens in
Israeli prime minister California
Yitzhak Rabin slain by
Jewish extremist

50 Interactive Annual 2019

 1996 1997 1998
Turner Classic Movies
“Director of the Month”
title sequence:
R/Greenberg
Associates
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and
Museum Rock Facts handbook: Swiss Army Brands
Pentagram Design print ad:
Mullen Advertising Apple Computer, Inc.
“Think Different” poster:
TBWA Chiat/Day

Golden Gate National Parks

Association poster: Michael Schwab

Mercedes-Benz “Service”
print ad:
Lowe & Partners/SMS

Conductus annual report:

Tolleson Design
Triangle Theatre poster: Volkswagen tradeshow booth:
Anheuser-Busch Luba Lukova Studio Mauk Design
Budweiser beer
“Clydesdales” TV
commercial: DDB
Needham, agency;
Propaganda Films,
production company
David
Byrne General
Feelings Motors EV1
CD packaging: print ad:
Sagmeister, Inc. Hal Riney &
Partners

American Oncology Resources annual report:

Rigsby Design, Inc.

Rational Software Mars, Inc. Snickers

annual report: “Not going any-
Cahan & Associates where for a while?” Dial-A-Mattress TV
TV commercial: commercial: Dweck
BBDO, agency; & Campbell, agency;
Polaroid “See what develops” print ad:
@radical.media, hungry man,
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Volkswagen New Beetle outdoor poster:
production production company
company Arnold Communications, Inc.

Senate ratifies major The English Patient Mother Teresa dies Huge explosions deto-
arms reduction treaty sweeps the Academy nated within minutes of
Edinburgh researchers
Awards each other in Nairobi,
Bob Dole wins primaries produce the first clone
Kenya, and Dar es
Bill Clinton reelected of an adult animal,
Britain alarmed by Salaam, Tanzania, at
president Dolly the sheep
deadly mad cow disease American embassies;
Olympic Park bombing Princess Diana dies hundreds die and
Jazz great Ella Fitzgerald
in Atlanta thousands are wounded
dies Titanic becomes highest-
Steve Jobs returns to grossing movie to date Theodore Kaczynski
Chess computer Deep
Apple Computer sentenced to four life
Blue defeats world chess Madeleine Albright
terms in prison, ending
champion Garry becomes first female Frank Sinatra dies
Tiger Woods wins the the Unabomber saga
Kasparov secretary of state
US Masters at age 21 Florida wildfires burn Clinton impeached by
Suspected Unabomber Heaven’s Gate cultists the House of
over 40,000 acres,
Theodore Kaczynski is commit mass suicide Representatives over
hundreds of buildings
arrested at his mountain the Monica Lewinsky
Tony Blair is appointed damaged or destroyed
cabin sex scandal
prime minister of the
South Park pioneers
United Kingdom
potty-mouth TV

Communication Arts | commarts.com 51

 TIMELINE
1999 2000
graphic design & advertising

New Leaf Paper logo:

Xilinx Elixir Design, Inc.
annual
report:
Cahan &
Associates

Gotham (Hoefler & Frere-Jones),

based on vernacular lettering in
New York: Tobias Frere-Jones iMac packaging: marchFIRST

Colors reflect
consumers’ desire
for simplicity,
spirituality and to E*Trade identity: Michael Patrick Partners
celebrate cultural
blending

Absolut DJ website: Red Sky Interactive

Scrabble print ad:

Ogilvy & Mather Singapore
Blue Q Dirty Girl
products: Haley Johnson
Design Company Harley-Davidson print ad: Carmichael Lynch

Anheuser-Busch “Whassup” TV
commercial: DDB, agency; C&C
The REMEDI Project website: Films, production company
Josh Ulm

Tibor Kalman:
Perverse Optimist:
Pentagram Design
Tazo bottled tea: Sandstrom Design

American Legacy Foundation

“Bodybag” TV commercial: The
Alliance, agency; Redtree
Productions, production company

Target print ad:

Kirshenbaum
Bond & Partners Outpost.com “Gerbils” TV
Volkswagen “Turbonium” sitelet:
commercial: Cliff Freeman
Arnold Communications, Inc.
& Partners, agency;
L.L. Bean print ad: Mullen Advertising hungry man, production The Economist poster: Abbott Mead
company Vickers/BBDO

Hugo Chávez becomes Y2K worries lead to no Vicente Fox becomes

politics & culture

president of Venezuela major catastrophes president of Mexico;

end of PRI rule
Shakespeare in Love Trial of suspected
wins Best Picture bombers in Pan Am Crash of the Air France
Flight 103 Lockerbie Concorde in Paris
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
bombing (1988)
convicted for assisting Summer Olympics in
suicide AOL buys Time-Warner Sydney, Australia
Mars Climate Orbiter
Kosovo War lost due to metric/ Windows 2000 released USS Cole bombed at
imperial unit confusion Aden, Yemen
Columbine High School Vladimir Putin elected
massacre Introduction of president of Russia International Space
BlackBerry as a paging Station receives first
First Apple iBook Elián González returned
device crew
released to Cuba by US
Large protests in Seattle government US Supreme Court
Last Checker Cab in
against World Trade halts Florida recount
New York City is retired Vermont legalizes civil
Organization—the unions for same-sex George W. Bush elected
Pervez Musharraf takes “Battle of Seattle” couples president
over Pakistan in coup
d’état
52 Interactive Annual 2019
 2001 2002 2003
Drive-Thru
Records poster:
Aesthetic
Apparatus

LAX entrance Looplabs: Crash!Media

environmental
graphics: UPS replaces
Selbert Perkins Design iconic Paul Rand–
designed logo:
“Ambush” BMW web film: Fallon FutureBrand

MINI poster: Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Six Feet Under opening titles: Neutraface (House Industries), based on

Digital Kitchen geometric lettering specified by mid-
century architect Richard Neutra: Richard
Neutra/Christian Schwartz

Suburban Auto Group “Trunk

McIlhenny Co.
Monkey” TV commercial:
print ad:
R/West, agency; Hidden City,
DDB Dallas
production company

Procter &
Skin book cover: Gamble
Ellen Lupton/ poster:
Poster created in James Bullen Saatchi &
response to 9/11: Saatchi
Craig Frazier

5inch CDs: Segura Inc.

Rewarding Lives
post 9/11 exhibit
for American
Express:
The Moderns

Del Monte annual report:
Howry Design Associates
E*Trade “Monkey” TV
commercial: Goodby, IKEA “Lamp” TV commercial:
Silverstein, agency; hungry Crispin Porter + Bogusky,
man, production company The Land of Nod “Nodblocks”: agency; Morton Jankel
CBC Radio 3 website: in-house
Michael Mabry Design Zander, production company

Wikipedia launches New York Times reporter Beltway sniper attacks Martha Stewart indicted CIA leak scandal begins
Daniel Pearl kidnapped
Former Yugoslavian Chechen separatists Space Shuttle Columbia Last original Volkswagen
and murdered
President Slobodan take over Moscow comes apart during Beetle manufactured in
Milošević surrenders for Non-Euro currencies theater reentry, killing all aboard Mexico
war crimes charges (the French franc,
Hu Jintao becomes First diagnosed SARS First Chinese-manned
German mark, Italian
Netherlands passes first general secretary of reported in Vietnam space launch
lira, etc.) no longer valid
law since Roman Empire Chinese Communist
currencies Hu Jintao becomes Michael Jackson indicted
legalizing same-sex Party
president of People’s on new child
marriage 9/11 attacks on World A Beautiful Mind wins
UN weapons inspectors Republic of China molestation charges
Trade Center and Best Picture
Nepal royal massacre Pentagon go into Iraq
Invasion of Iraq Capture of Saddam
WorldCom files for
Toyota hybrid Prius is BlackBerry smartphone Hussein
Invasion of Afghanistan, Chapter 11 bankruptcy President Bush
released worldwide Operation Enduring introduced
protection (largest in US announces end of major
Anthrax mail attacks Freedom history to date) Sarbanes-Oxley Act combat operations in
Apple releases first iPod impacts annual report Iraq before a “Mission
Barry Bonds hits 72 Congress passes joint
design Accomplished” banner
home runs, breaking resolution authorizing
Enron bankruptcy
single-season record President Bush to use
force against Iraq
Communication Arts | commarts.com 53
 TIMELINE
2004 2005
graphic design & advertising

10 Cane Rum bottle:

Sega Beta-7 integrated Bahamas Ministry of Tourism logo: Burger King “Subservient Werner Design Werks
campaign: Wieden+Kennedy Duffy & Partners Chicken” website: Barbarian
Group/Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Tribeca Film Festival poster:

Ogilvy & Mather, Brand Pedigree outdoor board:
Integration Group TBWA\Chiat\Day

Herman Miller SEE magazine:

Cahan & Associates
AIGA: Vancouver Culture Guide: Ricky
Mt. Sinai Medical Center print Castro/Brooke Mackay
ad: DeVito/Verdi

Skittles
Citi “Chassis” identity
“Sheepboys” TV
theft TV commercial:
commercial:
Fallon, agency; Thomas
TBWA\Chiat\Day,
Thomas Films,
agency; Moxie
production company
Pictures,
production
company
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of
Clearview granted Unfortunate Events end titles:
interim approval Axiom/MWP
for use on Amer- Color trends become
ican road signs: wildly divergent as
Terminal Design, Inc. consumer moods swing
toward indulgence over
Heath Ceramics brochure: abstinence
Target outdoor board: Volume Design, Inc.
Peterson Milla Hooks

Las Vegas
Convention and
Visitors Authority
“What happens
here” TV com-
mercial: R&R Geico “Caveman” TV
Partners, agency; commercial: The Martin
Hungry Man, Agency, agency; Omaha
The Baby Owner's Manual: production Pictures, production
Headcase Design company company
Formica tradeshow booth:
Apple iPod print ad: TBWA\Chiat\Day Kuhlmann Leavitt, Inc.

Janet Jackson has UN reports crimes Death of Pope John

politics & culture

“wardrobe malfunction” against humanity by Paul II, Cardinal Joseph

at Super Bowl Sudan in Darfur
The Lord of the Rings: Martha Stewart serves
The Return of the King five-month sentence
wins eleven Oscars
Boston Red Sox win first
Terrorist attacks on World Series since 1918
Madrid trains, killing 190
George W. Bush
Revelations of prisoner reelected president
abuse at Abu Ghraib
Orange Revolution in
Massachusetts legalizes Ukraine
same-sex marriage
Huge earthquake
Ronald Reagan dies centered off Sumatra
devastates Southeast
First private spaceplane,
Asia with ensuing
SpaceShipOne
tsunami tidal waves;
more than 185,000 die
Ratzinger becomes Pope
Benedict XVI
Launch of YouTube 50th anniversary of
North Korea becomes Disneyland
nuclear power Lance Armstrong wins
Kyoto Protocol imposes seventh Tour de France
greenhouse gas limits First Space Shuttle
First solo flight around launch (Discovery) since
the world by millionaire the Columbia disaster
Steve Fossett Hurricane Katrina
Terri Schiavo’s life ends causes evacuation of
after lengthy family New Orleans, great
battle that ended up in damage and loss of life
US Congress
Tom DeLay indicted

54 Interactive Annual 2019

 2006 2007 2008
One Laptop per Child foundation logo: Pentagram Design

Publix Super Markets packaging: Publix Creative Services California Milk Processor Board
“Get the Glass!” website: North
Kingdom/Goodby, Silverstein &
Partners

Philips Bodygroom website: Nike Zoom

Struck Design/Tribal DDB New York Mobile: R/GA
HP “Hands” TV
Commercial: Apple “Mac vs. PC” TV
Goodby, Silverstein commercial: TBWA\Media
& Partners, Arts Lab, agency; Epoch
GE Fortune Innovation agency; Motion Films, production
Conference graphics program: Theory, production company
Stone Yamashita company HBO “Voyeur”
integrated campaign:
BBDO New York

Quiksilver, Inc.
annual report:
Stoyan Design

London 2012 Olympic

logo: Wolff Olins.
Animated footage of Stanford Lively Arts
Lexus IS Hologram: Team One Worldchanging book: Sagmeister Inc. the logo was removed integrated branding program:
from the organizers’ Chen Design Associates
website after fears it
There are people out there whose sole mission in life is to cause you to
would trigger
blow your cool and lose the girl. They are, The Gamekillers.
epileptic seizures.

T HE ON E UPPER
Anything you can do, he can do better.

Halo 3 integrated
With his uncanny ability to take what you said and
do you one better, The One Upper can kill your game
faster than any other Gamekiller, or so he would
Volkswagen widget: Domani campaign: McCann
Studios/Crispin Porter + Bogusky
lead you to believe. If you’ve got one, he’s got two.
If you ran a 10K, he just finished his third marathon.
If you went mountain climbing, he’s summited
Everest—without a Sherpa. While his boastful tales
Worldgroup/TAG
Mad Men titles:
are enough to make a man’s blood boil, The Axe Dry
wearer keeps his cool by letting The One Upper’s
arrogance talk himself out of the picture. Silence is
not only golden, it also gets the girl.

Don’t
Me Me
Do
You
Imaginary Forces

Coca-Cola
Keep Your Cool. Axe Dry.
integrated
©2005 UNILEVER

Learn more at gamekillers.com

branding
Signature Theatre commemorative book: program:
Smirnoff viral video: Design Army
Axe “Gamekillers” campaign: Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Turner
Bartle Bogle Hegarty agency; HSI Productions, Duckworth
production company

Russia cuts natural gas Hillary Clinton launches Collapse of I-35 bridge Fidel Castro resigns as
to Ukraine bid for White House over Mississippi River in president of Cuba
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Slobodan Milošević dies First female Speaker of Cyclone Nargis kills
in his cell the House, Nancy Pelosi 100th anniversary of 130,000 in Myanmar
the Boy Scouts
Iran announces it has Apple launches the Chengdu earthquake
produced enriched iPhone Myanmar protests kills over 69,000 in
uranium central China
Virginia Tech massacre Marion Jones admits to
Israel invades Lebanon using banned Terrorist attacks in
Four arrested for
in reprisal to Hezbollah substances and Mumbai, India, kill 195
plotting to bomb JFK
kidnapping of two Israeli relinquishes five
International Airport Musharraf resigns as Barack Obama
soldiers Olympic medals
president of Pakistan becomes first African
Recovery of The Scream Concert for Diana at
War in Somalia begins Benazir Bhutto American president-
and another Edvard Wembley Stadium Lehman Brothers files
assassinated elect of the United
Pluto demoted to Munch painting for bankruptcy
Live Earth concerts States
“dwarf planet” status Subprime mortgage
Saddam Hussein around the world $750 billion bailout
by International crisis begins Summer Olympics in
sentenced to death, approved by Congress
Astronomical Union Final book in Harry China
executed just before Led Zeppelin reunion
Potter series released
Google buys YouTube end of year
Communication Arts | commarts.com 55
 TIMELINE
2009 2010
graphic design & advertising

The Cooper Union logo:

Doyle Partners Western Railway Museum poster: Duncan/Channon

Teknion showroom: Vanderbyl

Design

Eames auction catalog: Jennifer

Mahanay/Wright
Whopper Sacrifice Facebook campaign: Andrew Bird
Crispin Porter + Bogusky Kraken rum poster:
bottle: Aesthetic
Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in Stranger Apparatus
the World” TV commercial: Euro RSCG Vibrant colors bring
reassurance and & Stranger
New York, agency; @radical.media,
production company respite during
the Great
Recession
Shiner print ad:
McGarrah Jessee

MINI poster:
Butler, Shine,
Stern &
Help Remedies Partners
packaging:
ChappsMalina/
Little Fury

360 Architecture identity program:

Design Ranch

Old Spice’s “Smell Like a

Man, Man” TV commercial:
Wieden+Kennedy, agency;
Chicago Cubs outdoor: Jones MJZ, production company Snickers TV commercial:
Poster for the 2008 San Antonio BBDO New York, agency;
Zoo Ball: Bradford Lawton MJZ, production company

Michael Jackson dies BP oil spill Kathryn Bigelow

politics & culture

becomes the first

President Obama orders Apple launches the iPad
woman to win the best
more troops to
Elena Kagan confirmed director Oscar
Afghanistan
to the US Supreme
Eyjafjallajökull volcanic
General Motors files for Court
eruptions
bankruptcy
Zynga launches FarmVille US Supreme Court rules
Printer cartridge bomb
Swine flu pandemic in favor of Citizens
NASA discovers water plot
United
Iranians protest molecules in the polar Cheonan, a South Korean
presidential election regions of the moon Haiti earthquake
naval ship, sinks; North
results
US unemployment rate 33 Chilean miners Korea denies
Kanye West interrupts hits 10.2 percent rescued after being responsibility
Taylor Swift at MTV trapped underground
Fort Hood mass shooting WikiLeaks posts
Video Music Awards for 69 days
classified documents
Time Warner spins off Geneva County shooting Affordable Care Act
spree President Obama
AOL and Time Warner signed into law by
declares end to US
Cable President Obama
combat operations
Google acquires AdMob in Iraq
56 Interactive Annual 2019
 2011 2012 2013
Mohawk identity PUBLIC Bikes poster:
program: Pentagram Morla Design
Honey & Mackie’s packaging: Wink
City Year print ad: Arnold Worldwide United States Green
Procter & Gamble Building Council annual
Bounty poster: report: Polygraph
Leo Burnett
Toronto

Allstate “Mayhem”
TV commercial: Leo
Burnett, agency; The Harriet Series (Okay Type) is a rational serif
Directors Bureau, typeface inspired by both transitional faces,
production company such as Baskerville, and modern faces, like Wee Society poster:
john st. case study video Office: Jason Schulte
parody: john st., agency; Century, while also adopting contemporary
features: Jackson Cavanaugh Design
Sons and Daughters,
production company
MoMA German Expressionism IBM THINK
exhibition graphics: in-house exhibit: Ralph
Austin Beerworks Appelbaum
packaging: Helms Associates Inc./
Workshop Mirada/
SYPartners

Fleet Feet Sports annual report: Elephant

in the Room PUMA packaging:
fuseproject,
design firm New York Lottery poster:
DDB New York
Newsweek Mad Men special issue: Hill
Holliday Boston
Ram Trucks
“Farmer” TV
commercial:
The Richards
Group, agency;
3008,
production
Volkswagen “The Force” TV company
commercial: Deutsch,
agency; Park Pictures, Open Doors Academy annual
production company report: Little Jacket Québec Automobile
Insurance Corporation TV
Toyota Sienna “Swagger Crown Maple Syrup commercial: lg2, agency;
Wagon” music video: packaging: Studio MPLS Quatre Zéro Un, production
Saatchi & Saatchi LA company

Occupy Wall Street Hurricane Sandy tears Xi Jinping named Jorge Mario Bergoglio
through the East Coast president of the becomes Pope Francis
Arab Spring uprisings People’s Republic of
Facebook buys China US Supreme Court
Japan earthquake, strikes down key part
Instagram
tsunami and nuclear Nelson Mandela dies of Defense of Marriage
disaster JOBS Act signed into law Act
by President Obama HealthCare.gov launches
Oslo bombing and with serious technical Detroit files for
Utøya mass shooting Aurora, Oak Creek and difficulties bankruptcy
Sandy Hook mass
US congresswoman Boston Marathon Twitter goes public
shootings
Gabrielle Giffords Osama bin Laden killed Curiosity rover lands on bombing
critically injured in Trayvon Martin killed Sarin attack in Ghouta,
Syrian civil war begins Mars Edward Snowden reveals Syria
Tucson supermarket
US consulate in President Obama visits US government mass
mass shooting Catherine Middleton Washington Navy Yard
Benghazi attacked Myanmar surveillance
NASA’s final space and Prince William mass shooting
marry Deferred Action for David Petraeus scandal Atmospheric carbon
shuttle mission Typhoon Haiyan kills
Childhood Arrivals dioxide reaches a level
Penn State child sex Drought and famine in announced by President Barack Obama of more than 400 parts more than 6,000 in
abuse scandal East Africa Obama reelected president per million the Philippines
Steve Jobs and Kim Muammar Gaddafi killed
Jong-il die Communication Arts | commarts.com 57
 TIMELINE
2014 2015
graphic design & advertising

Montréal en histoire
identity program:
Paprika
Avocados From Mexico TV
National September 11 Memorial & Museum: commercial: GSD&M, agency;
Local Projects Biscuit Filmworks, production
company

Molson Canadian beer fridge

campaign: Rethink
Softer colors act
as an antidote Snickers print ad:
to modern-day BBDO Toronto
stress while
suggesting
future-facing
creativity and
Chandra rugs pattern originality
catalog: Ferreira
Design Company

350 Action Climate Name Change

campaign: Barton F. Graf 9000

Spotify identity: COLLINS

Subaru “Meet the Barkleys” TV

commercial: Carmichael Lynch,
agency; SKUNK, production Meg J. Roberts poster:
company Eric Karnes
Los Angeles Institute of Architecture and
Design annual report: Brad Bartlett Design

HBO Go digital
advertising:
SS+K, agency;
O Positive,
production
company

Procter & Gamble, Always

#LikeAGirl TV commercial: Leo
Druk (Commercial Type) was designed without a normal Burnett Chicago/Leo Burnett
width and nothing lighter than a medium weight; it’s London/Leo Burnett Toronto/
meant to be either heavy and condensed or heavy and MSLGROUP, agencies; Chelsea
wide: Berton Hasebe Pictures, production company
Gatorade “Ben Jackson, Never Finished”
online video: FleishmanHillard Chicago/
VML, agencies; Shawn Corrigan Pictures/
Steve Boyle Photo, production companies

Scotland votes to Michael Brown and Eric Charlie Hebdo shooting Volkswagen emissions
politics & culture

remain part of the Garner killed test scandal

United Kingdom
Ebola epidemic in West
ISIL releases videos of Africa
beheadings
Russia’s annexation of
Bill Cosby rape Crimea
allegations
US Supreme Court rules
that a warrant is
required to search a cell
phone
Philae lander touches
down on comet
Sony Pictures hack
Schoolgirls kidnapped by
Boko Haram
Malaysia Airlines Flight
370 disappears
ISIL takes control of
Mosul, Iraq
South Korean ferry Sewol
capsizes
United States–Cuba
relations thaw
US Supreme Court
legalizes same-sex
marriage nationwide
Charleston church, San
Bernardino and Umpqua
Community College
mass shootings
Europe’s refugee crisis
Greece’s $95-billion
bailout package
approved
China replaces one-child
policy with two-child
policy
Nepal earthquake
FCC enacts strict net
neutrality rules
Hurricane Patricia hits
Mexico
Bombings and shootings
in Paris, France, including
at the Bataclan theater
Russia joins Syrian civil
war
Saudi Arabia and United
Arab Emirates lead
intervention in Yemen
Myanmar’s Rohingya
refugee crisis

58 Interactive Annual 2019

 2016 2017 2018

Cialis Staycations
postcards: DDB Canada
Bloomberg San Francisco Tech Hub environmental Center for the Study Equator coffee bags: Studio
graphics: Volume Inc. of Political Graphics Scott
identity: Blok Design
Nike pop-up store:
Hybrid Design
Firecracker Pizza mural: TOKY

State Street Global

REI #OptOutside campaign: Advisors Fearless Girl
Venables Bell & Partners installation: McCann
New York El Salvador massacre
victims poster:
Underline Studio

“Say No To Spec” Radio Flyer poster:

video: Zulu Alpha Kilo FCB Chicago Colin Kaepernick ad:
Wieden+Kennedy

Canadian Journalists for Free

Expression print ad: Juniper Burger King print ad: DAVID McDonald’s Restaurants of
Park\TBWA Canada Ltd. outdoor board:
Cossette, ad agency
Fort Point identity: Manual,
design firm
Spotify “Pride Stories”
animation: Giant Ant

YO BK Hot Yoga poster: P&G “The Talk”

J. Walter Thompson Polaris Music Prize TV commercial:
New York poster: Monnet BBDO New York,
Design agency; The
SFMoMA visual Corner Shop,
identity: San production
Francisco Museum Budweiser America It’s a Tide Ad TV campaign: company
State Fair of Texas identity: of Modern Art packaging: Jones Saatchi & Saatchi New York,
Matchbox Studio Design Studio Knowles Ritchie agency; Ratting Stick Traktor
Inc., production company

United Kingdom votes North Korea announces Kellyanne Conway uses Camp and Woolsey fires Jamal Khashoggi
to leave the European successful hydrogen phrase “alternative
Parkland, Thousand assassinated
Union bomb test facts”
Oaks, Santa Fe High Meghan Markle and
Orlando nightclub David Bowie, Fidel Robert Mueller School and Pittsburgh Prince Harry marry
shooting Castro, Prince and appointed to lead synagogue mass
Antonin Scalia die investigation of Russian shootings AT&T–Time Warner
Russia interferes in US
interference in 2016 US Women’s March merger
presidential election Ecuador earthquake March For Our Lives and
presidential election
Transgender people Total solar eclipse national school walkout Democrats win control
Democratic National
NFL players take a knee to protest gun violence of US House of
Committee email leak allowed to enlist in US Opioid epidemic
military Representatives
Las Vegas and declared a national Facebook–Cambridge
President Obama visits
Sutherland Springs public health Analytica data scandal Trump administration’s
Cuba AlphaGo beats Lee Sedol
church mass shootings emergency family separation policy
Colin Kaepernick takes Hurricane Matthew Stormy Daniels scandal
#MeToo movement Hurricanes Harvey, Net neutrality repealed
a knee Christine Blasey Ford
Standing Rock protests Irma, Jose and Maria
Charlottesville protests accuses Brett Kavanaugh Microsoft buys GitHub
Panama Papers
Donald Trump elected of sexual assault
published Bombing at Ariana George H. W. Bush dies
president
Grande concert

Communication Arts | commarts.com 59

 Marget Larsen
Pioneers ...-...-Although the graphic design industry
...-was dominated by men in the 1960s,
...-Marget Larsen (1922–1984) forged
...-her own path. She was a designer
Many talented people ...-whose work helped define the San
...-Francisco design aesthetic.
made major contri-
...-Larsen grew up in Burlingame, California,
butions to visual and worked for Joseph Magnin (JM), a department store
communications and known for its trendsetting fashion. The advertising, posters
and packaging she created with illustrator Betty Brader-
have since left us. Ashley for the JM brand were so memorable, they are still
treasured today. Larsen’s cheery and versatile Christmas
To honor them, as boxes were especially popular promotions. Printed with bold
well as provide our typography and ornamentation, the packages were so colorful
and appealing that they negated the need for wrapping paper.
younger readers Larsen then joined advertising innovator Howard Gossage at
some insight into their Weiner & Gossage. The agency created ingenious ads,
such as the wrappers she designed as part of a new look
profession’s history, for Parisian Bakery—a groundbreaking use of paper bags
we’ve assembled as a promotional device. She later partnered with Robert
Freeman to open Intrinsics, Inc., which offered clients
a cross section of boutique design services and creative consulting. Larsen’s
typographic skills, inventive designs and instinct for what
influential creatives— works advanced San Francisco as a center of creativity.
some well known and
some less so—whose
impact is still being
felt today.
Above: Parisian Bakery
Ruth Hagopian design program, 1961
Left: Joseph Magnin
wrote a brief bio- Christmas packaging, 1963

graphical sketch on
each individual to
accompany a sam-
pling of their work
from our archives.
Right: David’s
Delicatessen
packaging, 1966.
Robert Freeman,
art director;
Richard Stearns,
writer; George
Dippel, illustrator

60 Interactive Annual 2019

Gene Federico
. . ...He was called “the art director’s art
....director.” Gene Federico (1918–1999)
....elevated the role of typography in
....advertising and illustrated the
...power of clever, uncomplicated
....graphics. Federico was born in New
....York’s Greenwich Village, and it was
..... .... ...during his school days that he discovered
the work of leading European advertising artists. He was
particularly captivated by a Cubist-inspired poster by A.M.
Cassandre; Federico responded to its striking geometry
and subtle hues, which influenced his early posters.
By the late 1940s, after a brief stint in the editorial world,
Federico took a job at Grey Advertising and then Doyle
Dane Bernbach. In 1967, he cofounded New York ad agency
Lord Southard Federico, which later became Lord Geller
Federico Einstein. Deeply immersed in the aesthetics and
possibilities of type, Federico once designed a sixteen-page
booklet titled Love of Apples that showcased his experiments
with metal type. For more than four decades, Federico
crafted visual puns in ads and elegantly integrated text with
pictures. He quietly pushed against the boundaries of
American advertising design.
Left: Print ad for Napier fine
fashion jewelry, 1981. Anne
Conlon, writer; William
Helburn, photographer; Lord,
Geller, Federico, Einstein,
agency
Right: Print ad for Lauffer crystal,
1970. Dick Lord, writer; Henry
Sandbank, photographer; Lord,
Geller, Federico and Partners,
agency
Left: Woman’s
Day print ad,
1953. Doyle
Dane Bernbach,
agency
Neil Fujita
...-Integrating the nuances of fine art and
...-design, Sadamitsu “Neil” Fujita
...-(1921–2010) created iconic record and
...-book covers that showcased his
...-virtuosity. Born in Waimea, Hawaii,
...-Fujita’s artistry came to the atten-
...-tion of William Golden at Columbia
...-Broadcasting System, who hired him in
1954 to design album covers at Columbia Records. Fujita
commissioned work from abstract expressionist painters
and leading photographers—and sometimes used his own
paintings—to express a visual dynamic that complemented
the music’s energy. His vivid painting of circles, stripes
and curves for Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet is
timeless—as exuberant and rhythmic today as when it was
first published in 1959.
Wanting to expand the variety of his work, Fujita created
a design subsidiary of a public relations firm he joined in
1963, establishing Ruder, Finn & Fujita (later Fujita Design).
Fujita’s typographic skills and graphic sensitivity enabled him
to produce book covers with memorable details, such as the
crimson hatpin with the bulbous head he added to the title
of In Cold Blood. For The Godfather, his extension of the top of
the G to the d in the title accentuated the ominous power of
those three letters. “I didn’t just design the type for those
book jackets,” Fujita said. “I drew it with my quill pen, using
india inks and dyes.”
Left: The Godfather book cover, 1969
Below: Westinghouse print ad, 1962
Below left: Dave Brubeck Quartet
Time Out album cover, 1959
Communication Arts | commarts.com 61
 Muriel Cooper
...-Through her work as a book designer,
...-researcher and educator, she pro-
...-foundly affected the way information
...-is presented. Muriel Cooper (1925–
...-1994) helped develop early computer
...interfaces, breaking ground in the
-then-unknown space where technology
and design meet.
Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, she became a freelance
designer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Office
of Publications in the 1950s. After establishing her own
design studio in the early 1960s, she designed the MIT Press
colophon, and was named the MIT Press’s design director
in 1967. Cooper designed the classic book Bauhaus and over-
saw the production of about 500 books. She had a lasting
effect on the publication of university books throughout
the United States.
In 1974, Cooper cofounded MIT’s Visible Language Workshop
with Ron MacNeil. The integration of type, graphic design,
technology, art and animation became the focus of her
research. In the 1980s, she became a founding member of
the MIT Media Lab. She was the first woman granted tenure
at the Lab, where she pioneered interface design and encour-
aged the next generation of designers to experiment.
Left: Bauhaus book cover, 1969
Below: Communication by Design
exhibition cover, 1964
Left: Screen capture
from one of several
works in progress on
3-D information
programs that were
demonstrated at TED5
by Cooper, then
director of the Visible
Language Workshop
at MIT, 1994
62 Interactive Annual 2019
Lou Dorfsman
...- ...- Best known for his consummate skill
...-in developing the Columbia Broad-
...-casting System (CBS)’s advertising
...-and corporate identity, Lou Dorfs-..
...-man (1918–2008) played a crucial role
...-in building the CBS brand.
...- ...-A native of New York City, Dorfsman
began his tenure at CBS in 1946, later becoming creative
director of the CBS television network after William Golden’s
death in 1959. Dorfsman was named the director of design
for all of CBS and, ultimately, senior vice president and
creative director for marketing communications and design.
During his time at CBS, he did it all. He designed sets for CBS
Morning News and Walter Cronkite’s CBS Evening News. He
produced newspaper ads. He created annual reports. The
print projects he worked on were exemplary, including the
limited edition book created to commemorate the first
manned moon landing, with a dust jacket embossed to
represent the lunar surface.
Dorfsman also oversaw the graphics for the CBS headquar-
ters in Manhattan, known as Black Rock, from the interior
signage to the type for the elevator-inspection stickers. His
“magnum opus,” a behemoth typographic work called the
Gastrotypographicalassemblage that he directed the overall
design of, graced a cafeteria wall of Black Rock and now lives
on at the Culinary Institute of America’s Hyde Park campus.
Left: Gastro-
typographical-
assemblage,
1966. Tom
Carnase/Lou
Dorfsman/Herb
Lubalin, designers
Right: The New York Times full-page
print ad promoting CBS’s coverage of
John Glenn’s orbit of the Earth in
Friendship 7, 1962
Left: Trade ad to CBS
advertisers, 1962. Al
Amato/Lou Dorfsman,
designers
Hal Riney
...He helped establish San Francisco
. as a creative hub of the advertising
...industry. In a career spanning
.nearly 50 years, Hal Riney (1932–
2008) produced advertising that
was engaging in its honesty, humor,
understatement and emotion.
...Riney is known for his work on the suc-
cessful 1984 campaign to reelect Ronald Reagan as president.
The campaign included the optimistic “Morning in America”
commercial, which Riney wrote and narrated. He also cre-
ated the characters Frank and Ed for E & J Gallo Winery’s
wine cooler line, which he named Bartles & Jaymes. Riney
ended up writing 143 commercials for the product over three
years. His agency also snagged the Saturn account in 1988
and helped make its launch a resounding success with the
tagline “A different kind of company. A different kind of car.”
Riney grew up in Longview, Washington, and joined BBDO
San Francisco in 1956, beginning in the mail room and working
his way up to executive vice president, creative director.
In 1976, he opened Ogilvy & Mather’s San Francisco office,
purchasing it from Ogilvy in the late 1980s and renaming it
Hal Riney & Partners. In 1998, the agency was sold to Publicis
Groupe. The legendary ad man retired at the apex of the
regional ad industry he helped create.
Robert “Bob” Peak
...--His dazzling montages transported
...-viewers into movies’ cinematic
...-worlds. Illustrator Robert “Bob”
...-Peak (1927–1992) was highly skilled
...-at painting numerous characters
...-and scenes into a single blended
...-image, changing the look of movie
...-...-advertising from traditional static
headshots and film stills to intricate narrative art. The
poster artwork that Peak created in 1961 to promote West
Side Story paved the way for more than 130 film posters,
such as those for My Fair Lady, Apocalypse Now and five Star
Trek films, among many others.
He was born in Denver, Colorado, and moved to New York
in 1953, where his drawing skills quickly led to advertising
and editorial assignments. Peak illustrated 45 covers for
TIME, and his portrait of Mother Teresa for a 1975 cover was
particularly poignant. Sports Illustrated also called on him for
memorable assignments, including a safari with the Shah
of Iran and a Grand Prix tour with champion racer Jackie
Stewart. Peak was also known for his work for the US Postal
Service—especially the 30 stamps he designed to commemo-
rate the 1984 Summer and Winter Olympics. Although he
was dubbed “the father of the modern movie poster,” his
influence can be felt well beyond the lights of Hollywood.

Right: Yamaha Left: TIME cover painting of

print ad, 1976. Mother Teresa, 1975. David
Bernie Vangrin, Merrill, art director
art director; Don Below: United Artists’
Hadley, writer; Apocalypse Now promotion
Richard Leech, art, 1979. Murray Smith/Don
illustrator; Smolen, Smolen, Smith and
Botsford Connolly, art directors
Ketchum, agency
Below left: Warner Bros.’s My
Fair Lady souvenir book
drawing, 1964. Bill Gold, Bill
Gold Advertising, art director

Above: Reagan/Bush ’84

“Prouder, Stronger, Better” TV
commercial, 1984. Barbro
Eddy, producer; John Pytka,
director; Pytka, production
company; Tuesday Team/
West, c/o Della Femina,
Travisano & Partners, agency
Left: Blitz-Weinhard beer print
ad, 1979. Jerry Andelin, art
director; Dennis Foley, writer;
Robert Grossman, illustrator;
Ogilvy & Mather, agency

Communication Arts | commarts.com 63

 Robert Miles Paula Green
Runyan She believed in selling with words.
Paula Green (1927–2015) was a copy-
...---Known as the creator of the modern writer and ad executive who thought
...-annual report, Robert Miles Runyan an ad must make a sensory or “gut”
...-(1925–2001) elevated corporate connection with a consumer to work.
...-communications by showing how A Los Angeles native, she moved
...-financial statements to sharehold- .to New York and joined Doyle Dane
...-ers could be presented with style ..Bernbach, where she worked with legendary
...-and sophistication. art director Helmut Krone on Avis. Her “We try harder”
Born in Nebraska, Runyan opened his own studio, Robert slogan revolutionized the rent-a-car industry, and Green
Miles Runyan & Associates, in 1956 in the coastal neigh- later became the agency’s first woman creative manage-
borhood of Playa del Rey, near Los Angeles. In 1959, Runyan ment supervisor.
designed a revolutionary annual report for Litton Indus- In 1969, she struck out on her own, cofounding Green
tries. Although the electronics company was young at the Dolmatch with her husband, Murray Dolmatch. Later becom-
time, he utilized artful still life photographs and graphics ing Paula Green Advertising, her agency worked for clients
to represent the company’s story and connect it to a broader including the American Cancer Society, Goya Foods, the New
history. The report was among the first to present a company York Times and Subaru. Green helped cement Goya in the
within the context of current social and economic trends. The minds of shoppers with such lines as, “There’s a bean for
result combined typographic elegance and striking imagery every girl and boya, in the food store section known as Goya.”
with the editorial flow of a sleek magazine. A resounding To help the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union
success, the report ushered in professional accolades and encourage Americans to buy union-made clothing, Green
commissions for Robert Miles Runyan & Associates. wrote the lyrics for the song “Look for the Union Label.” In an
Runyan’s firm also created logos, identities and packaging for industry dominated by men, she immortalized words and
clients like Mattel and the Los Angeles Rams. He designed became a pioneer.
the symbol for the 1984 Summer Olympics, held in Los
Angeles. The “Stars in Motion” logo featured three stars Left: Avis print ad, 1963.
shaped from horizontal bars of red, white and blue to repre- Helmut Krone, art director
sent speed. “What I achieved can never be taken away,” he Below: Wedgwood print
said of the project. “I’m etched in history.” ad, 1958. Bert Steinhauser,
art director; Arnold
Rosenberg, photographer

Above: Los Angeles Olympic

Organizing Committee “Stars
in Motion” logo for the 1984
Summer Olympics, 1980

Above: Motorola Aviation

Electronics poster, 1961. Above: International Ladies’
James Fitzgerald, designer Garment Workers’ Union
Right: Litton Industries “Look for the Union Label”
annual report cover, 1959 TV commercial, 1975.
Malcolm Dodds, music

64 Interactive Annual 2019

Arnold Varga
..-Innovative and fearless, Arnold Varga
..-(1926–1994) created sophisticated
..-designs, witty illustrations and
..-full-color newspaper ads that
..-readers had never seen before.
...He was an art director with little
training and an illustrator with poor
eyesight. Yet, his work was so fresh and
engaging, the image would sell without selling.
Varga was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and was
a teenager when he first offered to draw for retail stores.
He continued to develop his skills and worked for several
advertising agencies, including BBDO in Pittsburgh. During
the late 1950s, he freelanced for department stores, includ-
ing Horne’s, Higbee’s and Wanamaker’s. Writer Alan Van
Dine often wrote copy, but didn’t know for which client.
“It was completely backwards,” he said. “Arnold would say,
‘I want to do a watermelon.’ Or, ‘a baby carriage.’ My job
was to come up with something lively to connect the
visual.” By the 1960s, design magazines Communication Arts,
Graphis and Pagina 3 were praising Varga’s work.
Varga had a special fondness for Christmas, and, in 1967,
he created a caricature of Scrooge for the Horne’s Christmas
newspaper ad. It received so much attention, Horne’s
reprinted it as posters, postcards and Christmas cards. For
a holiday ad for Wanamaker’s, Varga greeted newspaper
readers with a startled gnome. The headline said, “Rediscover
your elf self.”
Right: John Wanamaker
newspaper ad, 1978. Albin
A Smagala, art director; James
R. Spark, writer; Louise
Reeves/Arnold Varga,
designers
Left: Anaconda
Aluminum print ad,
1971. Tom Ladyga, art
director; Preston
Moore, writer; James
Johnston, creative
director; Griswold-
Eshleman, agency
Right: Newspaper
ad for depart-
ment store
Cox’s, 1960
Art Paul
...- ...-A simple drawing of a bunny with
...-a tuxedo bow tie, drawn in an hour
...-by artist Arthur Paul (1925–2018),
...-became a corporate identity and
...a publishing phenomenon. Paul was
..the founding art director of Playboy ...
magazine, and his bunny became one
...- of the world’s most recognizable logos.
He was born in Chicago and studied at Chicago’s Institute of
Design, originally called the New Bauhaus upon its founding
by Bauhaus master László Moholy-Nagy. His studies were
influenced by the German Bauhaus aesthetic, with its clean
lines and simplicity. In 1953, while working as a freelance
illustrator and designer, Paul was contacted by Hugh Hefner,
who wanted a modern look for his publication. In return,
Hefner offered artistic freedom. Paul continued to oversee
the design of the magazine for the next 29 years.
With an eye for talent, Paul commissioned illustrations from
local and international artists, such as Shel Silverstein, Andy
Warhol and Salvador Dalí. He also experimented with pop-up
pages, collages, die-cut patterns and placing the logo inside
different cover designs to challenge readers. Hefner summed
up Paul’s contribution to the world this way: “Arthur, quite
frankly, was responsible for changing the nature of commer-
cial illustration.”
Above: Playboy logo, 1954
Right: Playboy inaugural
issue cover, 1953
Above: Opening spread for a Harry Crews short story, 1976. Kunio
Hagio, illustrator; Len Willis, designer
Communication Arts | commarts.com 65
 Betty
Brader-Ashley
...--Glamorous, confident and cool, Betty
...-Brader-Ashley (1924–1986) introduced
...-a new style to fashion advertising
...-in the 1950s and 1960s that contin-
ues to inspire today’s illustrators.
...Expressing the casual sophistication
...of the San Francisco Bay Area, her
...drawings became synonymous with the
trendy department store Joseph Magnin.
Beginning as a seamstress for Marshall Field’s, Brader-
Ashley transitioned to fashion illustration and worked for
May Co., Neiman Marcus and several ad agencies. In the
1950s, she freelanced and traveled to Europe before join-
ing Joseph Magnin. Brader-Ashley became a chief illustrator,
often working with Marget Larsen, the store’s savvy art
director. They produced ads, promotions and posters,
which often featured a two-figure composition, a bold
gesture and a striking graphic pattern.
Focused more on attitude than sales copy, her illustrations
caught the attention of both shoppers and the design
community for their individualist spirit and playful sense of
optimism. Her stylized figures captivated the Joseph Magnin
customer and elevated the JM brand, which reached its
height in the 1960s with more than 32 retail stores.
Left: Print ad for department store
Joseph Magnin, 1961. George Coutts,
art director
Below: Cal Tjader Quintet album
cover, 1956
Left: Print ad for department store
Joseph Magnin, 1959. Marget Larsen,
art director
66 Interactive Annual 2019
Allan Fleming
...-Known as Canada’s leading graphic
...-designer, Allan Fleming (1929–1977)
...-championed all aspects of cultural
...-life in Canada during its mid-century
...-effort to secure its identity. While
...-working at MacLaren Advertising
...-during the 1960s, Fleming was influen-
...-...- tial in nation-building projects, which included
postage stamps, the national flag and Expo 67.
He was born in Toronto and, at sixteen, began working at
various firms before studying typography and book design in
England during the early ’50s. Fleming joined Cooper &
Beatty as typographic director and designer in 1957. When he
received the opportunity to design a new logo for Canadian
National Railways, the task required a design that would
refresh the company’s image. The result, launched in 1960,
combined the C and the N into a single flowing line. Today,
the logo is a timeless modernist symbol of motion.
Fleming was also chief designer at the University of Toronto
Press, using his typographic skills and keen sense of informa-
tion design to advance the look of scholarly publishing in
Canada. The breadth of Fleming’s portfolio enabled him to
reach beyond borders, influencing future generations of
graphic designers in many fields.
Above: Maclean’s cover, 1962
Above right: Ontario
Science Centre logo, 1969
Above: Cooper & Beatty
moving announcement, 1958
Left: Canadian National
Railways logo, 1960
Helmut Krone
...The work of art director Helmut Krone
..(1925–1996) defines modern advertis-
..ing. The groundbreaking campaigns
..he worked on for Avis, Colombian
..coffee and Volkswagen remain
visually compelling today despite
decades of imitators.
Krone was a native New Yorker and was
interested in product design until the 1950 New York Art
Director’s show convinced him that advertising was worth
pursuing. He became an art director at Doyle Dane Bernbach
in 1954 and, except for a few years spent creating his own
agency during the 1970s, stayed for more than 30 years until
he retired in 1988.
Krone’s obsession was “newness,” and his design for the
Think Small campaign for Volkswagen was unlike anything
else in the automotive sector. Krone also took every negative
condition about the car—unchanging, dirty, dented—and
made them positives in the subsequent ads. The campaigns
were a rapid success, as was the “We try harder” ads for No.
2–rated Avis, and the creation of Juan Valdez, a character
concocted to promote Colombian coffee. Krone said, “Great
advertising really has to be talked about by people and
become part of the national scene.” And his did.
Left: Volkswagen print ad,
1960. Julian Koenig, writer;
Wingate Paine, photographer
Below: Avis print ad, 1965.
Paula Green, writer
Left: Porsche
print ad, 1982.
Tom Yobaggy,
writer; David
Langley,
photographer
Deborah Sussman
...- ... Celebrated for her vivid signage and
...-graphic architecture, Deborah Sussman
...-(1931–2014) spotlighted California’s
...-design aesthetic to the world.
...-Working with architect Jon Jerde
...-on the 1984 Summer Olympics in
...-Los Angeles, she helped create the
...-...-colorful wayfinding and identification
system and supergraphics that transformed the city into
a Technicolor extravaganza.
She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and landed in Los
Angeles in the summer of 1953 for an internship in the office
of Charles and Ray Eames. During her stints in the Eames
office, she worked on everything from furniture showroom
designs to films to packaging, and clients included the Ford
Foundation, the Government of India and IBM.
Beginning in the 1960s, Sussman developed her work in
environmental graphics, from signage to “graphitecture,”
collaborating with architects and planners to thoughtfully
infuse bold color—quite literally—into the built environ-
ment. In 1968, she founded Deborah Sussman & Company,
which was renamed Sussman/Prejza & Company when she
was joined by her husband, architect and urban planner Paul
Prejza, in 1980. The firm’s projects included corporate iden-
tities and many traveling exhibits, an identity program for
the City of Santa Monica, and corporate interiors for Hasbro.
Left: Champion Papers The Printing
Salesman’s Herald, Issue 32, 1973.
Ave Pildas, assistant designer
Below: The “look” of the 1984
Summer Olympics, developed in
collaboration with The Jerde
Partnership, 1983. Deborah
Sussman/Paul Prejza, partners in
charge; Debra Valencia, senior
designer; Mark Nelson, project
manager
Below: Hasbro Bradley
toy showroom display,
1984. Mark Nelson/
Debra Valencia,
designers; Barton Myers
Associates, architect
Communication Arts | commarts.com 67
 Robert Abel
...-A pioneer of computer-generated ani-
...-mation and visual effects, Robert Abel
...-(1937–2001) created films, commer-
...-cials and interactive classroom
...-materials. He was also a director,
...-producer and writer who won
...-Emmys for his work on the documen-
...-taries A Nation of Immigrants and The
Making of the President, 1968 and a Golden Globe for 1972’s
Elvis on Tour.
Abel and Con Pederson founded Robert Abel & Associates
(RA&A) in 1971 and adapted the computerized camera system
used for 2001: A Space Odyssey to create special effects
for broadcast graphics and commercials. Abel later estab-
lished Synapse Technologies. Among the multimedia projects
the firm produced was an educational project for IBM called
Columbus: Encounter, Discovery and Beyond. The multilayered
multimedia database enabled students to explore still images
and graphics, text, videos, and audio to better under-
stand the culture, politics and people from the 1400s to
the present day.
A visionary whose versatility earned him numerous honors,
Abel mentored a generation of talent at RA&A, who would
go on to launch or work for the top companies in the field
of computer-generated imagery. “The essence of what
I do is that I take risks,” Abel said. “Every time I set out
to do a project, I go out to do something never done or
seen before.”
Left: TRW “Line” TV
commercial, 1984. Thomas
Smith, art director; Charles
H. Withrow, writer; Michael
C. Marino, creative director;
Kenny Mirman, designer/
director; Frank Vitz,
technology director; Jim
Barrett, production
designer; Wyse Advertising,
agency
Diane Rothschild
She was an advertising executive and
copywriter who wrote with “class,
wit and intelligence,” said Ari Merkin,
who worked with her in the mid-
’90s. Across a career spanning nearly
40 years, Diane Rothschild (1943–2007)
helped create memorable campaigns for
numerous companies, including Chivas Regal,
IBM, Mobil Oil and Volkswagen.
Born in Manhattan, New York, Rothschild joined Doyle Dane
Bernbach as a copywriter in 1973, launching her career. She
worked her way up the ladder and became executive vice
president, creative director and a member of the agency’s
board of directors. During her time there, she was known as
the agency’s most awarded copywriter. In 1986, Rothschild
formed Grace & Rothschild with former Doyle Dane Bernbach
chairman Roy Grace, where she oversaw clever campaigns.
Grace & Rothschild’s clients included Range Rover, J&B
Scotch and Sterling Motor Cars. In one print ad created for
Range Rover, an image showing the off-road vehicle driving
through a stream is accompanied by copy that reads, “We
brake for fish.” A holiday-season ad for J&B Scotch states
“ingle ells, ingle ells. The holidays aren’t the same without
J&B.” In a print ad for Sterling Motor Cars, numerous features
that come standard with the vehicle are listed, and the copy
reads, “Find another $28,500 car with all this and we’ll buy it
for you.”
Left: Range Rover print ad, 1991.
Don Miller, art director; Gary
Cohen, writer; Carl Furuta,
photographer
Below: Print ad for J&B Scotch
whisky, 1991. Christopher Graves,
art director; Craig Demeter, writer

Right: Scene from the short

film “High Fidelity,” 1984.
Randy Roberts, designer/
director; Ann Kerbel,
technology director; Rick
Ross, editor

Left: Range
Rover print ad,
Left: Columbia Pictures logo, 1994. Allen
1976 Richardson, art
director; Ari
Merkin, writer;
Jerry Cailor,
photographer

68 Interactive Annual 2019

Mary Ellen Mark
..- ..-..- By chronicling the lives of marginalized
..- people, Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015)
.. --became one of the most dedicated
-..-documentary photographers of her
.- generation. She was born in Philadel-
.- phia, and after moving to New York
..City in the late 1960s, she photographed
.- .- ...Vietnam War demonstrations, the women’s
liberation movement, transvestite culture and New York’s
Times Square. While on assignment for an alumni magazine,
she met the managing editor of Look magazine, who later
accepted Mark’s pitch to photograph young heroin addicts
in London. Her work appeared in numerous magazines,
including The New Yorker, TIME and Vanity Fair. Mark also shot
production stills of more than 100 films, including Mike
Nichols’s Catch-22 (1970) and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apoca-
lypse Now (1979).
Mark forged strong relationships with her subjects. For
example, while photographing on the set of One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest, she learned of the maximum-security
women’s ward of Oregon State Hospital, where the movie
was primarily filmed. She later spent five weeks living in the
hospital, photographing the women who were patients in
the ward. She also began photographing homeless youth on
the streets of Seattle in 1983; the work was later developed
into a documentary film as well as one of the many books
that showcase her work today.
Below: Backstage at the
Alcazar theater, Thailand,
A Day in the Life of Thailand,
1995. Rick Smolan/David
Cohen, project directors;
Leslie Smolan, art director;
Collins Publishers, publisher
Rudolph de Harak
...- ...-In a multidisciplinary career, he was
..-a graphic and environmental designer
...with a modernist aesthetic. Rudolph
.-de Harak (1924–2002) was born in
..Culver City, California, and moved to
..New York in 1950 before becoming ..
promotion art director of Seventeen ..
magazine. He started his own design office
in 1952 and, over his career, taught at Cooper Union and
designed book jackets, album covers and posters.
In the mid-1960s, exhibition design became a facet of his
career, and de Harak helped design pavilions at Expo 67 and
Expo 70. For the Cummins Engine Company’s corporate
museum in Columbus, Indiana, de Harak conceived of the
museum’s centerpiece—a spectacular “exploding” diesel
engine with each of its parts suspended by wire. He also
worked on the design of the photographic timeline and
typographic displays for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s
Egyptian wing. Requiring painstaking research, the project
took ten years to complete.
An office building at 127 John Street in lower Manhattan
benefitted from de Harak’s ambitious environmental graphics,
including a futuristic neon-lit tunnel entryway and a three-
story-high digital clock. “I prided myself in thinking that
I would come up with some kind of form configuration that
had such a dignity of its own, or a power of its own,” de
Harak said, “that it would imply the idea, or some idea, to
the person who came in contact with that.”
Left: Detail from the
Cummins Engine
Company corporate
museum, 1985

Above: “The US Interview:

Meryl Streep,” 1994. Jennifer
Crandall, photo editor

Above: 127 John Street illuminated

Left: The Ricky Reyes Hair digital clock installation, 1970.
Salon, Manila, The Philippines: William Kaufman Organization,
A Journey Through the developers
Archipelago, 1996. Jill Laidlaw, Left: Westminster Records album
project editor; Didier Millet, cover, 1962
Archipelago Press, publisher

Communication Arts | commarts.com 69

 Cipe Pineles
...- ...-...Her design had an originality and so-
...-phistication that distinguished her
...-from her American peers. Austrian-
...-born Cipe Pineles (1908–1991) was
...-an artist, illustrator and trailblazer
...-who became the art director at
...-pioneering publications.
Cipe (pronounced seepe) was born in Vienna and arrived in
New York when she was thirteen years old. After graduating
from Pratt Institute, she was hired to assist M.F. Agha, the
art director of Condé Nast publications, in 1932. He encour-
aged her to experiment and find inspiration in fine art. She
continued to move up in the magazine world, and by the
mid-1940s, she was shaping the design of Glamour as its art
director. She later served as art director at Seventeen and
Charm. Pineles commissioned fine artists, such as Jacob
Lawrence and Andy Warhol, to illustrate articles, and her
playful modernist approach earned the magazines prestigious
design awards.
In 1943, after ten years of nominations, she became the first
female member of the Art Directors Club of New York, paving
the way for future female designers. In 1975, she became the
first woman inducted into its Hall of Fame.
Above: Parsons School of Design poster,
1979. Janet Amendola, illustrator
Above right: Seventeen cover, 1949.
Francesco Scavullo, photographer
Right: Proposed Vogue cover, 1939
70 Interactive Annual 2019
Franklin McMahon
...-He was an artist-reporter using charcoal
...-drawings to convey a larger truth.
...-For more than 50 years, Franklin
...-McMahon (1921–2012) freelanced for
...-major newspapers and magazines.
...-In 1955, Life assigned him to produce
...-courtroom sketches during the trial
...for the murder of Emmett Till. McMahon
used a small spiral notebook in the Mississippi court, later
redrawing the sketches on larger sheets of paper and adding
watercolor. On-site reporting became his life’s work.
McMahon was born in Chicago and covered almost every
US presidential campaign and national political convention
from 1960 to 2008. He was at the Richard Nixon–John
Kennedy debates, Kennedy’s funeral and Nixon’s resignation.
He followed the civil rights movement, including the Selma-
to-Montgomery march and the 1968 Chicago riots following
Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. And he watched
Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon from Mission Control
Center in Houston during the space race.
McMahon produced numerous books and films of his work
and bristled at the title illustrator. His drawings, he said, were
never “after the fact.” They captured landmark events as
they unfolded—a life’s work of storytelling that amounts to
nearly 9,000 drawings.
Left: Chicago
magazine feature
“Housing, Fair and
Otherwise,” 1966
Below: One in a
series of paintings
and drawings
published in Look as
part of a story on the
“new” Japan, 1963
Above: Personal piece.
Martin Luther King Jr.
and Ralph Abernathy
singing “We Shall
Overcome” in Selma,
Alabama, 1965
Lester Beall
...-Self-taught at a time when posters
..-and ads were the domain of illustra-
...tors and apprentices, Lester Beall
...-(1903–1969) is credited with
..-inventing the profession of art ..
director. He sowed the seeds of
modernist visual design in the United
...States and championed its concise
organization with integrated elements that convey both
a commercial message and an emotional response.
A Kansas City native, Beall developed an interest in modern
art movements, such as Dadaism and surrealism, and
combined modernist aesthetics with a freedom to experi-
ment in his design work. Beall moved his studio from
Chicago to New York in 1935 and developed work in corpo-
rate identity, editorial, packaging, posters and more. In the
1950s and 1960s, Beall became a leader in the emerging
corporate design movement. Known for his comprehensive
identity program for International Paper, he also produced
one of the first graphic standards manuals in the industry.
His clients included Abbott Laboratories, Caterpillar Tractor
and Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. Beall later moved
to Dumbarton Farm in rural Connecticut and set up his own
modernist office.
Throughout his career, he created powerful graphics using
bold primary colors, photomontage, arrows, lines and angled
type. Continually advancing his work beyond “the aesthetics
of yesterday,” he wrote, “For me, tradition handicaps, while
experimentation helps the creative artist.”
Right: Connecticut
General corporate
identity manual, 1959
Below: Rural
Electrification
Administration poster,
1937
Above: International Paper
trademark, 1958
Jay Chiat
.....He was the brains behind the agency
....that helped transform advertising in
....the 1970s and 1980s. Morton Jay
Chiat (1931–2002) was chairman and
chief executive of Chiat/Day, best
..known for popularizing the Energizer
...Bunny and creating the I Love L.A. cam-
.... ... paign for Nike and the “1984” spot for
Apple, which is credited with elevating the status of the
Super Bowl commercial.
Chiat was passionate and restless, claiming his real talent
was for “losing clients.” Yet, Chiat/Day became one of the
top agencies in the country. Chiat focused on both the
business and creative sides, and Chiat/Day grew from
a regional shop with 50 employees to a global powerhouse
with 1,200 employees and, in the early 1990s, billings of
more than one billion. Born in New York City, he became
creative director of a small Orange County ad agency before
leaving in 1962 to open his own shop in Los Angeles, Jay
Chiat & Associates. When Jay Chiat & Associates merged
with Faust/Day in 1968, Chiat/Day was born. It would go on
to be named Agency of the Decade by Advertising Age in 1990,
and its client list has included American Express, Nissan and
Reebok. Today, Chiat/Day lives on as TBWA\Chiat\Day.
Above: Nissan outdoor
board, 1987
Left: Apple ad congratulating
IBM on its first personal
computer, 1981. Tom Tawa,
art director/creative director;
Steve Hayden, writer
Below: Honda print ad for its first
car introduced to the United
States, 1971
Communication Arts | commarts.com 71
 Howard Gossage
...-Known for his unconventional philoso-
...-phy and progressive ideas, adman
...-Howard Gossage (1917–1969) was
...-often called the “Socrates of San
...-Francisco,” in part for his erudite
...-comments, as well as the ambience
--cultivated in his Barbary Coast agency.
....= The converted firehouse of Weiner &
Gossage—established in 1957 and later renamed Freeman,
Mander & Gossage—became a kind of salon where John
Steinbeck, Buckminster Fuller and Tom Wolfe would convene.
Gossage was famous for his wit and long-copy ads, which
attracted readers and created anticipation for the next
installment. For example, an ad for Fina Oil and Chemical Co.
spoofed oil industry clichés by introducing Fina’s “additive
of the future,” dubbed Pink Air—a superior air with which
to fill one’s tires. A later ad encouraged readers to send in
coupons for a free sample of Pink Air. Continuing the tongue-
in-cheek campaign, another ad asked readers to send in ideas
for the best way to use Pink Asphalt. Gossage pioneered
interactive advertising well before the proliferation of digital.
An outspoken critic of his industry, he believed advertising
was too valuable to waste on commercial products and
should instead be used to further social causes. His work for
the Sierra Club ushered in the environmental movement, and
he helped establish Friends of the Earth.
Right: Sierra Club print ad,
1968. Jerry Mander, writer;
Marget Larsen, designer;
Freeman, Mander &
Gossage, agency
Left: American Petrofina
newspaper ad, 1961.
Robert Freeman/George
Dippel, art directors;
Marget Larsen,
designer; Howard
Gossage, writer; Weiner
& Gossage, Inc., agency
72 Interactive Annual 2019
Tomoko Miho
...-She possessed an adroit sense of compo-
...-sition and visual ingenuity. Tomoko
...-Miho (1931–2012) combined unique
...-spatial solutions with a modernist
...-approach to design posters, cata-
...-logs, logos, environmental graphics
and signage.
Born in Los Angeles, she and her family were incarcerated in
an internment camp in Arizona during WWII. After the war
ended, she studied at the Minneapolis School of Art and Art
Center School in Los Angeles and later took an influential
tour of Europe with her husband, Jim Miho, where she met
with prominent designers, like Armi Ratia and Josef Müller-
Brockmann. She then worked for New York City–based
studio George Nelson Associates Inc. under creative director
Irving Harper, where she designed for brands like Herman
Miller. She continued working for the furniture brand through-
out her career, including designing showroom lighting
installations while leading her own studio, established in
1982. Her other clients included Aveda, the Isamu Noguchi
Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art.
Miho is best known for her masterful sense of scale and her
powerful minimalism. She challenged perspective, employed
trompe l’oeil illusions and expanded the depth of the two-
dimensional plane.
Below: Great Architecture
in Chicago poster, 1967.
Rodney Galarneau,
photographer; Center for
Advanced Research in
Design, design firm
Above: Omniplan
Architects poster, 1971
Left: Fondation Cartier pour
l’art contemporain Paris
Architectures invitation, 2001
Al Parker
...-He was known as the creator of the
...-modern glamour aesthetic in women’s
...-magazines. Illustrator Al Parker
...-(1906–1985) lifted the spirits of
...a nation recovering from the Great
...Depression with his pictures of
...beautiful women.
He was born in St. Louis, Missouri. After
winning honorable mention in a national cover competition
sponsored by House Beautiful in 1930, other publications
began commissioning his work. Parker later moved to New
York City and began illustrating a charming series of moth-
er-and-daughter covers for Ladies’ Home Journal. The first
cover was introduced in 1939. Before publishing the last cover
in 1952, the Journal produced posters of his art in order to
attract advertisers. They highlighted the popularity of the
mother-daughter pairs, whose matching outfits had inspired
a fashion trend that spread to stores across the country.
As magazines turned to photographic covers by the late
1950s, Parker kept experimenting and received assignments
from Sports Illustrated and Fortune. He was celebrated for
his strong compositions and his chameleon-like ability to
keep changing style and direction. In 2001, as part of a series
honoring American illustrators, the US Postal Service
released a stamp featuring his artwork.
Above: Portrait of
Broderick Crawford for
the cover of TV Guide,
1971. Jerry Alten, art
director
Above: From a Sports Illustrated
article about the Monaco Grand
Prix, 1964. Richard Gangel, art
director
Right: Ladies’ Home Journal cover,
1948. William Fink, art director.
Parker’s mother-and-daughter
cover illustrations appeared from
1939 to 1952
Morton Goldsholl
...----Acclaimed for his corporate branding,
...--films and progressive hiring prac-
...--tices, Morton Goldsholl (1911–1995)
...--combined the experimental and
...--the commercial.
.-..Born in Chicago, Goldsholl opened
...-a freelance office in 1941 and established
Goldsholl Design & Film Associates with Millie Goldsholl, his
wife, in 1955. Morton took charge of the design division while
Millie began building the film division. Having been inspired
by their studies at Chicago’s Institute of Design, with its
emphasis on Bauhaus principles and the possibilities of film,
they began to garner attention for their inventive “designs-
in-film.” Experimenting with light, photography and moving
images, the studio applied avant-garde filmmaking tech-
niques to mainstream advertising. Their practice attracted
and fostered a generation of local filmmakers.
The studio’s integration of art, design, advertising and visual
culture led to a wide range of work—commercials, corporate
branding, trademarks, packaging, films and print ads—for
major clients, including Kimberly-Clark, 7UP and Revlon.
Goldsholl worked on iconic logos for the Peace Corps and
Alcoa and designed the Motorola “batwing M” logo, still in
use after more than 60 years. The Goldsholls’ 40 years of
work demonstrated the power of art, design and advertising.
Left: Bauer &
Black elastic
goods
packaging,
1959
Below: 7UP
packaging,
1975. Morton
Goldsholl/
Thomas
Miller/John
Weber,
illustrators
Above: Motorola logo,
1955
Communication Arts | commarts.com 73
 Art Kane
..- ..-In the urban milieu of post–World War
..-II New York, Art Kane (1925–1995)
..-evolved into one of the great
..-photographers of the 20th century.
..-From the 1950s through the early
..-1990s, he created numerous images
for such publications as Life and Vogue,
.. ..including his portraits of music royalty
like Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones. He
also photographed for major brands, including Coca-Cola
and Volkswagen.
Born in New York City, Kane served as art director of Seven-
teen magazine and studied photography with acclaimed art
director Alexey Brodovitch. In 1958, he gathered 57 jazz
musicians outside of a Harlem townhouse; the result, now
known as A Great Day in Harlem, is one of the most iconic
images in music history. Yet, visually, it is unlike most of his
work, which was provocative, experimental and playful.
He brought his fresh concepts to life by employing odd
angles, strange settings and saturated colors. Kane preferred
natural light but would “own” his subjects, directing them
into deliberate poses. He would also sandwich transparen-
cies to create montage images with layered meaning, such
as his print of a young Black boy overlaid with a white gate.
“Reality never lives up to itself visually for me,” he said. “As
a photographer, I’m not observing too carefully where
I’m going, because tripping over a stone might just lead to
something marvelous.”
Left: Harley-
Davidson print
ad, 1976. David
Kennedy, art
director; Benton
& Bowles,
agency
Georg Olden
...- ...-When Georg Olden (1920–1975) was
...-the guest on TV’s I’ve Got a Secret in
...-1963, a celebrity panel tried guess-
...-ing one of his achievements. Olden
...had several. The award-winning
designer was one of the first African .
Americans to work in the budding
television industry, the first artist to
design news graphics at CBS, and the first African American
to design a stamp for the US Postal Service.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Olden and his family later
moved to Washington, DC. He had an interest in cartoon-
ing and took art classes at Virginia State College, dropping
out after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to design for
the Office of Strategic Services. After WWII ended, Olden
joined CBS and became the head of network on-air promo-
tions. He oversaw graphics for many shows, like I Love
Lucy, Lassie and Gunsmoke.
In 1960, Olden changed industries to advertising, first
working at BBDO and later for McCann Erickson. He designed
the statuette for the Clio Awards and won seven for his
work, along with multiple medals from the Art Directors Club
of New York. Olden, the grandson of a slave, also designed
a commemorative postage stamp in 1963 that honored the
100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Left: CBS Small World
discussion program title
card, 1959
Below: CBS The Silent Gun
teleplay title card, 1956

Left: USPS stamp

Above: Cacharel commemorating
print ad, 1977. the 100th
Robert Delpire, anniversary of the
art director Emancipation
Proclamation, 1963
Left: Esquire
magazine,
A Great Day in
Harlem, 1958.
Robert Benton,
art director

74 Interactive Annual 2019

John Berg
...- ...-With a discerning eye for imagery,
...-a love of unique typography and his
...-latent humor, John Berg (1932–2015)
...-brought Columbia Records to the
...-forefront of the music industry. He
...-was an innovator with more than
...-5,000 album covers produced under
...- his leadership, including Bruce Springsteen’s
1975 album Born to Run. Berg’s choice of a charmingly candid
photo of Springsteen leaning on saxophonist Clarence
Clemons is an iconic example of his visual instincts and
a cover that became a classic.
Berg was a native New Yorker and worked at Doyle Dane
Bernbach and Esquire before joining Columbia, where he is
credited with commissioning work from some of the best
designers, photographers and illustrators, including Milton
Glaser, Richard Avedon and Edward Sorel. Berg also utilized
the gatefold cover, which doubles the space available for
artwork. “The record would fall out on the floor when you
opened it up,” Berg said of Bob Dylan’s 1966 album Blonde
on Blonde, which opened vertically to show a rectangular
portrait of Dylan. “That was a big selling point,” he said of
the unconventional album packaging. During his 25 years at
Columbia, he was nominated for 29 Grammys, winning four
for his work on album covers for Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan,
Thelonious Monk and Chicago.
Above: Bessie Smith Any
Woman’s Blues album cover,
1970. Philip Hayes, illustrator
Above: Chicago Chicago II album
cover, 1970. Nick Fasciano, artist
Right: Thelonious Monk Solo
Monk album cover, 1965. Paul
Davis, illustrator
Phyllis Robinson
.... ......As a writer and creative director, her
.....work was an integral part of her
.....agency’s success for decades. Phyllis
Robinson (1921–2010) left the promo-
tion department at Grey Advertising .
...to become copy chief of Doyle Dane
...Bernbach when it opened in 1949. She
...--broke ground during a time when few
women were in senior management positions at ad agencies.
When Robinson joined the fledgling agency, she was paired
with art director Bob Gage. They helped produce popular
ads for Ohrbach’s department store, Polaroid and Levy’s Real
Jewish Rye bread.
For one Doyle Dane Bernbach campaign for Levy’s Real
Jewish Rye bread, the copy “You don’t have to be Jewish to
love Levy’s Real Jewish Rye” accompanied images of people
from different ethnic backgrounds enjoying sandwiches. For
a long-running campaign for Polaroid featuring the actors
James Garner and Mariette Hartley, the playful banter
sounded so natural that viewers believed the actors were
really married.
George Lois, who briefly worked with Robinson at Doyle
Dane Bernbach, called her “the first great modern advertis-
ing writer.” She was a mentor and a mensch and continued
working at the agency until her retirement in 1982.
Left: Polaroid print ad,
1967. Bob Gage, art
director/designer;
Dick Richards,
photographer
Below: Clairol
print ad, 1971.
Allan Buitekant,
art director
Communication Arts | commarts.com 75
 1

1 Sport England TV commercial

“Fit Got Real” :60
This one-minute spot is the latest from Sport England’s This
Girl Can campaign, which is funded by the National Lottery
and aims to inspire more women to get active. The campaign
seeks to redefine what it means to get active by democratiz-
ing exercise for all women. It challenges the conventional idea
of what exercise looks like and encourages the traditional
sports and exercise world to adapt to the lives of real women.
“We uncovered the insight that there were three principal
barriers—time, money and energy—which stopped certain
groups of women from engaging in more conventional forms
of exercise,” says FCB Inferno executive vice president Sharon
Jiggins. “Our solution lay in championing unconventional
ways for women to get active that overcame these three
barriers. We put a huge amount of energy into our casting,
avoiding actors and models to ensure that what we produced
was accurate, inclusive, relatable, authentic and inspiring.”
Ali Dickinson/Jack Walker, creative directors; Owen Lee, executive
creative director; Georgi Banks-Davies, director; Todd Banhazl,
director of photography; Simone Grattarola, Time Based Arts,
colorist; Ellie Johnson, editor; 750mph, audio mixer; Ben Gulvin,
sound engineer; Vicki Holgate/Laura Pirkis, strategy; Tom Lindo,
strategist; Cathy Green, producer; Bridie Scriven, agency producer;
Nikki Chapman, broadcast producer; Kate Taylor, executive producer;
Sharon Jiggins, project manager; Skunk, production company;
tenthree, editorial company; UNIT, post-production company; FCB
Inferno (London, United Kingdom), ad agency; Kate Dale, Sport
England, client.

2 Gastropolis identity
Gastropolis is a modern Armenian gourmet food market
offering fifteen distinctive culinary options in one location.
The challenge for Yerevan, Armenia–based formascope was to
develop a unifying visual identity that would also highlight
the specialty of each culinary option. “We created an identity
using simple shapes and content; the logo—a circle and two
lines—constantly transforms by dynamic principle and creates
radically different culinary icons using the same shapes,” say
Ani Gevorgyan, Karen Gevorgyan and Armenak Grigoryan,
formascope’s cofounders. “From the very beginning, we set
out to create a style that demonstrates the identity’s rela-
tionship with form on a conceptual basis. We also created
patterns; then, we applied this design system on all media
kits and brand communications.”
Ani Gevorgyan, writer; Karen Gevorgyan/Armenak Grigoryan,
designers; formascope (Yerevan, Armenia), design firm;
Gastropolis, client.

We’re looking for new, outstanding collateral, packaging, print ads,

television commercials, direct mail, books and exhibits. For
submission details, visit: commarts.com/submissions.

76 Interactive Annual 2019

2

Communication Arts | commarts.com 77

 EXHIBIT 1

1 ActionAid animation
ActionAid is an international charity that works with women and
girls living in poverty. To communicate its mission to a mass
audience on social media channels, Glasgow, Scotland–based D8
created a one-minute animated video. “We developed a visual
style and narrative to tell the story in a way that is both factually
accurate and emotionally engaging,” says the firm. “We had to
ensure the illustrations of violence were not graphic or gratuitous
without compromising on impactful storytelling. There was also
a really tight deadline, which limited the amount of animation and
detail that we could produce.”
Chris Newton, illustrator; David Beattie/Stephen McKay, animators; Jo Stein,
project manager; D8 (Glasgow, Scotland), design firm; Kirsten Armstrong/
Alexa Phillips, ActionAid, clients.

2 Québec City Tourism identity

Competition is fierce between destinations in the global tourism
industry. To ensure it maintains its appeal, Québec City needed
a distinctive and unifying brand reflecting both its heritage and what
it is today. “We designed a brand with an easily recognizable icon
that would become associated with Québec City and its surrounding
area,” says Barbara Jacques, Cossette’s vice president of branding
and design. “Taking the shape of turrets, mountains and a crown,
the acute accent that tops the Québec City Tourism logo recalls
iconic local landmark Château Frontenac, the topography of the
capital and the city’s heritage, influenced by both the French and
British crowns.”
Renaud Belles-Isles/Jasmin Brochu/Olivier Caron/Serge Côté/Yanick Giroux/
Zoé Forest Paradis, designers; Barbara Jacques, creative director; Ghislain
Martineau, retoucher; Fjord, music; Studio Expression, sound designer; Zoé
Béland/Élodie Fournier/Pierre-Antoine Lavoie/Joannie Roy/Julie Simard, project
managers; Louis Duchesne/Nathalie Houde, strategy; Attraction Québec,
production company; Cossette (Montréal, Canada), ad agency; Québec City
Tourism, client.

3 Over and Above Africa short film

“A Guardian” 1:30
The purpose of this film is to raise awareness for Over and Above
Africa, a new nonprofit that is supplying ranger groups across East
Africa with drones in order to help fight poaching. “The film emotion-
ally holds viewers by using collective nouns as a narrative device;
we wanted each scene to feel like a page turned in a children’s
storybook,” says writer/creative director Andy Fackrell. “With the dis-
covery of poachers, a sinister shift heightens the inevitable scene of
a ‘slaughter’ of elephants. A story of this scale relied on the incredible
generosity of a caring industry to produce such a powerful film. From
Cape Town to Los Angeles, the industry’s best talent offered their
time for free.”
Mariya Munsey, art director; Andy Fackrell (Amsterdam, The Netherlands),
writer/creative director; Ezio Bosso, artist; Sam Coleman, Giant Films,
director; Devin Toselli, Giant Films, director of photography; Adam Pertofsky,
Rock Paper Scissors/Matthew Swanepoel, Giant Films, editors; Marjorie
Sacks, Rock Paper Scissors, assistant editor; Sony Music Italy, music; Izolina
de Vasconcelos, Giant Films, stylist; Nella Coetzer, Giant Films, production
manager; Boris Vossgatter, Giant Films/Shannon Worley, Nice Kitty Films,
producers; Cindy Gabriel, Giant Films, executive producer; Giant Films,
production company; Rock Paper Scissors, editorial company; Wool & Tusk,
music company; a52, post-production company; Kerry David/Jennifer Pfister,
Over and Above Africa, clients.

78 Interactive Annual 2019

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Communication Arts | commarts.com 79

 1

80 Interactive Annual 2019

3
EXHIBIT
1 Scholastic environmental graphics
Scholastic is the world’s largest educational publisher and distributor
of children’s books, home to favorite series like Harry Potter, Clifford
the Big Red Dog and Captain Underpants. Pentagram created
environmental graphics for the publisher’s corporate headquarters in
New York that reimagine the iconic characters in a series of large-
scale artworks and installations. “The unique approach was inspired
by the office’s location in historically art-rich SoHo and brings the
interiors to life in a dynamic and magical way,” says Sarah McKeen,
a project manager in the New York office of Pentagram. “The
installations integrate the characters into the architecture in a variety
of materials and media in an artistic way so that the space feels
vibrant, witty and joyful.”
Paula Scher, art director; Courtney Gooch/Paula Scher/Rory Simms/Joy Wu,
designers; Sarah McKeen, project manager; Pentagram (New York, NY),
design firm; Richard Robinson, Scholastic, client.

2 RXBAR OOH campaign

Protein bar brand RXBAR has a cult following in urban centers where
young, busy people are on the lookout for something healthy to snack
on; however, they have no time for the hyperbole that many brands
use to attract them. “RXBAR’s commitment to simple, high-quality
ingredients inspired the brand’s broader attitude to take the BS out of
the world of food,” say group strategy director Bruno Frankel, art
director Christen Brestrup and writer Bertie Scrase from Wieden+
Kennedy’s Portland, Oregon, office. “Nowadays, people are bombarded
and surrounded by overthought, boring messaging, so we cut through
the clutter with something fresh and aesthetically pleasing that also
made them chuckle. Retaining humor in such a simple execution was
tough. We hope it paid off.”
Christen Brestrup/Helen Rhodes, art directors; Jonathan Marshall/Bertie
Scrase, writers; Christina Piluso/Brad Simon, designers/illustrators; Micah
Walker, creative director; Jason Bagley/Eric Baldwin, executive creative
directors; Simone Takasaki, design; Scott Darling, photographer; Saskia
Thomson, retoucher; Andrea Bakacs/Kristin Holder, producers; Lauren
Walker, project manager; Wieden+Kennedy (Portland, OR), ad agency;
Charlie Hart, RXBAR, client.

3 Dr. Scholl’s TV commercial

“Her Feet” 1:50
The brief was to create an emotional piece for Dr. Scholl’s that targets
active people who don’t necessarily see Dr. Scholl’s footcare products
as being relevant to their lives. “The new ‘Born to Move’ tagline
inspired the idea of telling a life story,” says BBDO Toronto vice
president, associate creative director Chris Booth. “I was fascinated by
the idea of communicating this story and the emotion of her journey
only by ever seeing her feet. This is what made the piece truly unique
and ownable. I recently had a beautiful baby girl. I was proud to use
her for the opening and closing shots, and I love that this spot will
become a beautiful reminder of her first movements.”
Chris Booth, art director/writer/associate creative director/director; Todd
Mackie/Denise Rossetto, chief creative officers; Chris Bonnell, photographer;
Adam Madrzyk, director of photography; Brian Williams, editor; Imprint
Music, music; Beatrice Bodogh, producer; Luke Bryant, line producer; Dan
Ford/Liane Thomas, executive producers; Stephanie Page/Saloni Wadehra,
project managers; Skin and Bones Film Company, production company;
Saints Editorial, editorial company; Fort York VFX, post-production company;
BBDO Toronto (Toronto, Canada), ad agency; Cheryl Burt/Kate Dinham/
Brieanna Harburn, Bayer, clients.

Communication Arts | commarts.com 81

 EXHIBIT
1 Mageze packaging 1
Mageze is a magnesium-based product range
that provides effective relief for sports strains
and general muscle aches and pains. DPP
Pharmaceuticals was seeking clarity in messa-
ging and a strong shelf presence to make
it easy for its customers to find what they
need. “We looked at competitors in the
market and found that many of the packaging
designs looked either dated and cluttered
or didn’t communicate the sports and health
benefits in their designs,” says the design
team at South Melbourne, Australia–based
Date of Birth. “Since we were inspired by
the translucency of magnesium oil, we chose
to present the oil in a clear bottle. Carrying
this through with a simplistic typographic
design solution, we positioned the brand
with a clean, striking look and feel, utilizing
clear, white packaging substrates with a bright
splash of orange to evoke health and vitality 2
and ensure a strong shelf presence.”
Bianca Nardo, art director; Michael Nguyen, lead
designer; John Mastro, creative director; 3D2D,
3-D designer; Date of Birth (South Melbourne,
Australia), design firm; DPP Pharmaceuticals, client.

2 Squarespace murals
Squarespace has been building an online
Instagram campaign around the lines “Dream
it,” “Name it,” “Build it,” “Grow it” and “Share
it.” The final line was “Make it,” and for that,
Squarespace wanted to create a physical OOH
solution that people could react to in a real-life
space. “I knew the piece had to be graphic
and impactful, but I liked the idea of bringing
digital pieces to an analog, hand-painted
surface, so I proposed several designs and
techniques that would give us a tech feel,
realized by human hands,” says designer Craig
Ward. “Once we locked on a concept, it was
just finessing. The real challenge was for the
muralists, who had to translate 30,000 sharp-
edged pixels of artwork to a rough brick wall.
The public’s response has been wonderful,
with so many passersby taking photographs of
the pieces and sharing them online.”
Craig Ward (New York, NY), designer;
Squarespace, client.

82 Interactive Annual 2019

 STUDENT OUR 2019 STUDENT
SHOWCASE FEATURES
SHOWCASE FOURTEEN TALENTED
ADVERTISING, DESIGN,
2019 ILLUSTRATION AND
PHOTOGRAPHY
STUDENTS,
REPRESENTING VISUAL
COMMUNICATION
PROGRAMS IN THE
UNITED STATES
AND CANADA.
Selected from student portfolios recently posted
on Creative Hotlist, the Communication Arts
career site, these students were chosen by our
editors for the originality of their ideas and for
producing work at a professional level.
Additional work from these and other students
can be found on creativehotlist.com, where
students can upload their portfolios, free, to
be considered for future showcases.

Communication Arts | commarts.com 83


STUDENT SHOWCASE
© Dorothy Leung
Paige Bowman
birdfingers.net
School: Sheridan College.
Hometown: Victoria, Canada.
Graduating: April 2019.
Major: Illustration.
Areas of interest: Fine art illustration,
mural painting, animated illustration.
Work experience: Assistant to lead curator,
Vancouver Mural Festival 2018 (May–August
2018); Live painter, Strathcona Street Party
(July 2018); Live painter, Vancouver Craft
Beer Week (June 2018); Artist, Vancouver
Mural Festival 2016 (August 2016).
Cultural influences: Eastern European
1 “The mural I created for Vancouver Mural Festival
folklore illustration, Chinese brush painting,
Balinese sculptures, Japanese woodcuts.
Artistic influences: Nomi Chi, James Jean,
Takashi Murakami, Lyle Partridge, Tyler
Keeton Robbins.
Dream job: Lead artist on a multimedia,
audiovisual live event that has a heavy
art component and incorporates inter-
active technology, like augmented or
virtual reality!
84 Interactive Annual 2019
1
© Vanessa Lam
2
3
2016 depicts beings from Buddhist cosmology:
the wrathful god Yama, who protects the gates
to nirvana and judges the dead on their way to
the afterlife, and the demon Mara, who embodies
temptation and succumbing to our desires.”
Vancouver Mural Festival, client.
2 “I’ve always been more interested in owning
4
a motorcycle than a car—there’s something about
the freedom of riding one that you can’t find
with any other vehicle. Custom painting helmets
involves a lot of planning, but this end result is
among my favorite custom jobs so far.” Joshua
Lovan, client.
3 “In this piece, I was experimenting with incor-
porating isometric illustration into my usual
work. The bathhouse is inspired by the one
from the classic Hayao Miyazaki film Spirited
Away, with its seemingly endless rooms.” Marco
Cibola, instructor.
4 Personal project. “I’ve always been in love with
birds, especially ravens and crows. Their intelli-
gence and crafty nature have made them some of
my favorite animals. This imagery of a bird with
many feet that’s struggling to unbind itself from
an entanglement of ropes is a metaphor for my
own insecurities.”
1

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Pragun Agarwal
pragun-agarwal.com

School: Maryland Institute College of Art.

Hometown: New Delhi, India.
2 3
Graduating: May 2019.
Major: Graphic design.
Areas of interest: Typography, calligraphy,
branding, publication design, illustration.
Awards: OpenIDEO Challenge Top
Idea winner (2018); Kyoorius Student
Awards (2014).
Work experience: Intern under J. Abbott
Miller, Pentagram (May–August 2018);
Graphic designer, Codesign (April 2014–
September 2016).
1 “Type specimen dedicated to the libre fonts by
Velvetyne Type Foundry embodying the open- Cultural influences: Indian festivals,
source movement. Every visual element in this street art.
4 layout was curated from open-source websites Artistic influences: Saul Bass, Zach
and collections.” Adam Lucas, instructor. Lieberman, Job Wouters.
2 “Cinema 4D enables designers to experiment
Dream job: Apple, Google, IDEO.
and play with materials and finishes. This
typographic artwork reflects that experi-
mentation through the word blob.” Kiel
Mutschelknaus, instructor.
3 Personal project. “Trying out new tools, inks
and materials is what really drives me to make
artworks with a fresh and distinct visual
output. I conveyed the phrase rain stains with
watercolors, adding another layer of meaning
and complexity to the final piece.”
4 “Poster design for the Work In Progress Museum
as a part of my GD MFA elective at the Maryland
Institute College of Art. This museum provides
a space for people to celebrate the idea of
a process through a constructive and collab-
orative manner.” Antonio Alcalá/Jason Gottlieb,
instructors.

Communication Arts | commarts.com 85

 1

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Jake Peterson
jellyfishjake.com

School: Brigham Young University.

Hometown: Portland, Oregon.
Graduating: April 2019.
Major: Art direction.
Minor: Design.
Areas of interest: Art direction, 2
advertising, driving a stick shift.
Awards: Young Ones ADC (2018); American
Advertising Federation of Utah (2018);
D&AD New Blood Awards (2018).
Work experience: Senior art director, BYU
Adlab (December 2017–present); Art
director, BYU Adlab (February–December
2017); Adobe Creative Cloud instructor,
Harold B. Lee Library (January 2016–August
2017); Industrial design intern, Gallagher
(May 2016–August 2016); Marketing, sales
intern, Little Bird (March–August 2015). 1 “What makes the perfect creative? We don’t 3
Cultural influences: Damien Chazelle, really know. But we tried to narrow it down to
Fenty, Reddit, TOILETPAPER magazine, three qualities that the BYU Adlab champions:
West Africa. fearless ambition, boundless electricity and
tireless craft. They now rest on a wall in the
Artistic influences: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Adlab. They serve as a physical embodiment of
Shepard Fairey, Keith Haring, David our mantra.” Jagger Moore, writer; BYU Adlab,
Hockney, Diogo Machado. ad agency; Pat Doyle/Jeff Sheets, instructors.
Dream job: Art director at an independent 2 “Gold’s Gym, home of the revenge bod.” Forrest
advertising agency. Quinn, writer; Tabitha Sumsion, photographer;
Kevin Kelly, instructor.
3 “Fifty-three percent of millennials say they would
be embarrassed to admit they met somebody
online. We wanted to remind potential Tinder
users that if you’re happy and you know it, it
doesn’t matter where you met someone. Love
is what you make it.” Jagger Moore, writer;
Kevin Kelly, instructor.

86 Interactive Annual 2019

1

STUDENT SHOWCASE

© Austin Walsh
2

Lauren Hakmiller
laurenhakmiller.com

School: The University of Kansas.

Hometown: Lawrence, Kansas.
Graduating: May 2019.
Major: BFA in visual communication.
Minor: Art history.
Areas of interest: Branding,
illustration, art direction, editorial,
fashion, product photography.
Awards: AIGA KC A14 Design Awards
(2018); MSU Glitch National Student
Competition & Show (2018); AIGA KC A13
Design Awards (2017).
Work experience: Creative intern,
Whiskey Design (May–December 2018);
Design intern, Design Ranch (August–
December 2017); Teaching assistant,
The University of Kansas (August–
3 1 “Inspired by the theme ‘Renaissance,’ Kiosk 57 December 2017).
returns to a classic, gridded style of design
that allows for creative breaks but focuses on Cultural influences: Streetwear, alt-
the purpose of an art and literary magazine— indie music, the ’90s.
to showcase great writing and artwork.” Lauren
Artistic influences: Virgil Abloh, A24
Hakmiller/Chloe Hubler/Sarah Pickert/Michael
Films, OMFGCO, Rainbow Kitten Surprise,
Zager, designers; Jenny O’Grady, creative
director; Lauren Hakmiller, photographer; Cole Sprouse.
Andrea Herstowski, instructor. Dream job: Working in the design world
2 “The Metaphysical Psychic Shop of Lawrence is and making things I believe in.
a fresh, psychedelic twist on an age-old story.
The new look is young, punchy and vibrant,
appealing to a wider client base. This brand is
complete with an interactive tarot card box that
enables the hypnotizing logo to blink as the box
slides open.” Roberto Muntoreanu, instructor.
3 Personal project. “Yolk is a restaurant that
celebrates the insides, beginning with what
makes quality food and good people. Yolk
celebrates the uniqueness of the ‘insides’ in
its own visual quirks. The grid that guides the
system is built entirely from the lines of the
inside of the spiky serif logotype.” Michael
Crichton, photographer.

Communication Arts | commarts.com 87

 1

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Ashley Stewart
behance.net/astewa266851

School: Savannah College of Art and Design. 3

Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina.
Graduating: June 2019. 2 3

Major: Graphic design.

Minor: Art history.
Areas of interest: Publication design,
design for good, package design, branding,
2-D illustration, printmaking.
Work experience: Graphic design intern,
NCR Corporation (June–August 2018).
Cultural influences: Feminism (all waves),
international adoption, multicultural
families, self-identity, historical parallels
and pop culture.
Artistic influences: Saul Bass, Bauhaus,
A.M. Cassandre, Albrecht Dürer, Memphis
style, postmodern designers (Siegfried
Odermatt, Rosmarie Tissi and Wolfgang
Weingart), Massimo Vignelli and so
many more!
Dream job: Working abroad for a well-
known branding agency.
4
1 “The goal of this project was to create a design
that portrays the essence of a dress from the
Guo Pei: Couture Beyond exhibit presented at
SCAD FASH in Atlanta, Georgia. While exhibiting
high-quality craftsmanship through specialized
production methods, I created an invitation
that represents Guo Pei’s Ming vase gown.”
Peter Wong, instructor.
2 “For this class assignment, I researched a French
typeface, Didot, and learned about its history
and modern application. I learned that Didot 4 “Inspired by the innovative and playful work
is often paired with fashion-related content; of postmodern designers Rosmarie Tissi,
however, I wanted to focus on its dramatic Wolfgang Weingart and Dan Friedman, I created
typographic anatomy of boundary-pushing a design and stationery system for this class
thick and thin strokes throughout the booklet assignment. The final promotional package
I designed.” Melissa Kuperminc, instructor. consisted of an envelope, a cancellation seal,
3 “Coming from green-thumb families, we devel- multiple variations of stamps and a first-day
oped Bloom, vases made from seed-embedded cover.” Peter Wong, instructor.
paper that can be planted back into the earth.
Minimal in waste and color, these vases enhance
the brilliance of the plants within them.
Tags with written and drawn instructions that
assist users accompany the final products.”
Connie Lee/Ashley Stewart, designers; Peter
Wong, instructor.

88 Interactive Annual 2019

1
© Alahna Waters
2 School: California College of the Arts (CCA).
3 1 “Half-page illustration for an article that cele-
brates the fiftieth anniversary of Sputnik and
recollects the technological advancements
born from the space race. I saw those achieve-
ments as the legacy of Sputnik and used this
concept as a basis for the illustration.” Adam
McCauley, instructor.
2 “An interactive poster depicting a scene from
The Things They Carried, a book by Tim O’Brien
based on his experience during the Vietnam
War. There are hidden QR codes around major
characters that, when scanned, redirect the
viewer to a short web comic about a character.”
Sophia Foster-Dimino, instructor.
3 “For this full-page illustration assignment,
I could choose and illustrate any genre. I chose
tech noir, and I decided to emphasize the art
deco movement—the root of the noir genre—
and combine it with the futurism of traditional
tech genres.” Chris Koehler, instructor.
STUDENT SHOWCASE
Daniel Castro Maia
dcmaia.art
Hometown: Campinas, Brazil.
Graduating: May 2019.
Major: Illustration.
Areas of interest: I like 3-D modeling
and rendering, and I try incorporating it
into my work—usually in the form of
reference for a finish. I enjoy learning
new software and completing graphic
and web design side projects. I also dabble
in urban photography and printmaking,
but my work in those areas has a long
way to go! In terms of illustration, I veer
towards narrative, and I like emphasizing
mood and immersion.
Awards: AI-AP’s Latin American Ilustración
7; CCA Creative Achievement Award; CCA
First Year Honors Program nomination.
Cultural influences: American art deco,
Brazilian history, Latin music.
Artistic influences: I’m very influenced
by technical processes like wood
engraving and etching. I love too many
contemporary artists to name, including
Rovina Cai, Tracie Ching, Daniel Danger,
Victo Ngai and Olly Moss. Several older
artists come to mind too, like Franklin
Booth, Gustave Doré, J. C. Leyendecker,
Moebius…There’s so much to be influ-
enced by!
Dream job: There are several clients
I would love to work with one day, but
truly, anything that grants me a living
with illustration sounds like a plus.
Communication Arts | commarts.com 89
 1

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Yuxin Xiong
yuxinxiong.myportfolio.com

School: Syracuse University, S.I. Newhouse

2 3
School of Public Communications.
Hometown: Jiangxi, China.
Graduating: May 2019.
Major: Advertising.
Minor: Japanese studies.
Areas of interest: Graphic design, post-
production and art direction.
Awards: Communication Arts Advertising
Annual (2018); Creativity International 1 “People always try to find a quiet place for
Awards (2018); Graphis New Talent different reasons. Bose headphones are your
Annual (2018). door to a quiet world.” Kevin O’Neill, instructor.

Work experience: Art director intern, 180. 2 “Domestic violence victims seek help at the
initiation of the violence, but these signals are
ai (May–August 2018); Advertising intern,
often ignored by their friends and family. An
Ogilvy (May–August 2017); Ad designer, The interactive billboard with a visual illusion helps
Daily Orange (February–December 2017). people realize that. When people walk by, the
Cultural influences: Everything I grew up billboard asks people whether they see the
with: traditional Chinese architecture, beast in the picture.” Kevin O’Neill, instructor.
traditional Chinese clothes, Chinese 3 “People are eager to find a delicious protein bar 4
calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting that can provide them with energy. thinkThin
and traditional Chinese patterns; is an energy bar that tastes like dessert.” Kevin
everything I love: animation, fountain pens O’Neill, instructor.
and ink, Japanese culture, and Japanese 4 “People usually eat Doritos while watching
design; and everything that surrounds me: TV or streaming movies. Doritos is the classic
classmates, coffee, dreams, emotion, movie snack that you can eat in different,
family, fiction, friends, games, Greek interesting ways.” Kevin O’Neill, instructor.
mythology, literature, magazines, the
Museum of Modern Art, music, news,
photography and teachers.
Artistic influences: Animation, traditional
Chinese architecture, traditional Chinese
clothes from different dynasties,
contemporary advertising, manga, movies,
the Museum of Modern Art and the
Palace Museum.
Dream job: A creative director with a strong
cultural background and strong graphic
design skills.

90 Interactive Annual 2019

1
2
3 1 “The assignment: create a logo animation for
Spotify. The concept: air both creates and lifts
sound through the vibration of air molecules.”
Gerald Soto, instructor.
2 “The assignment: create a logo animation for
Spotify. The concept: music illuminates and
reveals. In the animation, sound becomes
light, illuminating a hidden city.” Gerald
Soto, instructor.
3 “The assignment: create an animation revealing
something about your mind’s eye. The concept:
a look into a graphic designer’s messy mind.
I wanted to communicate the mess that exists
inside a creative’s head during the design
process.” Gerald Soto, instructor.
4
4 “Saving Grace in Uganda is a nonprofit with
a mission to end homelessness for children in
Uganda. The logo symbolizes care and growth,
which is visualized in the roof element of the
mark (above the U for Uganda) and the arrow
created in the counter form of the logo.” Ivan
Chermayeff/Tom Geismar/Sagi Haviv/Mackey
Saturday, instructors.
STUDENT SHOWCASE
Elizabeth Galian
elizabethgalian.com
School: School of Visual Arts (SVA).
Hometown: Bayport, New York.
Graduated: May 2018.
Major: Graphic design.
Areas of interest: Motion graphics.
Awards: Silas H. Rhodes Scholarship
(2018); Adobe Design Achievement
Awards semifinalist (2018); SVA Design
Departmental Award (2016).
Work experience: Freelance motion
graphics designer, Viacom (May 2018–
present); Motion graphics intern,
Viacom (September 2017–May 2018);
Graphic design intern, PledgeMusic
(May–August 2017).
Cultural influences: Urban landscapes
have a huge impact on my work. Their
cramped, layered physicality is visually
inspiring, and I love the way you have
to really look to see the details.
Artistic influences: The people I’ve
grown with in school and the creatives
I’ve met through work. Seeing how
others work and think is so inspiring,
and I’ve been fortunate enough to be
surrounded by creatives who genuinely
want to help each other grow.
Dream job: Anywhere that I get to
design and animate an idea worth
thinking.
Communication Arts | commarts.com 91
 1

STUDENT SHOWCASE

© Phaedra Williamson

Kristopher Burris
kristopherburris.com

School: The Art Institute of Atlanta.

2 3
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia.
Graduating: June 2019.
Major: BFA, digital photography.
Awards: American Advertising Awards,
Bronze Student (2018); Graphis New Talent
Annual, Gold (2018).
Cultural influences: I have been influenced
by many things, which include but are not
exclusive to Texas, the place of my birth,
and St. Louis and East St. Louis, where
I spent my youth. The United States Navy
and my family are the strongest and most
powerful instruments that took me into
manhood. My photography is a direct
representation of the preservation of these
influences that pushed me towards
excelling in my pursuits and endeavors.
Artistic influences: My eye tends to be 1 “The inspiration for this photograph, Cinderella,
captured by fine art rather than com- was a story of rags to riches. I used a more
mercial photography. rustic background to illustrate the idea of rags,
and designer clothing with the elaborate
Dream job: To get my own studio fully
headpiece to signify royalty.” Kristopher Burris, 4
running with a solid bank of clients and
art director/Rebelle London, designer; Andrew
to be able to focus my full attention Segovia, creative director; Monifa Gaddist,
on my career specializations, such as model; Lynda Green, instructor.
luxury portraiture and products. For the
2 “My goal was to create a very textured and
longer road, I would eventually like to
colorful scene true to how crawfish would be
teach and spread my experiences to future served. Crawfish boils are usually spread out
generations. on newspaper and covered in cajun seasoning,
so that was the inspiration for how to prop
this still life.” Taylor Bareford, instructor.
3 “I was charged with taking a great interior photo-
graph with a lot of design within the frame. In
4 “I took a photograph of my aunt, who is a Liberian
my mind, you could not get any better than the
refugee. She has had many hard times in her
interior of a chapel. This particular chapel is in
life, but I wanted to capture just how wonderful
St. Louis, Missouri.” Taylor Bareford, instructor.
a person she is even through tragedy. She is at
peace.” Nicole Jacobs-Licht, instructor.

92 Interactive Annual 2019

1 2

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Hannah Smoot
3 hsmoot.com

School: Rhode Island School of Design.

Hometown: Jochiwon, South Korea.
Graduating: May 2021.
Major: Illustration.
Areas of interest: Freelance illustration,
game art design, editorial illustration,
commercial art.
Awards: Fred Lazarus IV Artscape Prize
(2016); WorldWide Kids Drawing
Contest (2016).
Work experience: Various commissions,
including illustrations for a Johns
Hopkins international survey (2016).
Cultural influences: Because I grew up
in various countries due to my parents’
jobs, my art is influenced by the
cultures of China, India, Korea and the
4 1 Personal project. “This is the portrait of a family
United States.
in the order of power, with the boy in the top
left as the patriarch and the baby in the bottom Artistic influences: Medieval religious
right as the youngest. This piece uses bold art (particularly medieval Christian art’s
shapes to create movement and a shared use of bold colors and clothing), ’80s
element in the family.” science fiction art.
2 Personal project. “Two outsiders are stealthily Dream job: Freelance illustrator.
infesting the area with a large heap of Brads. It’s
for the greater good, but the public has yet to
know of their benefits.”
3 “A self-portrait in which I am standing in a room
with mirrors facing each other. I was exploring
the way the face deteriorates as it recedes into
the infinite space.” Molly Kaderka, instructor.
4 Personal project. “ILU is the name of a passenger
ship. ILU, which is an abbreviation of I Love You,
can be portrayed through the hand signals of the
ship in its stationary position. The illustration
shows the facade of the ship; the rest is a long
cylindrical shape.”

Communication Arts | commarts.com 93

 1

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Audra Linsner
audralinsner.com

School: Syracuse University, S.I. Newhouse

2
School of Public Communications.
Hometown: Clifton Springs, New York.
Graduating: May 2019.
Major: Advertising.
Areas of interest: The intersection
between advertising and public good, as
well as the role that design and typography
play in this.
Awards: Graphis New Talent Annual.
Work experience: Assistant illustration
editor, The Daily Orange (January 2017–
present); Art direction intern, Heartbeat
(May–August 2018); Social media fellow,
Believe in Syracuse (January–May 2017).
Cultural influences: I’m influenced a lot
by the people around me and their
perspectives, as well as pop culture. Having
grown up in a teeny-tiny town in upstate
New York—which is not Westchester— 1 “The Smithsonian Institution is a staple in the life 3
I appreciate and work hard to understand of any child prodigy.” Kevin O’Neill, instructor.
a wide range of views and intersections 2 “Zilchables tableware is made straight from
of identities. nature. All utensils, plates, cups and straws
are biodegradable and compostable, unlike
Artistic influences: My Instagram feed is
traditional disposable tableware that lasts
positively saturated with talented illus- forever in landfills.” Mel White, instructor.
trators, muralists and letterers. These
makers give me the courage to try new 3 “It’s an undisputed truth: since 1853, Levi’s has
been making your butt, rear or fanny look the
things, work diligently to find visual solu-
best.” Kevin O’Neill, instructor.
tions and create so that I can find my
artistic style.
Dream job: Starting my own greeting card
and paper company.

94 Interactive Annual 2019

 1 2
3
1 “For this project, I was directed to make
a narrative illustration for the Aesop fable ‘The
Stag at the Pool.’ I emphasized the entangle-
ment of the deer’s antlers within the branches
while also creating dynamic movement with the
curved arrow coming towards him.” Tom
Casmer, instructor.
2 “I was directed to illustrate a book cover for
the story Daughter of Necessity. I made the
protagonist, a woman who can weave the
threads of fate, blinded by her hair since she
cannot control the fates she creates and
uses her own hair to weave the future she
desires.” Rick Lovell, instructor.
4
3 “For this project, I was directed to make an
editorial portrait of Elizabeth Taylor. To
emphasize her expression, I juxtaposed the
flat, textured, graphic shapes of the hair
and background with the rendered, smoother
areas of the face and shoulders.” Don
Rogers, instructor.
4 “For this project, I was directed to create
a concept painting for a temple environment
that includes foliage, primates and an element
of mysticism. I created an abandoned temple
with an ancient, weathered, magical statue,
using light rays and hue shifts to create
movement around the painting.” Arden Von
Haeger, instructor.
STUDENT SHOWCASE
Alejandro Escobar
aescobarart.com
School: Savannah College of Art
and Design.
Hometown: Rochelle, Illinois.
Graduating: May 2019.
Major: Illustration.
Minor: Motion media design.
Areas of interest: Concept art and
development, publication illustration,
animated illustration.
Awards: Society of Illustrators, student
scholarship exhibition (2018); Port City
Review journal exhibition (2018); Ringling
College Best of Illustration exhibition.
Work experience: Illustrator/concept
designer, JCB, (September–November
2018); Illustrator/concept designer,
Disney Imaginations (September–
November 2018).
Cultural influences: The time I spent
reading books, playing role-playing games
and getting to intimately know the kind,
hilarious people of my hometown.
Artistic influences: I look at the work
of Gerald Brom, Sam Wolfe Connelly,
Gustav Klimt, Malcolm Liepke, Jeremy
Lipking, Karla Ortiz, John Singer Sargent,
Joseph Todorovitch, John William
Waterhouse and N. C. Wyeth. A lot of
these artists created artworks that are
based in realism but added their own
stylistic flair, which I try to emulate in
my own work.
Dream job: I would love to work at Riot
Games as a character splash illustrator or
design fantasy book covers. I’d also love
to work at Giant Ant doing illustration-
focused motion design or designing album
covers for indie artists.
Communication Arts | commarts.com 95
 1

STUDENT SHOWCASE

Bowook Yoon
bowook.com 2

School: School of Visual Arts.

Hometown: Seoul, South Korea.
Graduating: April 2019.
Major: Advertising.
Minor: Design.
Areas of interest: Side projects.
Awards: AD STARS (2017, 2018); ADC Awards
(2018); ADDY Awards (2018); ANDY
Awards (2018); Clio Awards (2017, 2018);
Creativity International Awards (2018);
Graphis New Talent Annual (2017); New
York Festivals (2018). 3

Work experience: Art director intern,

Droga5 (June–August 2018).
Cultural influences: I live in New York City
and came from South Korea, so I can mix
two different cultures.
Artistic influences: I am inspired by street
art, including flyers, graffiti and trash.
Dream job: Art director in the advertis-
ing industry.
1 “To make people acknowledge the effect of 3
exercising in Gold’s Gym, this billboard maxi-
mizes the strong power of exercise by using the
medium.” Ha Jung Song/Bowook Yoon, art
directors; Bob Mackall/Jack Mariucci, instructors.
2 “These advertisements used Roy Lichtenstein
artworks to emphasize the difference between
clear skin and skin with acne.” Ha Jung Song/
Bowook Yoon, art directors; Bob Mackall/Jack
Mariucci, instructors.
3 “This advertisement promotes ProActive dog
food by comparing pets to wild animals.” Ha
Jung Song/Bowook Yoon, art directors; Bob
Mackall/Jack Mariucci, instructors.

96 Interactive Annual 2019

1
2 3
4 packaging design.
1 “Fifty-Four is the reinvention of a small-town
drive-in theater that closed in 2009, where the
local residents spent their glory days. The update
cultivates the nostalgia of the past while
modernizing the drive-in to lend itself to the
area’s younger outdoor enthusiasts.” Jeremy
Shellhorn, instructor.
2 “Minim was designed for tiny-home enthusiasts
and enables these homeowners to travel the
world with their tiny abodes. Today, it is hard to 4 “Bellé Pellé Soap Co. puts love plus passion into
find a place to park tiny homes because the
movement is relatively new, but Minim seeks to
alleviate this problem.” Matt Kirkland, instructor.
STUDENT SHOWCASE
Kayle Riebel
kayleriebel.com
School: The University of Kansas.
Hometown: Humboldt, Kansas.
Graduating: May 2019.
Major: Visual communications.
Minor: Art history.
Areas of interest: Branding and
Awards: Capstone Award, best
rebrand (2018).
Work experience: Design intern,
Kinfolk Creative (October 2017–present);
Designer/printer, Sideline Ink (September
2015–present); Design intern, FLOC5
(May 2017–January 2018).
Cultural influences: Nature, outdoors,
minimalist living.
Artistic influences: AfterAll Studio,
Bauhaus, Aaron Draplin, skinn branding
agency, Swiss modernism and
anything letterpress.
Dream job: Somewhere that challenges
my creativity. I think I would fit in best
at a branding firm or working in-house
for an outdoor recreation company.
3 “Kathryn Lee Bridal is an atelier that has mastered
design and craft to produce beautiful custom-
tailored dresses for brides all over the United
States. Kathryn Lee makes every bride’s dream
dress a reality and offers totally custom and
unique options, as well as pieces from its
collection, fitted to every customer.” Sarah
Beshears, art director; FLOC5, design firm;
Kathryn Lee Bridal, client.
every handmade bar of soap. Its skin-loving
ingredients are 100 percent natural and are
made for every skin type. Bellé Pellé focuses
on bringing new scents and experiences to
every home with its local, organic ingredients.”
Sarah Beshears, art director; FLOC5, design
firm; Bellé Pellé Soap Co., client.
Communication Arts | commarts.com 97
 “What do I think is going to happen
to interactive media? We’re going
to go online. The CD is going to go
the way of the floppy disk.”
—Paul Souza, 1995

Wired News,
1994. Wired
Digital,

Years of
multimedia
production
company

Interactivity
It was only 25 years ago that a few pioneering
creatives struggled with crude technology to VizAbility, 1995.
MetaDesign,
deliver the first interactive experiences. Today, multimedia
interactive media has revolutionized visual production
company
communications by becoming an integral com-
ponent of our society with increasing influence
over commerce and culture. We’ve captured
just a small portion of this medium’s exciting
evolution on the following pages, with a selec-
tion of work from our past Interactive Annuals
and insightful comments from some of our Leonardo da Vinci,
1997. Corbis
previous jurors. Corporation,
multimedia
production
company/client

“I see the internet as a social

movement more than anything else.
To think that the way the web is now
is the way it will always be is just Discovery

crazy.” —Auriea Harvey, 1999

Channel Online,
1995. Jessica
Helfand Studio,
design firm
1998

1999
1995

1996

1997

98 Interactive Annual 2019

“What you’re going to see is the struggle to
figure out how you make money and how you
create a balance so it doesn’t interfere with
the experience.” —Barbara Kuhr, 2000 Subservient Chicken, 2004. Crispin Porter + Bogusky/
The Barbarian Group, project design and development

Digital Depot, 2004. Kossmann.dejong/LUST, Visual Thesaurus 2.0, 2003. Plumb Design, site design and development
project design and development

“I can envision people with wireless devices

that give them incredible access to
information in the environments that
surround them—that keep them
connected and untethered to their
The Star-Spangled Banner, 2000. Hello Design, site
plugged-in workstations.” —Guthrie Dolin, 2001
design and development
2001

2003
2000

2002

2004

Communication Arts | commarts.com 99

 25 YEARS OF INTERACTIVITY

“The page metaphor is dead, and people are

finally understanding what to do now that we
don’t have pages.” —Liz Danzico, 2008

102 Minutes: Inside the Towers, 2005. NYTimes.com,

site design and development

Philips Bodygroom, 2007. Struck/Tribal DDB, project design and

development

HBO Voyeur, 2008.

Big Spaceship,
project design and
development

“I know what the future won’t be, and

that’s a flat panel screen on my
Lexus IS Hologram,
refrigerator that’s connected to the
2006. Team One,
project design and
web, that kind of nonsense.”
development
—Jeffrey Veen, 2005
2008

2009
2005

2006

2007

100 Interactive Annual 2019

 “Augmented reality is really neat, touchscreens are
a lot of fun, interactive storefronts are compelling
stuff. But you need to have a fundamental reason
to be doing it in the first place.” —Rachel Pasqua, 2010

Hard Rock Cafe RockWall, 2010. Obscura

Digital, project design and development

Bear 71, 2013. Jam3, project design and development

Slavery Footprint, 2012. Unit9, project

design and development

“It will be interesting to see how online

privacy affects the future of social
networking and how people respond to
their data being owned and exposed by
social networks.” —Dustin Callif, 2014
Hello, Again, 2015. Hudson Rouge, project design and
development
2011

2013
2010

2012

2014

Communication Arts | commarts.com 101

 25 YEARS OF INTERACTIVITY “Similar to what happened to
mobile when the smartphone
emerged, everything will change
when wearable tech can do
more than just one thing well.”
—Winston Binch, 2015

Fall in Love VR, 2018. Moth + Flame/Oculus/

Q Department/Tool of North America, project
design and development

The Field Trip to

Mars, 2017. McCann
New York, project
design and
development

Legislative Explorer, 2015. Schema Design, LLC, project design and

development

“Going forward, I think much of ‘design’

will come in the form of interaction,
whether we’re talking to Siri or Alexa,
streaming media on our smart TVs, or
controlling the consoles in our cars.”
Google Spotlight Stories “HELP,” 2016. Bullitt/Google ATAP/The Mill, project
—Libby Bawcombe, 2017 design and development
2018

2019
2015

2016

2017

102 Interactive Annual 2019

 “ Storytelling has really taken the
forefront in this year’s entries,
and that’s a great thing.”
—Michael Kern

INTERACTIVE
ANNUAL 2019

“
Physical installations were very
interesting this year. Creativity
is exploding right now in what
can be done with technology to
enhance a physical space.”
—Isabel Kantor
 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Hi, We’re
Tillamook
“Having visited the Tillamook
creamery this year, I can say
without a doubt that the website
emotes the same love for quality
that you feel in person.” —Megan Meeker
tillamook.com/national
Overview: Tillamook, a 110-year-old farmer-owned dairy co-op,
needed to build brand awareness in the Midwest and Southeast
as it headed east. So digital agency Hello Design created Hi, We’re
Tillamook, a site rich with interactives, games, 360-degree
experiences and videos that introduce new fans to the things that
set Tillamook apart.
• The site is part of a larger national effort to bring Tillamook
to the national stage.
• The average user spends several minutes exploring all the
interactive modules.
• The top module has been
23 Questions with
Taryn, where viewers
follow a Tillamook
farmer on her morning
chores while she answers
questions about her life
as a farmer, as well as
Tillamook’s values.

Kirby Bittner, writer

Hajime Himeno, design director
David Lai, creative director
Colin Chan/Meet Trivedi, developers
Justin Blackwell, technology director
Ryo Shiina, director of photography
Karen Andres, agency producer
Sara St. Hilaire, senior producer
George Lee, digital production director
Scott Arenstein, executive agency producer
Skylr Ciolino, production designer
Hello Design (Culver City, CA), project design and development
Tillamook, client

104 Interactive Annual 2019

 “Beautiful photography!” —Isabel Kantor

Comments by David Lai:

What do you think are the project’s core features?
“Microinteractions and simple games bring everything about
Tillamook to life in a range of ways. Immersive video content covers
topics like how Tillamook ice cream is made. Through 360-degree
experiences, you can stand in a field with cows or trek down
a Tillamook river. The Voyage of the Morning Star introduces
Tillamook’s history of shipping cheese to Portland via river in an
8-bit-style game. Use the Moo Mixer to create your own beat with
melodic moos, squishy mud and crunchy hay. Input your favorite
kind of beer to find the perfect Tillamook cheese pairing. When
you’re ready, you can access the Where to Buy module and go get
some for yourself!”
What was the thinking behind the navigation structure? What software, back-end technology and programming languages
“Navigation was created with a mobile-first mind-set, so users were used? “The site was built in React, which enables it to be
can simply scroll and explore, quickly tapping in and out of each more app-like and leverage the technology of each user’s device.
bite-sized interaction. This simplicity enables us to track success For example, the site can tap into the accelerometer on a phone
module by module and learn more about what users in different to let users look around in 360-degree modules and play minigames
metros really care about. It also allows users to make their way like the Voyage of the Morning Star by tilting their devices. Other
through the site at their own pace. To speak to each user in the modules, such as the Never-Ending Cheese Pull and the Moo
most impactful way, the site uses dynamic targeting and messaging. Mixer, let users tap and swipe to interact within the experience.”
Depending on a user’s location, they’ll get customized info on
where to find Tillamook products locally and what Tillamook pop-
ups will be happening near them.”

Communication Arts | commarts.com 105

 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Squarespace
Timeline
“Squarespace’s dedication to
creative and advertising is truly
impressive.” —Michael Kern

squarespace.com/about/timeline
Overview: To celebrate its fifteen-year anniversary, Squarespace
wanted to create a timeline showcasing its major milestones,
from platform and feature updates to marketing campaigns and
key partnerships. Starting with a simple list of company events,
an in-house team created an immersive experience that takes
viewers on a journey through Squarespace’s history.
• The back end was built using the Squarespace Developer
Platform.
• Thirteen people were involved in the project, including two
designers and four developers.
• The project took six months to complete.

Katie Knecht, writer

Andrew Kim/Chris Ramirez, designers
Andre Ribeiro, associate creative director
Ness Higson, creative director
David Lee, chief creative officer
Anthony Casalena, principal
Christine Cha/Charlton Roberts/Timothée Roussilhe/Nick Sahler, developers
Ayla Richards, content coordinator
John Yates, project manager
Squarespace (New York, NY), project design and development/client

106 Interactive Annual 2019

“Squarespace created a website that promotes storytelling by actually
removing the need to scroll.” —Megan Meeker

Comments by Andrew Kim, Katie

Knecht, Andre Ribeiro and
Timothée Roussilhe:
Describe the purpose of the project Are there any other technical
and its target audience. “Originally, features you’d like to call
the communications team submitted attention to? “It was fun to build
a creative brief for a company history the looping loader, which ticks
timeline module to be added to through random numbers and
Squarespace’s About page. The goal was to tell Squarespace’s letters but also manages to stop and showcase the dates of the
story through a visual timeline, giving site visitors—customers, timeline. Another important piece was building our own state
potential customers, recruits and press—an understanding of manager—something similar to Redux—to be able to manage the
where the company has been. Our immersive creation quickly data and different states, as well as manage different animations
outgrew the About page, and it now lives as a microsite that we between these. We also spent a good amount of time focusing on
link to, giving viewers an understanding of our brand identity while different animations to guide the user, and the details on the
sharing major milestones. As an added bonus, employees were user interface.”
able to enjoy the timeline on the
big screen during our in-office
anniversary celebrations.”
What was the thinking behind the
navigation structure? “To use as
many natural behaviors as we could.
We used the scroll behavior of the
browser as a way of triggering
different years, and by using the left
and right arrows, visitors can easily go
through the events. We also created
a progress bar indicator with dots to
indicate each event. By hovering over those dots, visitors get
a preview of each milestone. For those who just want to quickly
go through all the milestones, there is a ‘View All Events’ link in the
top right corner. When clicked, this link triggers a simplified version
of the timeline using mostly text, revealing photos on link hover.”

Communication Arts | commarts.com 107

 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

If This Then Domino’s

“I am an enormous fan of
IFTTT, and this was a genius
move by Domino’s. They
do fun and tech better
than most.” —Michael Kern

Overview: If This Then Domino’s is a partnership

between Domino’s and automation service IFTTT
that enables users to set up an automated Domino’s
order triggered by almost any event, from a rainy ifthisthendominos.com
day to the zombie apocalypse. Created by Legwork
Studio, the digital experience begins with an
animation showing how the process works; then,
the site lands on a grid of illustrations, one for each
possible trigger. Users can search the triggers, jump
off to set up their automated order or submit their
own ideas for a trigger.
• The experience aims to educate users on how
IFTTT works and encourages them to use it
to set up their automated Domino’s order.
• The site includes a cel-animated tutorial
video, an infinite grid, unique illustrations for
the triggers and a masking menu transition.
• Legwork Studio used Vue.js.

Legwork Studio (Denver, CO), project design and development

Crispin Porter Bogusky, ad agency
Domino’s, client

108 Interactive Annual 2019

 “As clever a way to sell pizza as I’ve ever
seen. These applets look fun, and the
illustration and polish on the user
interface are fantastic.”—Josh Goldblum

Comments by Matt Wiggins,

partner/interactive, Legwork Studio:
How many people and/or agencies worked on the development? “We
worked closely with the team at Crispin Porter Bogusky over the course of
eight weeks or so to make sure their vision was realized. As with any of our
projects that involves both the animation and the interactive teams, the
biggest challenge was figuring out how to integrate the content produced
on the animation side with dev tricks on the interactive side.”
Are there any other technical
features you’d like to call attention
to? “This was one of our first large-
scale projects with the Vue.js
framework, and we have nothing but What was the response? “It was
good stuff to say. One of our biggest genuinely awesome. First and
technical challenges was the infinite foremost, people are using it, and
grid browsing view. Accounting for that is the true measure of
uneven grid item counts, different success. For us, this was one of
screen sizes and different drag direc- our first unique, challenging
tions—all while maintaining smooth interactive projects in a while as
browser performance—was a total we had recently spent more time
brain buster!” focusing on larger dot-com
rebuilds and experiential stuff. The response from the
design community has been nothing short of amazing.
We’re very thankful and happy to be back doing more of
this type of stuff.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Nuclear Dissent

“The blending of documentary

footage, motion graphics and
novel user interface really drew
me into this story.” —Josh Goldblum

nucleardissent.com
Overview: This interactive
documentary is a cautionary tale
about nuclear testing, told through
the lens of the activists who helped
change history. Created by digital
design and production company Jam3,
Nuclear Dissent explores the weapons
tests, the protests and the
propaganda in order to uncover how
the protest movement brought
nuclear testing to an end. By making
a historical event relevant and
evocative to today’s audiences, the
documentary inspires people to take action.
• Nuclear Dissent is divided into five chapters.
• In total, there are more than 70 archival pictures, 20 3-D
objects, 40 audio files, 5 documentary videos and 8 full CGI
360-degree scenes compatible for virtual reality. Booker Sim, writer
Phill Dodd, user experience director
• The site is also available in virtual reality for mobile and is
John Flores, motion graphic designer
optimized for Google Cardboard, for which Jam3 used WebVR. Steven Mengin, lead designer
Vinicius Araujo, creative director
Pablo Vio, executive creative director
Annie Bedard, strategy
Matt DesLauriers/Tomasz Dysinski/Craig Hill/Alejandro Mesa/
Gauthier Pompougnac/Amélie Rosser/Benson Wong,
developers
Vadim Namniak, lead developer
Aaron Morris, technology director
Calum Moore, picture editor
Natasha Utting-Moa, director
Grayson Matthews, sound designer
Charlotte Purdy, producer
Sean Crawford, digital producer
Heather Phenix, executive producer
Sula Greene/Erin Ray, production coordinators
Aparato, 3-D animation company
Rogue Productions, production company
Jam3 (Toronto, Canada), project design and development

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“Historical education and preservation is crucial in today’s global climate.
Without profound work like this, the potential to slide backwards
remains preeminent. Highly entertaining and thought provoking.”
—Michael Kern
Comments by Steven Mengin,
Vadim Namniak, Heather
Phenix and Pablo Vio:
What do you think are the
project’s core features? “One
of the main features of the
website is the interactive and
explorable 360-degree
environment that is shown after each chapter. We created these
360-degree scenes in 3-D from archived photos. These scenes
visualize the unseen damage from radiation and poison on land
and underwater—otherwise invisible to the naked eye—which not
only adds a layer of 3-D, but also makes the scenes truly come
alive. Another core feature is the nuclear bomb visualizer. Users
can enter any address and select a bomb to see it visualized with
contextual fallout information on a map. Users can really
understand the scale of the impact of a nuclear bomb relative to
their own lives, neighborhoods and surroundings.”
What was the thinking behind the navigation structure? “We
wanted to make it simple for people to access all parts of the site
without a menu. The vertical navigation design also metaphorically
speaks to nuclear weapons, which explode in a vertical motion.
We designed the navigation to be always present on the website.
We wanted the user to be able to choose between a linear
approach with the main ‘next’ button, or exploring the documentary
in a more organic way using the vertical menu.”
How did this project compare with others you’ve worked on in
the past? “The project was particularly special because it touched
on a topic that was completely relevant in present-day media. At
the same time as the production of Nuclear Dissent, there was heavy
news coverage around the world about Trump, North Korea and
nuclear threat. With regards to the storytelling, Nuclear Dissent is
different in comparison to some
of our projects that do not
feature a more linear story. We
tell the story of what happened
in the past, how it affects us
in the present and how history
could repeat itself in our
near future.”
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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Curious Critters
“Another example of great anima-
tion and educational storytelling.
The characters were very
interesting as well, and I loved the
fact that you can choose your
character before starting the
experience.” —Isabel Kantor
curiouscrittersclub.com

Overview: The Curious Critters Club is

an adventure club that invites six- to
eight-year-olds to help science identify
new, mysterious creatures. A copro-
duction between La boîte à pitons,
a company that makes interactive digital
experiences for children, and Yoozoo,
an animation company, the transmedia project uses technology
to develop children’s curiosity. As part of the project, web
development and branding firm Akufen created a website that is
not only fun to explore, but also delivers abundant content
and information.
• Children acquire general
knowledge about the creatures
and their habitats across the
project’s various formats.
• The site’s simple navigation
enables young users to explore
by themselves.
• 3-D assets were created using
Cinema 4D.

Steve Wilson, illustration

Production Bulles, sound designer
Yoozoo, producer
Akufen (Montréal, Canada), project design and development
La boîte à pitons, client

112 Interactive Annual 2019

 “The characters are totally charming
and fun to play with. I spent an
unusual amount of time exploring
this site.” —Josh Goldblum

Comments by Akufen:
What do you think are the project’s core features? “The
decision to use transmedia is precisely linked to its engaging and
multidimensional aspects, which enables us to discover the
universe of traditional and folkloric tales. Children have multiple
points of entry and multiple levels of storytelling, helping them
acquire general knowledge about the creatures and their habitats.
This takes place across the project’s various formats.”
How many videos, images and other media elements does the
site have? “The design style of the website is in line with the
target audience—fun, bubbly, colorful, and it makes good use of
illustrations—while the user experience remains pretty simple.
Every detail of the site has been thought through, and that is why
you will find custom animations and transitions everywhere. It
was very important for us to create a dynamic website. A child
even told us once that it was ‘better than Pokémon Go.’ We’re not
huge players, but we’ll take the compliment!”

Did you use any applications, tools or techniques that you

hadn’t used before? “Curious Critters was the first project where
we dealt with that many 3-D assets made with Cinema 4D. For
this, we were forced to establish an efficient workflow between
designers and developers as the project was evolving to make sure
we would still be able to meet our deadlines. Our second strategy
was to develop some tools/graphical user interfaces so our designers
could easily modify the amount, position, colors and rotations of
each object on the planet to give it the look they wanted.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Outrider Foundation—Bomb Blast

“A novel way to display
information and statistics. Great
interaction and visuals.”
—Isabel Kantor

Overview: To help the Outrider Foundation tackle the

difficult topic of nuclear proliferation, digital agency Bluecadet
designed and developed Bomb Blast. This interactive map outrider.org/nuclear-weapons/interactive/bomb-blast
personalizes the threat of nuclear catastrophe, an issue that
often feels distant and abstract, by letting users visualize
the effects of a nuclear blast on any location in the world.
Observing the effects of a nuclear blast on your hometown
or a loved one’s hometown localizes the impact and makes
it much more real.
• To date, Bomb Blast has more than two million
unique users.
• Two developers at Bluecadet worked on the project,
with contributions from historian Alex Wellerstein.
Three designers also
worked on the design
and motion design.
• The project took two
years to produce.

Wyatt Glennon, art director

Jillian Hammer, designer
Josh Goldblum, chief strategy officer
Chris Arasin/Putra Bonaccorsi, developers
Ksenia Dynkin/Madeleine Osborn/Liz Russell, content coordinators
Nick Greenawalt, motion graphics
Liz Quann, producer
Sam Winfield, production designer
Maya Bogdanow, production manager
Alex Wellerstein, researcher
Bluecadet (Philadelphia, PA), project design and development
Outrider Foundation, client

114 Interactive Annual 2019

 “A thoughtful storytelling
experience that strikes
a perfect balance of lean-in
and sit-back content, tackling
big issues with clear user
experience and a striking
presentation.” —Pablo Vio

Comments by Emily Archer, associate producer, Bluecadet:

Describe any special interactive features. “Bomb Blast’s interactive
features enable users to create an extremely customized nuclear
visualization. In addition to specifying the location of a blast, users
can choose between different types of blasts and bombs to
simulate different effects.”
What was the most challenging aspect of the project? “One of
our challenges was finding a balance in the interactive’s design
between the gravity of the situation and not wanting it to get so
dark that it was off-putting or, on the other end of the spectrum,
too fun and gamified. The final overall tone is a sense of dread,
but paired with an intrinsic beauty in the execution of the design
that creates a powerful user experience.”
Did you use any applications that you hadn’t used before?
“The map is powered by Mapbox; we used its map, map style
editor and geocoding API to build a feature-complete prototype
that we then refined with map styling, user interface elements
and visual treatments.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Cowboy
“Cowboy removes any
roadblocks to ride by
implementing low-impact
test ride sessions, live
chat and a play-by-play of
how the bike operates.”
—Megan Meeker

cowboy.com
Overview: When European electric bike startup
Cowboy came to Ueno with only a name and
a bike prototype, the full-service digital agency
worked closely with the startup for three months,
building its brand from the ground up. Ueno also
created a marketing and e-commerce website, as
well as a mobile app that unlocks key features of
the bike.
• Ueno’s team of five designers and developers
in the United States and Iceland collaborated
closely with Cowboy’s three Brussels-
based cofounders.
• The new brand and website launched in
April 2018.
• Shortly after launching, Cowboy raised
a round of $3 million in seed funding from
multiple investors.

Jamie Aguilo, writer

Romain Briaux, 3-D designer
Marco Coppeto/Arnar Ólafsson/Kwok Yin Mak, designers
David Navarro, creative director
Cowboy, developer
Ueno (New York, NY), project design and development
Tanguy Goretti/Adrien Roose/Karim Slaoui, Cowboy, clients

116 Interactive Annual 2019

“An artful balance of color, type and photography blurs the line between
entertainment and information, keeping you intrigued from beginning
to end.”—Pablo Vio

Comments by Elizabeth Donovan, marketing director, Ueno:

What do you think are the project’s core features? “As
the foundation for its digital presence and beyond, Ueno
created an unexpectedly playful visual identity for Cowboy,
avoiding any Wild West references, except for a subtle nod
to a cowboy’s spur in the logo. It all comes together on
the product section of Cowboy’s new website—a detailed
and immersive experience through the bike’s features with
bold typography, strong colors, fun photography, subtle
animations and crisp messaging.”
What was the thinking behind the navigation structure?
“Using a clean and easy layout, the navigation focuses on
the product and its features and details. Photography and
animations take up the most prominent areas of the
screen, spiced up with copy, user interface elements and
the brand color, magenta, for specific callouts and calls to
action that immerse users in the Cowboy e-bike universe.”

Is the audience you were targeting a particularly

difficult one to reach? “E-bikes are the future of urban
cycling, but they are a lot more expensive than standard
bikes, and some users have the misconception that they’re
like motorbikes. We had to build a bridge to these users to
make e-bikes approachable and explain the advantages of
going electric.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

HuffPost—Listen
to America
“Scrolling manipulates audio
playback controls to deliver an
insightful pulse on America today.”
—Megan Meeker

huffingtonpost.com/interactives/listen-to-america

Overview: In late 2017, a team from HuffPost took a road trip

across the United States, interviewing 1,700 people about their
concerns for politics, their communities and the economic future.
In preparation for the US midterm elections, HuffPost wanted to
expose a cross section of views and opinions from these
interviews in an interactive format, so digital innovations agency
Gladeye created a journey into the hopes and fears of a nation.
The site enables visitors to hear vox-pop commentary from
ordinary citizens across 25 US cities.
• The project was launched just prior to the 2018 US
midterm elections.
• The site contains about 300
individual vector illustrations
and corresponding sound files.
• A core team of five people at
Gladeye worked on the
development of the project,
along with the client team at
HuffPost. Audio interviews
were transcribed and analyzed
by Hattaway Communications.

Gladeye (Auckland, New Zealand), project design and development

HuffPost, client

118 Interactive Annual 2019

 “Simplicity in storytelling is the
ultimate sophistication, and this
project hits the nail on the head.”
—Pablo Vio

Comments by Tarver
Graham, chief executive
officer, Gladeye:
What do you think are the
project’s core features?
“The site had to include
audio and text of hundreds
of sound bites from inter-
viewees, but we wanted the
experience to be less like
filtering a database and
more like taking a journey
through a community—
more qualitative human experience than quantitative data analysis. What was the thinking behind the navigation structure?
The design solution is a simple one: an unbroken line follows the “Hundreds of hours of video interviews were first transcribed and
user down the page and draws the portrait of each individual, analyzed to discover common themes that would define the data
one at a time, as we listen to their commentary. The line is schema and ultimately the site navigation. But we ended up
a metaphor for both the road trip itself and the connections making quite simple user experience choices, with pages connected
between people, places and ideas. Each person’s audio plays as their by graceful transitions. Page loads are clunky and disruptive, so
portrait is animated on the screen, and if you scroll quickly, you we structured the site to basically avoid them altogether and
can initiate a kind of ‘town hall’ chatter of many voices all together.” animate transitions as much as possible. Once you’ve picked a topic,
the site effectively becomes like a long one-pager. This makes
scrolling the key mechanic, and we like that simplicity.”
How did this project compare with others you’ve worked on in
the past? “Political projects are always contentious. Even if most of
our team feels strongly in one direction or another, we’re very
conscious of offering an inclusive workplace that accepts different
worldviews. What we like
about this project is that it
doesn’t assume a political
position. It just lays out
a variety of human expe-
riences and opinions and
lets visitors interpret those
how they will.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Zero Studios
“Simple, clean design backed by
silky-smooth animations always
does the trick!” —Pablo Vio

zero.nyc
Overview: To introduce its work and values to prospective clients
and talent, Zero Studios created a website that balances utilitarian
simplicity with unexpected moments that surprise and delight.
• The site includes a flexible and modular case study template.
• The site is built into WordPress for content management.
• The first phase of the site was designed and developed in
a month.

Chelsea Atwell, art director

Molly Rosenblum, writer
Mark Goldstein, creative director
Corentin Fardeau/Josh Kirk/Jose Morel, developers
Joseph Salvatori, technical lead
Joseph Delaney/Andrea Meilgaard, producers
Will Halcomb, production designer
Zero Studios (New York, NY), project design and development/client

120 Interactive Annual 2019

 “A simple, elegant site where the
content really shines.” —Josh Goldblum

Comments by Mark Goldstein, founding partner and creative

director, Josh Kirk, creative technologist, and Andrea Meilgaard,
project manager:
What do you think are the project’s core features? “Zero’s brand
is centered around simplicity and the idea of two contrasting
values—punk and peace—living in harmony. On the surface, the
site—and our brand—is stark: black and white and stylistically
reminiscent of the simplicity inherent to traditional Swiss graphic
design. This enables our work to really be the highlight of a user’s
initial experience. To lighten the vibe and provide some differ-
entiation from the typical agency website, we introduce a handful
of intriguing and unexpected moments throughout, our most,
dare we say, iconic example being the hands that appear on-screen
to reveal content and provide a means to get back to the top of
the page. A flexible and modular case study template enables us
to quickly put together work samples while adapting to the needs
of a project’s story.”

What was the thinking behind the navigation structure? “We

implemented a smooth scroll on the site and placed the navigation
fixed to a sidebar on the left of the screen. Clicking the navigation
presents the compartmentalized primary navigation—Work, About
and Design Feed. We designed it that way to simplify the overall
site and create opportunities for nice moments throughout.”
Was the topic/subject of the project a new one for you? “We’ve
all built dozens of portfolio sites over the years. At times, it can be
difficult to think of something new. We wanted to make something
fresh that didn’t take itself too seriously. Just like us.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

The Cool Club

“Slick and clean. Wonderful small
touches.” —Michael Kern

Overview: The Cool Club makes card games that feature some of
the most influential women and men of our time. When the brand
needed an online presence to boost sales and secure its playful
identity, experience design studio Wonderland created a site with
a simple user experience design highlighting the distinctive
artwork of the products.
thecoolclub.co
• Microanimations help guide users through the site.
• Wonderland used Lodash, WooCommerce, WordPress,
Popmotion, Sass, Netlify, Apache and PHP.
• The project took four weeks to produce.

Martijn van der Does, creative director

Maarten Vleugels, programmer
Wonderland (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), project design and
development/client

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“Beautiful color palette and illustration. Loved the approach.” —Isabel Kantor

Comments by Katherine Blom,

digital producer, and Martijn
van der Does, Wonderland:
What do you think are the
project’s core features? “This
site speaks to users in a playful
way. The inclusion of lots of
microinteractions, balanced in
visual harmony with fluid
motion and animations that
smoothly transport users
between navigational contexts,
really brings the brand to life.
Not only does each microanimation serve as a facilitator for Are there any other technical features you’d like to call attention
interaction, but also, it provides the user with feedback and to? “We love the way Vue.js controls the DOM through data. Though,
instruction on where to go next. It attracts the users’ attention stand-alone Vue isn’t SEO’s best friend. That’s why we created our
and makes sure they don’t overlook anything important.” own boilerplate to start using Vue.js and make development easier
What software, back-end technology and programming languages for ourselves. So, NuWB was born, our framework based on top of
were used? “For creating the visuals, we used our own animation Nuxt.js for creating universal Vue.js applications, and it presets all
framework—IMOG, ‘The (Interactive Motion Graphics) JavaScript the configuration to make static generation more enjoyable. NuWB
Framework.’ It makes it possible to run multiple rendering technol- pulls the contents from our back end and extracts them for easy
ogies in sync. IMOG exposes the same logic that applies to DOM use in our boilerplate. As a result of using NuWB and deploying to
elements, Three.js objects, SVG elements, etc. In this way, we can a redundant global CDN, we’re serving pages and assets quickly
have perfect control over all the animations. The card animations and consistently.”
were done with the WebGL API using Three.js. We used Oimo.js for
the physics, which is a lightweight 3-D physics engine for JavaScript.
Oimo.js actually is quite old, so we had to rewrite aspects of it to
make it work for what we needed it to do.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Oat the Goat

“I was totally sucked into this
experience. I’m not sure how
much of a technological feat it is,
but it is wonderful and effective
storytelling.” —Josh Goldblum

oatthegoat.co.nz
Overview: Oat the Goat is an interactive, web-based, animated
storybook launched as a bullying prevention initiative by New
Zealand’s Ministry of Education. Created for four- to seven-year-
old children, the story takes place in a 3-D world rendered in an
illustrated style. In some chapters, readers have to make a choice,
and are able to immediately see the consequences of their choices
as the characters continue to act out the story. Oat the Goat intro-
duces readers to the effects their actions can have and encourages
them to think about what Oat experiences during his adventure.
• The Ministry of Education launched Oat the Goat in primary
schools across New Zealand during Bullying-Free New
Zealand Week.
• Oat the Goat is available on mobile and desktop, with full
support for Māori and English. Josh Fourt-Wells/Thomas Gledhill, art directors
Lennie Galloway, writer
• The project took eight months to produce. Tony Clewett/Pip Mayne, executive creative directors
James Mok, chief creative officer
Jenni Doubleday, director of creative services
Carl Sarney, strategist
Celine Giovanni/Elliot Stronge, developers
Matt Wilson, senior developer
Josh Fourt-Wells/Scotty Wilson, illustrators
Matt von Trott, director
Damon Duncan/Josh Fourt-Wells/Geoff Kirk-Smith/Katie Naeher/Craig
Speakman/Gary Sullivan, 3-D animators
Marcos Godoy, 3-D modeling
Corban Koschak, motion graphics
Graham Kennedy, audio mixer
Dave Fane/Piripi Taylor, voice talents
Alistair Fraser/Hamish McKeich/New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, music
Tane Upjohn-Beatson, composer
Clare Bone/Rebecca Casey, producers
Nick Pengelly, digital producer
Matt Barnes, digital production director
Sarah-Jane Ferens/Melissa Neustroski, project managers
Assembly, production company
James Dean/Liquid Studios/Shirleyanne McDonald-Shaw/Tamara O’Neill,
music companies
Assembly (Auckland, New Zealand)/FCB New Zealand, project design and
development
FCB New Zealand, ad agency
Cecilia Gardiner/Janina Hanify/Pirihira Hollings/Ministry of Education, clients

124 Interactive Annual 2019

“This project is a great example of interactive storytelling. The beautiful
illustrations, great animations and story are very captivating and
immersive.” —Isabel Kantor

Comments by Matt von Trott

and Matt Wilson:
What do you think are the
project’s core features? “It
was important that Oat the
Goat feels like a story made just
for Kiwi kids. So, not only is
it available in te reo Māori and
English, but also, each chapter
was illustrated to represent a New Zealand environment, from
kauri forests to Waitomo-esque caves. We enhanced these
locations with the birdsong of native tui and wood pigeons along
with traditional Māori musical instruments in the sound design.
We also worked with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to
develop a unique score that complements the native landscape.”
What was the most challenging aspect of the project? “Oat the
Goat is one of the largest web projects we’ve ever worked on,
clocking in at around twelve minutes of narrative animation, spread
through eleven scenes, with a voice-over narration track (in two
different languages, synced to captions), a sound effects layer and
an orchestral score. Scenes feature up to eight animated characters
at once, and every scene is a unique set of scenery, textures and
animation. All the characters’ animations are played in real time,
which was a performance and asset-size challenge, but this let us
respond immediately to user interactions and made everything
feel more alive than prerendered content would. We wrote just
shy of 13,000 lines of TypeScript plus enough HTML and responsive
CSS to glue it all together.”
What was the response? “The response to the site in New Zealand
has been very positive. In just three weeks, the online story received
more than 80,000 unique visits, or 61 percent of our target audience.
With many teachers reading Oat the Goat to classrooms, we know
we’ve reached far more. Most impressively, it is now an official part
of the New Zealand curriculum.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Upperquad

“Great design brought to life with

impeccable attention to detail.”
upperquad.com
—Pablo Vio

Overview: It had been more than two years since Upperquad

built its last website, so the independent creative studio became
its own client to relaunch upperquad.com. In the process, the
studio shot new photography, overhauled its case studies,
experimented with motion and evolved its brand.
• The site’s core audience is potential clients and
prospective employees.
• To implement the scrolling animations,
Upperquad used ScrollMagic coupled
with TweenMax.
• The studio used Siteleaf as the content
management system, along with Jekyll as
the static site generator.

Emmanuelle Bories, designer

Jason Dietrick, creative director
Danielle LaRoy, strategist
Louis Amiot, developer
Le Wei, technical lead
Upperquad (San Francisco, CA), project design and development/client

126 Interactive Annual 2019

 “Loving the bold usage of colors
and animation stylings. Simplicity is
always a good policy.” —Michael Kern

Comments by Jason Dietrick, creative director, Danielle LaRoy,

strategist, Phil Ruppanner, founder, and Le Wei, technical director:
How many people and/or agencies worked on the development?
“While we had a small internal team dedicated to the project, we
wanted to be sure that visitors really got to know us through the
site. To do that, we put a big emphasis on our photography and
got everyone involved. Each week, a different person in the office
took their turn with the camera. This allowed us to capture one
What software, back-end technology and programming languages
another in our natural state and remove the barriers that typically were used? “To implement the complex design, we created
come up when the camera comes out. Some photos were inevitably a custom 24-column grid system using flexbox. This enabled us to
better than others, but we had a ton of fun doing it and found some position images, text and other elements very precisely and keep
hidden photography talent in the office, too. Each week, we set the layout consistent across screen sizes. We used a linear interpo-
aside our favorites, and those lation function in SCSS to continuously
are the photos you see on adjust the dimensions of various
the site.” elements and combined that function
What do you think are the with rem units to smoothly scale the
project’s core features? font sizes up and down, which also
“One of the first features contributed to the responsiveness of
that visitors will notice the site.”
when they land on the site
are these always-moving,
always-evolving shapes. The
shapes are the conceptual
building blocks of the site;
they’re flexible, energetic
elements that spin, slide,
bounce and react to what’s happening on the page. These shapes
transformed over the course of the project, taking on a meta-
phorical meaning of their own as they come together and interact
with one another. For us, these shapes represent the ideas and
creativity that we infuse into our designs every day. They’re what
makes our site—and the work we do—uniquely ours.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Tallest Building on the Internet

“A well-crafted 3-D motion

experience that takes
scrolling to new heights
and delivers on both form
and function.” —Pablo Vio

tallestbuildingontheinternet.com

Overview: Mitsubishi Electric wanted to break out as a major

provider in the US market with the first-ever cross-sales
campaign showcasing its major building solutions and unique
technologies. The Tallest Building on the Internet is a virtual
representation of the campaign message, “Together, we can build
more efficient buildings.” The site draws visitors into a building
to investigate and learn about the brand’s key building system
technologies.
• The objectives of the campaign and website were to drive
brand awareness and acquire leads from commercial building
owners, developers, general contractors and architects.
• The site launched in January 2018 and has received 80,000
visitors to date.
• The project took seven months to complete.

Jon Guest, group creative director

Kevin Rosen, strategy
Loica, production company
Welikesmall, project design and development
MRM//McCann (Salt Lake City, UT), ad agency
Mitsubishi Electric, client

128 Interactive Annual 2019

“I loved the use of scrolling
to convey the feeling of
a tall building.” —Isabel Kantor
Comments by Dustyn Eskelson, senior user
interface developer, and Brian Robinson, vice
president, group account director:
What was the thinking behind the navigation
structure? “Unlike most websites, where you
start at the top of the page, users are asked to
enter our building at ground level and then scroll
up to navigate and interact with the different
floors. Each floor within our enormous virtual building features
a key building system technology: heating, ventilation and air
conditioning; elevators; escalators; and uninterruptible power
supplies. Users can see firsthand how our innovative approach to
a building’s key systems brings the right solutions in an impactful
way, making a building more efficient and profitable.”
What software, back-end technology and programming
languages were used? “Vue.js, GreenSock and JavaScript for the
site structure, animation and performance; MP4 videos were used
to animate the building through the floors; YouTube to educate
about the technology highlighted on each floor.”
How many videos, images and other media
elements does the project have? “The scroll up
the building design is a video in itself, created and
animated by production company Loica. Each
floor’s unique solution experience includes a 60-
to 90-second custom technology video that brings
the solution to life to demonstrate its benefits.
Visitors can also watch customer testimonial
videos, see specific product information, find links
for deeper learning and interact with a savings
calculator, which illustrates their potential cost
savings by switching to Mitsubishi Electric and also
converts site visits into sales leads.”
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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Rapha
“Visually stunning and techno-
logically progressive, it caused us
to wonder if the world is truly
ready to move on from Amazon
shopping. We remain skeptical
and hopeful.” —Michael Kern

rapha.cc

Overview: When crafting a new digital home for cult

cycling brand Rapha, digital product agency Work &
Co’s aim was to deliver an experience that does more
than sell. By suggesting local rides, helping users book
a cycling holiday, offering advice from cycling legends
and connecting users to Rapha’s Clubhouses, Rapha.
cc encourages users to get out and ride every day.
• The site caters to both seasoned cyclists
and newcomers.
• Users can select a proficiency level to find the
right products.
• The site launched in May 2018.

James Ayres/Ryan Leitz/Joe Stewart/Seth Terpstra/Lauren

Thomas, design
Mohan Ramaswamy/Caleb Yarian, strategy
Oliver Dore, engineering
Scott Davis/Work & Co (Brooklyn, NY), project design and
development
Rapha Racing Limited, client

130 Interactive Annual 2019

 “Putting context front and center,
Rapha isn’t selling products—it’s
selling an experience.” —Megan Meeker

Comments by James Ayres:

What was the thinking behind the navigation structure? “Our strategy
was to redesign for a modular content structure that simplifies the overall
experience and allows for greater flexibility. The new navigation we
introduced focused on three areas: Shop, Ride and Stories. Not only is it
a more streamlined structure, but also, by elevating all three to stand on
equal footing, it’s a more cohesive
representation of what the brand
offers. We also focused on
simplifying Rapha’s large array of
product stock keeping units so that
finding the right shirt wouldn’t be
daunting or tedious. Additionally,
we employed a visual approach that
Describe any special interactive
elevated the overall site experience features. “Rapha sells apparel, but
to better match the premium for its customers, it’s much more
reputation of the Rapha brand.” than a retailer. It’s a lifestyle. The
site must—on every single page—
excite users about the global
cycling community. Interactive
content abounds. For example, visitors to the site can see daily calendar
updates of when group rides are taking place.”
Was the topic/subject of the project a new one for you? “To help us better
understand Rapha’s core users, we had to ingrain ourselves in their world.
Our team decided to hold weekly group rides throughout the project. It helps
that as a core value, Rapha invests
in—and believes in—great design.
That’s evident in its premium
cycling products. Actually getting
into the gear helped the entire
team push boundaries aesthet-
ically. What’s more, the collective
experience of riding as a team
inspired us all and helped us feel
even more confident that we could
deliver a superior digital experience
that Rapha enthusiasts would love.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES

Foosball World Cup 18

“This project reminded me of a site
that would have been produced at
the height of Flash, which isn’t
a bad thing at all. Amazing attention
to detail and an eye towards
performance.” —Josh Goldblum

Overview: Digital creative agency AQuest’s new AQlab team was

looking for side projects that could help it define its direction. foosballworldcup18.com
Since the Italian soccer team had failed
to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the
idea was born to create an online game
where users can play foosball in an
international real-time event like the
World Cup. In Foosball World Cup 18,
users choose their teams, and the 3-D
environment reacts and adapts to the
selected team colors. The opposing team
is chosen randomly, and the gameplay
lasts for three minutes. Using artificial
intelligence, the best teams display
better performances.
• Since launching during the 2018
World Cup, the site has received
50 thousand visitors, with a peak
of eight thousand users a few days after its release.
• The project was created using Three.js, Vue.js, Oimo.js,
WebGL and API in C# ASP.NET on Microsoft Azure.
• The project took three months to produce.

Fabio Minerva, art director

Valentina Zardini, writer
Michele Resenterra, 3-D designer
Giovanni Trento, designer
Manuel Mancini/Ivan Zambanello, developers
William Manco, interactive developer
Alessandro Franceschini, sound designer
AQuest, AQlab (San Giovanni Lupatoto, Italy), project design and
development/client

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“Foosball is the ultimate tech company pastime. AQuest has taken this
to the next level and is showing its dev chops along the way.” —Megan Meeker

Comments by Lorenzo Cordioli,

technical lead, Manuel Mancini,
Fabio Minerva, Valentina
Zardini and Ivan Zambanello:
What was the thinking behind the player’s input instead of
the navigation structure? directly linking the mouse
“The navigation is very easy movement to the coordinates
and intuitive. It’s divided into of the objects.”
five steps: start, team selection, game side selection, tutorial and Are there any other technical features you’d like to call
game. The user is constrained by a step-by-step path that takes attention to? “The lights that reflect on every player are ‘virtual
her to the foosball field.” lights,’ generated in runtime from the inside of the material of the
Did you meet with any out-of-the-ordinary obstacles during game field, modified to be ‘deceived.’ Instead of building the lights
development? “There are two kinds of in-game interactions: the with Three.js, we gave the material the coordinates of the lights—
player that hits the ball, and the ball that bounces against the that do not exist in the scene—and so it thinks that it has lights,
soccer field borders. We created a test environment where hundreds and it generates reflections directly on the material fragment
of balls were falling on an inclined surface; these balls would then shader. Performances are better because all the calculations of
impact with a rotating rectangular ‘paddle’ that simulated the these lights are only on this material. Before arriving at this, we
movement of the players. After some early enthusiasm, we realized had tried many other solutions, like generating tailor-made textures
that the model had some problems: the ‘paddles’ of the players to simulate reflections.”
were not parallelepipeds, but concave shapes; the players connected
to every rod had to behave as a single physical body; the lateral
movement generated from the mouse interfered with the physics
engine calculations, so it could not calculate the player-ball collisions
correctly; and the physics engine was lacking a continuous collision
detection, so it created issues when collisions with the ball were
happening at a high speed. We evaluated a variety of physics
engines that could solve these problems. In the end, we chose
Oimo.js in a modified version, adapted for our needs. With Oimo.js,
we could manage concave shapes, and the collision detection
system was sufficient enough to manage all of the ball bounces
while maintaining performances at a high level. We solved the
problem of the movement of the rods with the mouse by passing
the data directly to the ‘force pulse’ physics engine generated by

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: MOBILE

Adobe 2018
Mobile Study
“An interesting way to visualize
data and personalize a report.”
—Isabel Kantor

Overview: After surveying 500 marketers and information

technology (IT) professionals on the future of mobile technology,
Adobe turned the data into the Adobe 2018 Mobile Study. To house
the findings, digital agency Welikesmall built a mobile-first website
that utilizes machine learning. A series of interactive features
gathers user input; for example, visitors pick between two target
audiences—marketer or IT professional—by physically tilting their
mobile device. The combined inputs trigger machine learning to alter
fonts, styles, colors and design elements. In the end, each visitor is
presented with a personalized report of the 2018 mobile trends.
• The project includes eight videos, dozens of data visual-
izations, mobile moments and several up-front minigames.
• The interactive features include a minigame to determine and
respond to a visitor’s attention span, and interactions with
a 3-D, augmented reality (AR)–style environment to select
personal preferences. 
• The site was built using Vue.js, Three.js, native GLSL shaders,
modified Bootstrap, Google Geolocation API, GSAP
and Waypoints.

Alex Fuller, Write On/Matthew Rayback, Adobe, writers

Tori Bonagura, designer
Kal Nguyen, associate creative director
Adam Morgan/Josh Souter, Adobe, creative directors
Steve Gustavson, Adobe/Michael Kern, Welikesmall, executive creative
directors
Lena Dibble, Adobe, strategist
Mitchell Barton/Luke Jensen/Anna Larson, developers
Kyle Cummings, senior developer
Elan Bartholomew, interactive developer
Paul Solomon, technology director
Kimball Gardner, Adobe, editor
Stephen Montague, Adobe, producer
Kari Juip, executive producer
Welikesmall (Salt Lake City, UT), project design and development
Adobe, client

134 Interactive Annual 2019

“This think piece folds in an additional layer of storytelling and data
visualization with each swipe of the finger.” —Megan Meeker 

Comments by Michael Kern:

Was the project part of a larger promotional campaign? “Yes. page. We wish people would think about mobile more creatively
Adobe builds a number of reports/studies like this each year; they because most of us spend more time on our mobile devices than in
are meant to inform and educate the public about the current front of a desktop computer. The future of technology is exciting.”
status and trends of the web. This experience was the main piece
of content in a campaign that included email, social, ads and other
media—all driving to the report.”
Did you meet with any out-of-the-ordinary obstacles during
development? “This was our first project that involved aesthetic-
based machine learning, so there were really no rules on how to
start. One major challenge was including older mobile devices so
that the content maintained relevance for every user across
devices. Additionally, we employed hardware detection and GPU
frames-per-second performance checks to determine the level of
detail needed to deliver a fluid and polished experience. A few
years ago, this would not have even been possible in-browser.
Creating this all as a web app in-browser avoided the issue of
forcing users to download a native app just to experience the
report. We wanted a seamless and technologically innovative
experience from the moment you click the link to experiencing
AR in a browser.”
Did you learn anything new during the process? “Our team
played with many new technologies early on to determine the
best methodology to build the Adobe 2018 Mobile Study. The
mobile web space seems to still be driven by highly conservative
ideologies when the reality is you can create some really unique
and interesting work. Mobile web has so many possibilities, and
it’s not just resizing a website and slapping it up in a long-scrolling

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: SOCIAL

Destination Pride

“A powerful, elegant tool for social

self-reflection and an excellent
use of data to move the needle for
social change.” —Pablo Vio
Overview: The global LGBTQ+ community has been engaged in a long
and ongoing struggle for equality. To a large extent, that struggle
plays out across a country’s laws, rights and cultural landscape.
To complicate matters, laws and policies vary by country and
even region. FCB/SIX’s brief: Draw attention to the fact that these
inequalities still exist and help the LGBTQ+ community navigate
them across borders. To do this, the agency created DestinationPride
.org, a data-driven search platform that reimagines the pride flag as
a dynamic bar graph and then uses it to visualize the world’s
LGBTQ+ laws, rights and social sentiment.
• After searching for any place on Earth, users get its pride
flag visualization and can then discover why it’s scoring the
way it does.
• FCB/SIX’s team logged more than 5,000 hours producing
DestinationPride.org and its campaign materials.
• To date, DestinationPride.org has engaged users from 166
of the world’s 195 countries. There have been 85,000-plus
destinations searched and flags generated.

Devon Williamson, art director

Stuart Thursby, associate art director
James Ly, writer
Kristy Pleckaitis/Patrick Stolk-Ramaker, user experience designers
Andrew Bernardi/Dave Laing/Krystle Mullin, associate creative directors
Ian Mackenzie, executive creative director
Fred Levron, worldwide creative director
John Fung/Zac Matheson, strategists
Anna Percy-Dove, executive strategy director
Heung Lee/Jonathan Sanford, developers
Andrew Yang, database programmer
Madara Ranawake/Lina Vaisman, technical leads
Jacob Ciesielski, technology director
Andrea Cook, director
Lindsay Hann, producer
Gillian Morrison, digital producer
Khizra Arshad/Andrea Barrett/Shalta Fardin/Ashley Whitaker, project
managers
Alter Ego, animation company
Grayson Matthews, music company
FCB/SIX (Toronto, Canada), project design and development/ad agency
PFLAG Canada, client

136 Interactive Annual 2019

“Using the bars of the pride flag as an immediately legible infographic is
clever, informative, effective and shareable.” —Josh Goldblum

Comments by Ian Mackenzie, executive creative director, FCB/SIX:

Did you meet with any out-of-the-ordinary obstacles during How did time constraints affect your final solution? “From
development? “The project required an extraordinary approach to inception, it took more than a year to get to market. We think—
data transparency. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of and hope—the craft and taking the time to get it right shows in
data points involving laws, policies and social media activity. We the final product, which is much simpler than earlier iterations of
struggled to balance the simplicity of the idea and its initial the site. Most notably, the pride flag visualization only emerged
visualization, with more complicated aspects of data transparency. through design iteration, long after we’d already built our first
Our solution involved the design principle of progressive disclosure, working prototype. If we’d given the project much less time, it’s
basically letting each user decide how deep they want to go, almost certain we’d never have landed on the pride flag visualization
and when.” that makes it strong.”
Is the audience you were targeting a particularly difficult one
to reach? “The question was: How do you target LGBTQ+ people
living in places with laws that are openly hostile to this community?
To solve it, we used Facebook ads targeting to connect with
marginalized communities in hard-to-reach places. Ads ran in local
languages and were contextual to local news events. For example,
during a time of government-sanctioned hostility towards the
LGBTQ+ community in Russia and Uganda, we used Facebook to find
people who lived in those places and were ‘interested in’ both
LGBTQ+ issues and travel. In total, we ran campaigns in 92 countries
and 46 languages. What we noticed was that, in general, the
lower the destination’s score, the higher that community’s engage-
ment with our creative. This suggests that the campaign’s positive
message stood out for LGBTQ+ communities living in relatively
harsh conditions.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: SOCIAL

Live Moves

“Using Instagram polls for art

direction breathes new life into
user-generated content.”
—Megan Meeker

Overview: With the launch of IGTV—Instagram’s feature for

watching long-form, vertical videos—Bacardí wanted to give its
fans a way to not only consume content, but also help create it.
By tapping into the polling feature of Instagram Stories, ad agency
BBDO New York invited fans to act as the director of a music
video. Starting with an Instagram Story composed of 30 different
segments, fans weighed in on twelve different polls over nine
hours to decide on things like locations, choreography and camera
angles, shaping the video in real time. After the filming was
complete, the poll segments of the Story were removed, and the
final music video, “Live Moves,” aired as a two-minute film on IGTV.
• The video featured World of Dance–winning duo Les Twins
and music by Grammy-nominated DJ A-Trak.
• The project took a week to produce.
• The experience received an average of 7,200 poll votes per
hour, 1.1 million views in the first 24 hours and more than
31.5 million media impressions to date.

Taylor Marsh/Joao Unzer, creative directors

Danilo Boer/Marcos Kotlhar, executive creative directors
Greg Hahn, chief creative officer
David Lubars, worldwide creative director
Chris Cummings/Jen Leung/Patrick Tomasiewicz, strategic planners
Carlos Flores, editor
Albert Salas, director of photography
Les Twins, contributing artist
Malia James, director
A-Trak & YehMe2, music
Jonathan Hsu, line producer
Luke Butler/André Rowe, Jr., production company producers
Julia Millison, agency music producer
Andrew Osborne, senior producer
Michael Gentile, executive producer
Sofia Handler, executive agency producer
Noreen Masih, project manager
David Rolfe, chief production officer
BBDO Studios, production company
BBDO New York (New York, NY), project design and development/ad agency
Bacardí, client

138 Interactive Annual 2019

“‘Live Moves’ uses a new Instagram feature and creates something unique
and surprising, with real impact and results.” —Josh Goldblum

Comments by Taylor Marsh:

What was the thinking behind the navigation structure? “We
wanted every poll to make fans feel like they were actually on set
as the director and helping to shape the video. Each poll segment
also used a combination of different split-screen layouts and
designs to keep viewers engaged and having fun.”
Did you meet with any out-of-the-ordinary obstacles during
development? “There were a couple of interesting challenges.
First was using Instagram polls in ways that had never been done
before—turning them vertically or using a slider or emojis to
enable people to make choices between two different video clip
options. Second was tracking the poll results and responding with
new video content in real time. The experience had a total of
1,024 different potential video outcomes.”
Was the project part of a larger promotional campaign?
“Bacardí had recently launched its Do What Moves You brand
platform—an invitation to live life as your true self. Oftentimes,
expressing yourself in public can feel daunting or intimidating. By
seeing established influencers showing their stuff, it added a level
of accessibility and intimacy that fans can identify with and aspire to
achieve themselves.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: SOCIAL

100,000 Hugs for

SickKids
“Going from the expression bear
hug to making actual physical bear
hugs—what a great idea!”
—Isabel Kantor

Overview: To help bolster Kraft Peanut Butter’s consumer loyalty

and brand love while reinforcing its position as the brand of choice
for Canadians, ad agency Rethink turned the Kraft Peanut Butter
bears into a physical product and married them with technology. The
result, the Kraft BearHug Bears, a pair of Wi-Fi-connected bears,
united loved ones across Canada through the simple act of a hug.
When one of the bears is hugged, it activates the other. The agency
turned bear hugs into donations for the SickKids children’s hospital.
• The campaign was picked up by K-pop band BTS, which helped
the agency achieve its goal within hours.
• Rethink worked with media agency Starcom and public
relations company The Colony Project on the development of
the campaign.
• The campaign took twelve weeks to produce. Jake Bundock/Rebecca May/Laura Vardy, art directors
Geoff Baillie/Gabrielle Elliot/Kyla Galloway, writers
Mike Dubrick/Ian Grais/Joel Holtby/Chris Staples/Aaron Starkman, creative
directors
Sean McDonald/Julian Morgan, strategists
Tom Mountain, editor
Patrick Tomasso, director
Laura Rioux, agency producer
Jay Smith, visuals editor
Upstate, post-production company
Heyd & Seek Inc., production company
Rethink (Toronto, Canada), project design and development/ad agency
Kraft Peanut Butter, client

140 Interactive Annual 2019

 “A great idea brought to life
through creative innovation
to bring awareness to a great
cause!” —Pablo Vio

Comments by Kai de Bruyn Kops, account manager, and

Julian Morgan:
What do you think are the project’s core features? “We kicked Is the audience you were targeting a particularly difficult one
off the campaign with a live stunt that connected Canada’s two to reach? “Our target, millennial families, are highly targeted and
largest cities via two ten-foot-tall connected bears and a live thus less receptive to traditional advertising. To break through, we
digital portal. When Canadians shared enough hugs at the event, chose to express a belief—that we’re better together—that would
we proceeded to hand out our regular-sized bears to the crowd— resonate with all Canadians.”
one for them to keep and the other to give to a loved one. Demand
was amplified through a Snapchat filter and Twitter takeover that
enabled Canadians to share hugs with loved ones for a chance to
win the bears. We continued to rally all of Canada by partnering
with SickKids to put Canadians’ hugs to good use. Hugs were
collected through hashtags on Twitter and Facebook, and physically
at an event at SickKids with our ten-foot-tall connected bears. For
every hug, the brand donated one dollar to SickKids.”
What was the response? “Our goal was to collect 100,000 hugs
for SickKids. In under six hours, we collected more than 400,000
hugs. Thanks to Canada and a grassroots campaign by BTS, our
final hug count was more than 2,000,000. The campaign garnered
147,905,410 total impressions and 18,730,412 total video views, with
the bears quickly becoming a hot-ticket item. In fact, we had more
than 1,200 contest entries across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,
each one accompanied by a personal story explaining whom the
bears would be shared with.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: SOCIAL

Not A Target—
Teleprompter
“Original usage of the Facebook
Live feature.” —Isabel Kantor

Overview: Leading up to and on World Humanitarian Day 2017,

the United Nations (UN) needed global citizens to act on behalf of
civilians in conflict zones. To get people to connect with the cause,
ad agency VMLY&R worked closely with Facebook to create
a Facebook Live camera effect. Acting as a teleprompter, the social
media filter fed in a script of a real firsthand account of civilians
caught in conflict. The filter was developed specifically for Facebook
Live so that the video of a Facebook user narrating the script
would begin to stream immediately upon recording, capturing real
reactions from the user. The last line of the teleprompter clearly
summarized the mission of the Not A Target campaign.
• World Humanitarian Day takes place every year on August
19 to raise awareness of the critical plight of civilians in
conflict zones.
• The filter went live 24 hours before World Humanitarian
Day 2017 and was easily available through Facebook.
• Viewers were prompted to record their own videos, creating
a wider network of global citizens spreading the word.

Gabriel Jardim/Duri Lim, art directors

Elliott Graham, senior art director
Sarah Bass/Mike Breighner/Guto Monteiro/Rich Whelchel, writers
Silmo Bonomi, group creative director
Harsh Kapadia, executive creative director
Mike Wente, chief creative officer, North America
Debbi Vandeven, chief creative officer
Tarini Shrikhande, strategic planner
Rafi George/Jonathan McKinnell, developers
Craig Elimeliah, creative technologist
Aaron Morris/Josh Wolf, technology directors
Chris Furse, executive director
Britney Sirianni, production company producer
Kate Boccio/Charlotte Ford/Cynthia Lin, project managers
Sonia Bashash/Adrian Belina/Dirk van Ginkel, production designers
Cohn & Wolfe/Facebook/Chris Jones, consultants
Jam3, production company
VMLY&R (New York, NY), project design and development/ad agency
Christian Clark/Sarah Gilbertz/Karim Saba/Marie-Angie Vassallo, United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, clients

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“Storytelling at its core is something of a lost art. I was excited to see
a concept that utilized its audience to engage in creating social change.”
—Michael Kern

Comments by Gabriel
Jardim, Harsh Kapadia
and Guto Monteiro:
Were there any
specific demands that
made the project
easier or harder? “The impact of conflict on civilians is abstract
for most people to understand. Our campaign needed to create
relevancy and empathy around conflicts that are happening
thousands of miles away and urge people to lend their voices to
those who don’t have one. To do this, we leveraged social
behaviors that our audience—digitally savvy citizens of developed
countries—were already familiar with. User-generated content
posts get, on average, a 4.5 percent higher conversion rate than
branded posts, so we understood that encouraging our audience
to tell real stories of conflict would be far more effective than if Facebook’s mobile platform to create a truly frictionless transition
the UN told the same stories in a traditional way.” from seeing a video to creating your own and sharing it.”
Was the project part of a larger promotional campaign? “The UN What was the response? “While the filter focused on new video
officially kicked off the initiative by posting a video of Stephen generation and not on petition signatures, the UN still gathered
O’Brien, then UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, close to 27,000 petition signatures from global citizens to present
reading a story from the teleprompter. The post encouraged to UN stakeholders.”
Facebook users to spread the message by creating their own videos;
in parallel, paid posts targeted users with a direct link to act and
sign a petition. The full experience leveraged the entirety of

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: ENVIRONMENTAL

Play the City

“A brilliant use of augmented reality
(AR) to turn the busy streets of
New York City into a modern-day
movie score—the soundtrack of
our lives.” —Pablo Vio

Overview: The GRAMMYs was bringing

music’s biggest night back to New York. In
order to bring more music to the city, an
Uber was outfitted with artificial intelligence
(AI) cameras and an AR screen to create
songs triggered by the objects and people
the car passed. Everything from bikes and
fire hydrants to street signs and even the
height of people’s heads determined the
sounds and pitch of notes played inside
the Uber. Riders watched from the back
seat as a unique song was composed and
animated live before their eyes.
• Conceived by TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, the production
was led by Tool of North America in partnership with its
creative technology team nøcomputer.
• This activation was the final promotional piece in the
Recording Academy’s Long Live Music campaign for the
60th GRAMMYs.
• An accompanying film documents the work and
the experience.

Nomi Malik/Marco Monteiro, TBWA\Chiat\Day, art directors

Armando Samuels/Ryan Siepert, TBWA\Chiat\Day, writers
Linda Knight, TBWA\Chiat\Day, executive creative director
Renato Fernandez, TBWA\Chiat\Day, chief creative officer
Ben Priddy, Tool of North America/Wim Vanhenden, nøcomputer, creative
technologists
Phil Montgomery, Tool of North America, director
Anh-Thu Lee/Brian O’Rourke, TBWA\Chiat\Day, agency producers
Jason Karley, TBWA\Chiat\Day/Jason Manz, Tool of North America, producers
Adam Baskin/Dustin Callif/Joshua Greenberg/Nancy Hacohen/Erich Joiner,
Tool of North America, executive producers
Rock Paper Scissors, editorial company
Tool of North America (Santa Monica, CA), production company/project
design and development
SHED, visual effects company
TBWA\Chiat\Day, ad agency
Recording Academy, client

144 Interactive Annual 2019

“A nice mash-up of techniques and technologies to create something
bigger than the sum of its parts.” —Josh Goldblum

Comments by Tool
of North America:
Did you meet
with any out-of-
the-ordinary
obstacles during
development?
“When you agree
to do an outdoor
activation in New York City in the middle of winter, you prepare
yourself for the likelihood of cold weather and some snow. You
don’t, however, prepare yourself to be pummeled by something
called a bomb cyclone right smack in the middle of the most
critical period of development. But there we were, wearing layer
upon layer, hoofing through feet of snow to get to our garage,
huddled around our computers, putting in final revisions and
performing critical debugs.”
What software, back-end technology and programming languages
were used? “The software was built in openFrameworks, spread What was the most challenging aspect of the project? “If the
across two powerful computer towers that we stuffed in the trunk speed of the car was ever much faster than the speed of the AR
of an Uber and connected to a local router. Each machine handled process, the images displayed would be of people and objects long
different elements of the AR process in order to optimize speed of past the car, breaking the whole experience. We had to extensively
processing. The signal the machines received came from the GoPro test in and out of the car to find target speeds and observe
that was wired directly to Machine 1, which essentially ran the com- perceptual differences, and then optimize the software performance
puter vision. Machine 1 would split the signal to send to both to match. We were able to tune the system latency to about .1 to
machines. Machine 2 received some of the data from Machine 1 .15 seconds. We determined from this that the car could go no more
to then augment the audio engine that played the instrument. than 30 miles per hour, or about 44 feet per second. This meant
The graphics would then be played over this. Everything was then the car would have moved four to six feet in the time to run the full
constructed in a way that enabled the AR screen to face the rear process, and based on the distance of the curb to the window and
passenger seat. All of this computing happened in less than perspective calculations, the subjects would have only moved a little
.2 seconds.” bit in the window while we’re displaying them.”

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ILLUMINATIONS:
human/nature

“It’s refreshing to see how tech-

nology can be used in a communal
way outdoors, especially in the
context of social impact.” —Megan Meeker

Overview: Contemporary artist Sarah Fuller, multimedia

entertainment studio Moment Factory and the Banff Centre for
Arts and Creativity collaborated on a journey of discovery through
Banff National Park in Alberta and Rouge National Urban Park in
east Toronto. In ILLUMINATIONS: human/nature, visitors became
participants. Divided into groups, they carried and operated portable
devices, such as speakers, projectors and lights, to experience
multimedia moments. By weaving together unseen narratives of
humans and nature, the experience enabled visitors to reconnect
with nature while considering their place within it and their role
in its future preservation.
• The event was initiated by the Banff Centre for Arts and
Creativity for Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
• The experience took place in Banff National Park from
October 5 to 7, 2017, and in Rouge National Urban Park from
October 19 to 21, 2017.
• The project took two years to produce.

Sarah Fuller/Moment Factory, creative directors

Moment Factory (Montréal, Canada), project design and development
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, producer/client

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“I love the usage of portable projectors to tell a story about one’s
surroundings. It’s a great way to keep the audience engaged and
participating.” —Isabel Kantor

Comments by Moment Factory:

What was the thinking behind the navigation structure? “Upon Did you meet with any out-of-the-ordinary obstacles during
arrival at the site, a specially crafted tool kit was distributed development? “The climate was a big obstacle during development.
among each group. Each kit included various types of handheld At one point, the Rouge site flooded. The fact that it was a portable
multimedia devices disguised as Parks Canada gear: maps, lanterns, multimedia experience gave us a lot of flexibility. During Banff
flashlights, backpacks and more. The group explored the park representations, one night we had to run the experience without
together using the tool kit. The operation was foolproof thanks to any electricity on-site due to a storm the day before. The experience
a wireless deployable system that turned the tools automatically ran 100 percent because it was relying on batteries and portable
on and off, triggering video content, special effects, music and multimedia tool kits.”
voice-over. With the tools uniquely activated at different spots
across the park, participants worked together to stage multimedia
moments of discovery. From salmon swimming up the Rouge
River to a submerged town of Lake Minnewanka, each moment was
a combination of multimedia effects created by the tool kit.”
How did this project compare with others you’ve worked on in
the past? “What makes this project unique is that for the first time,
we decided to put multimedia equipment directly in the public’s
hands. As both sites are national parks, the team also sought a ‘leave
no trace’ approach for the project. To minimize on-site installation,
the entire operation was designed to be battery powered and
portable; participants could ‘pack in and pack out’ their experience.
We further neutralized the project’s carbon footprint with the
purchase of carbon credits, another first for Moment Factory.”

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Lyft Auto Tunes

“I love seeing work that is just plain
fun. It’s this combination of art
and technology that makes inter-
action design an intellectual pursuit
worth following.” —Michael Kern

Overview: To celebrate the GRAMMYs’ 60th anniversary and its

return to New York City for the first time in fifteen years, Lyft
created a series of concerts—with cars as the instruments and the
streets and parking lots of the city as the stage. Innovation studio
and ad agency Deeplocal toured a fleet of tricked-out vehicles
around the city during the weekend leading up to the awards, using
car horns, alarms and lights to re-create GRAMMY-nominated songs.
• Lyft posted a hero video of the stunt as well as each song
the car symphony played, for a total of eight videos.
• Collectively, the videos posted on Lyft’s channel have more
than three million organic views.
• The project took nine days to produce.

Deeplocal (Pittsburgh, PA), project design and development

Lyft, client

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“This proves that anytime our audience takes an object or experience
for granted, there’s an opportunity. Taking something as mundane as
a row of parked cars and turning it into an instrument creates a truly
surprising public moment.” —Pablo Vio

Comments by Caroline Fisher, creative

marketing manager, Deeplocal:
What do you think are the project’s core
features? “With a team of composers,
engineers and car technicians, we outfitted
our cars with branded vinyl wrapping, LEDs
and modified speakers. Then, during the
weekend leading up to the awards, we parked
our orchestra discreetly in permitted lots in Brooklyn and alarms, it’s highly unlikely those sounds would ever inspire them
Manhattan, which were chosen due to high foot traffic and to dance. We surprised and delighted New Yorkers by turning one
visibility. We used the alarm system and lights to draw attention, of the most annoying sounds in the world into an opportunity to
and when enough of a crowd had gathered, a wireless remote make people smile, bring people together and celebrate the music
triggered all five cars to begin the show in of the GRAMMYs.”
sync. The cars used their horns, wipers,
door-locking beeps and subwoofers to create
the music, with each car playing a different
part of the rhythm through a medley of our
GRAMMY-nominated tracks.”
Are there any other technical features
you’d like to call attention to? “We installed
a custom receiver into each vehicle, enabling
us to wirelessly control the headlights and
blinkers, as well as LED lighting effects on the
roof and below the car. We put in subwoofers,
and hid speaker bars behind the front and rear bumpers of all the
cars. A single transmitter synced all of the cars together. Music
was played back on each car from a recorded SD card while lighting-
control messages were transmitted live in sync with the notes.”
Is the audience you were targeting a particularly difficult one
to reach? “While New Yorkers may be used to a symphony of car

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Prescribed to
Death
“What a creative and innovative
way to use technology to bring
attention to a spreading medical
issue.” —Isabel Kantor

Overview: The National Safety Council (NSC) conducted a national

survey and found that while 87 percent of Americans believe
opioid overdoses are a national crisis, they aren’t worried about
their own risk of addiction or the potential abuse of prescriptions.
To help Americans understand that the threat is sitting in their
own medicine cabinets, the NSC worked with ad agency Energy
BBDO to create Prescribed to Death. The memorial humanizes the
opioid crisis by featuring the faces of 22,000 victims who died
from prescription opioid overdoses carved onto 22,000 pills.
• NSC also sent Warn Me Labels—insurance card stickers that Allie Salzman, art director
prompt conversation with medical professionals—to small Dane Canada, senior art director
businesses and large corporations nationwide; more than Brynna Aylward/Lucy Butka/Angela Williams, writers
Hung Vinh, lead designer
1,021,000 Warn Me Labels have been distributed to date. Jaehyuk Choi/Erin Knott/Ramiro Silva, design
• Through earned public relations, fifteen cities hit hardest by Cinzia Crociani/Amy Ditchman/Meg Farquhar/Alejandro Juli/
Michael Shirley, creative directors
the crisis heard about the memorial and asked to host it.   Andrés Ordóñez, chief creative officer
• The installation took six months to produce. Lauren Brown, strategic planner
Larry Gies, chief strategy officer
Hyphen-Labs, exhibition developer
Mike Bodge, creative technologist
Sean Berringer/Casey Cobler/Liz Deegan/Bryan Simpson, editors
Jamin Clutcher, artist
Tucker Walsh, director
Sarah Krohn, sound designer
Mitch Monzon, agency producer
Camila Hummel, associate producer
Natalie Ksiazek, producer
Kendall Fash, post-production producer
Daniel Kuypers, agency music producer
Shobin Mathew, senior producer
Andrew Sommerville, executive producer
John Pratt/Matt Scoville, executive agency producers
Brian Cooper, executive integrated producer
Blue Smith, project manager
Luke Morrison, colorist
Flare/The Mill, editorial companies
m ss ng p eces, production company
Energy BBDO (Chicago, IL), project design and development
National Safety Council, client

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“Creating authentic emotional response is the most difficult challenge in
any work. This campaign was the perfect merger of technology, product,
visual creative and intuition. Truly impactful and thought provoking.”
—Michael Kern

Comments by Andrés Ordóñez, chief creative

officer, Energy BBDO:
What do you think are the project’s core features?
“Victims’ stories are told within the installation
and on a dedicated website. At the Chicago
memorial, a new pill was carved every 24 minutes to
dramatize how often a person dies of a prescription
opioid overdose. To provide a tangible tool to stop
the future devastation of lives, we created Warn Me
Labels—insurance card stickers to prompt conver-
sation with medical professionals—which were
provided free of charge along with safe pill disposal
envelopes to all who visited the memorial or What was the greatest challenge that you and your team faced
inquired through the website. The memorial didn’t conclude in during development? “We had to make sure we carved the pills
Chicago; it was built to travel, later visiting cities across the country, perfectly to honor the victims we were depicting. Lots of testing
including Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Washington, DC, Buffalo and more.” went into carving the pills and finding the right machine to do so.
Are there any other technical features you’d like to call attention But the most challenging part was getting to know the real families
to? “Data was not only the inspiration for this project; it was behind the victims.”
essential in how the memorial was crafted and brought to life. We
started with data—22,000 lives lost—and used real facial data to
develop an algorithm to create the carved pills. This was imple-
mented in the computer numerical
control machine that produced the
miniature carvings live on-site.
Visitors could add to the data in
person and online by contributing
details about their lost loved ones to
the memorial.”

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Google Assistant
SDK: Poster Maker

“Always inspiring to see designers

harness the power of open source
in a unique way.” —Michael Kern

Overview: Working as the creative technology partner to the

Google Assistant marketing team, innovation studio and ad agency
Deeplocal created a poster-making robot to captivate conference
attendees at Google I/O. The Poster Maker was built with the
Google Assistant SDK for devices, which helped it create unique
works of art through voice collaboration with each attendee. The
ease of the integration enabled Deeplocal to create custom Actions,
so users could choose the artworks’ colors, shapes and designs,
drawing with the Google Assistant in real time.
• Because the user is in command of the Poster Maker, no
two posters are alike, ensuring a bespoke piece of art for
each conference attendee.
• Deeplocal used Python, Node.js and Paper.js.
• Deeplocal open-sourced Poster Maker on GitHub.

Deeplocal (Pittsburgh, PA), project design and development

Google, client

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“This is an ingenious execution that merges artificial intelligence, speech
and hardware to create tangible masterpieces. The complexity here is
almost completely hidden behind a simple, fun user experience.”
—Pablo Vio

Comments by Caroline Fisher, creative marketing manager,

Deeplocal:
What software, back-end technology and programming languages
were used? “We built Poster Maker with the Google Assistant
Software Developer Kit (SDK). The Google Assistant provides
a conversational user interface using Actions on Google and Custom
Device Actions, which enable you to define device-specific query
patterns, intents and responses. What’s more, Poster Maker will
still be able to answer questions and help you get things done
during the sketching process. The Assistant SDK for devices embeds
your application in the Google Assistant, so there’s no need to sign
in and out of custom applications.”
Are there any other technical features you’d like to call attention
to? “The best part of the Poster Maker is that we open-sourced it
so that you can build your own. All you need is a Raspberry Pi that
runs the Google Assistant SDK for devices and the plotter controls.
We housed the software in a frame built from machined aluminum
with a Corian drawing surface. With a custom 3-D printed machined
aluminum marker changer, the Poster Maker is able to switch
between colors at a moment’s notice.”
How many visitors has it received since launch? “Poster Maker
has been to conferences and events around the world. So far, it has
traveled to Google Mountain View (Google I/O), London (Google
Zeitgeist), Côte d’Azur (Google Beach at Cannes Lions) and Paradise
Valley, Arizona (Google Zeitgeist).”

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Vallea Lumina
“Light and its manipulation is
a technique that has often been
at the forefront of photography
but severely lacking in the world
of installations. Moment Factory
is making some wonderful work
and pushing our senses in the
process.” —Michael Kern

Overview: How do you add to the enchantment of an already

mind-blowing landscape? This was the challenge that Moment
Factory tackled while crafting a storytelling experience between
Cougar and Rainbow Mountains near Whistler, British Columbia.
Adding a layer of mystery and enchantment to the mountains’
natural beauty, the multimedia entertainment studio created
Vallea Lumina, a night walk brought to life with video projections,
lighting, sound and special effects. Along an accessible 4,590-foot
pathway, visitors follow clues left by two hikers toward a secret
valley filled with wonders.
• Moment Factory developed this evening experience in
collaboration with The Adventure Group Whistler,
complementing its lineup of outdoor entertainment activities.
• More than 2,500 Instagram posts have used the hashtag
#ValleaLumina.
• The project took six months to produce.

Moment Factory (Montréal, Canada), project design and development

The Adventure Group Whistler, client

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“The entire outdoor excursion is a digital Easter egg, unexpectedly
discovering the next hidden message or secret feature.” —Megan Meeker

Comments by Moment Factory:

Did you meet with any out-of-the-ordinary obstacles during
development? “The physical path that leads visitors from Cougar
Mountain to Rainbow Mountain and back was explored, walked,
evaluated and created by our technical team, The Adventure
Group Whistler and JoyRide, experts in mountain bike trail building.
The path was built with the utmost respect for the environment
and to ensure the best path into which to integrate our sceno-
graphic elements.”
What was the most challenging aspect of the project?
“Using technology outdoors is challenging, from making sure the
installation can withstand all weather conditions to making sure
the technology is hidden. Multimedia is seamlessly integrated in
the surroundings—not only to respect the environment, but also
to be as unobtrusive as possible so day visitors are not bothered
by the equipment. Our methods for installing equipment have been
recommended by professional arborists to ensure that the long-
term health of the flora is protected.”
How did this project compare with others you’ve worked on in
the past? “Every Lumina night walk experience we create is unique
and adapted to the location in which we work. Vallea Lumina is
the eighth Lumina night walk in our series. Other Lumina night walk
experiences are in Québec, Ontario, Japan and Singapore. Moment
Factory has worked on more than 400 multimedia experiences
over the years; each project is different by its nature or by its
creative endeavor.”

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Draw to Art

“I love the use of machine learning

to create more interesting ways to
sort and discover art.” —Josh Goldblum

Overview: Since 2011, Google Arts & Culture has digitized art
collections from museums around the world in order to make art
more accessible to everyone. To help people discover the pieces
in the collection in a relevant and personal way, Google Creative
Lab created Draw to Art. The experience uses machine learning
to match people’s doodles to drawings, paintings and sculptures
in the collection. A series of interactive easels enables anyone to
use Draw to Art at events and cultural spaces.
• To date, ten easels have been produced.
• The easels have been featured in fifteen-plus public
exhibitions and events, including in the Grand Palais in
Paris and the Long Museum in Shanghai.
• The project took five months to produce.

Google Creative Lab (London, United Kingdom), project design and

development
Google, client

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“Leave it to Google to create an immersive search experience that caters
to all doodling skill levels.” —Megan Meeker

Comments by Xavier Barrade, creative lead, Google Creative Lab:

From concept to completion, how long did the project take to
produce? “The project development was around five months, from
idea to launch. We started from a simple idea—‘drawing to discover
art’—and created a video prototype to show how it could work and
to green-light the project. We spent the first month of production
testing different machine learning models in collaboration with
artist Kyle McDonald and Google Arts & Culture. We then prototyped
different user interfaces and finalized the digital design. The last
step was to work with a product designer to create and produce the
interactive easels. We were involved in every aspect of the project,
from the initial idea to the physical design of the installation.”
What software, back-end technology and programming languages
were used? “Using TensorFlow, we trained a deep neural network—
using the Sketchy database—to recognize visual features in
doodles, like shapes, lines and perspectives. We also trained it to
recognize the same features in paintings, sketches and sculptures
from the Google Arts & Culture collection so Draw to Art can
associate doodles to similar works of art. The best matches are
then presented to the user, who can rate them to help teach the
neural network and improve the results for everyone. The tech-
nology we developed is unique because it does not depend on
tags or words; the recognition and matching happens purely
visually, making it a more relevant and creative way to discover art.”
What was the thinking behind the navigation structure?
“Draw to Art was built to be easily usable by everyone with little
explanation—draw something on the left of the canvas, and visually
similar artworks are presented on the right. It directly connects the
user’s creativity with the creativity of the masters. Users’ sketches
are used to surface masterpieces.”

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Amazon Jurassic
Box Experience
“The scale is impressive and
effective—both the box and the
social campaign.” —Josh Goldblum

Overview: When Amazon Media Group wanted to do something

big and buzzworthy to promote the release of the Universal feature
film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, creative production partner
Tool of North America built the largest Amazon box ever created
and shipped a “65-million-year-old” dinosaur from Costa Rica to
the Grove outdoor mall in Los Angeles.
• #AmazonFindsAWay was a fully integrated stunt that was
executed in the weeks leading up to the US premiere of the
film and immediately prior to its international release.
• The box was designed with audio haptics to deliver a variety
of dinosaur sounds in real time.
• An original teaser was written and produced to build hype
for the stunt.

Carissa Landis, Amazon, art director

Cameron Frantz/Travis Meidell, Amazon, associate creative directors
Kate Kemp, Amazon, creative director
Anthony Reeves, Amazon, executive creative director
Steve Mapp, Tool of North America, director
Ryan Hawthorne, Tool of North America, 3-D animator
Taylor Bro/Jean Chang, Tool of North America/Molly Fleet, Amazon,
producers
Carrie Schaer, Amazon, senior producer
Adam Baskin/Dustin Callif/Joshua Greenberg/Nancy Hacohen, Tool of
North America, executive producers
Tool of North America (Santa Monica, CA), production company/project
design and development
Amazon, client

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“Well-executed obvious concepts with singular focus are powerful and
require courage. Impressive.” —Michael Kern

Comments by Tool of North America:

Was the project part of a larger promotional campaign? This earned media was incremental to the paid media surrounding
“Director Steve Mapp worked with Tool Innovation to incorporate the campaign by Amazon and Universal. Highlights included
the central theme of the film within the overarching story of the postings from The Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco and iconic Los
stunt via a teaser video, which Amazon and Universal released on Angeles hot dog stand Pink’s Hot Dogs, and morning news coverage
their social channels the day prior to a citywide driving event; it by KTLA.”
featured the tagline ‘An Amazon delivery 65 million years in the
making. #AmazonFindsAWay.’ During the live event alluded to in
Mapp’s teaser, a motorcade of more than a dozen sport utility
vehicles and Jurassic-branded Jeep Wranglers flanked the 40-by-12-
foot box as it made its way from the Port of Los Angeles past iconic
landmarks, with a quick visit to Universal Studios for Steven
Spielberg to check it out, then finally landing at the Grove. The stunt
culminated with a live event, produced by Red Rock Entertainment,
at which the film’s stars, Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt,
participated in a dramatic unboxing of a spectacular dinosaur
statue. Everything was captured, edited and posted on Amazon’s
and Universal’s platforms within the week following the live event.”
Was there a viral component that was
successful? “The team from Tool worked with
local news and social influencers to deliver
real-time user-generated content and press
from the stunt. In the two days following the
drive, the box mysteriously sat at the highest
visibility point within the Grove complex, and
it was supervised by brand ambassadors and
enjoyed by the public.”
What was the response? “The campaign
generated more than ten million impressions
from several hundred user-generated posts,
with the highest levels of engagement on
Twitter, Instagram Feed and Instagram Stories.

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NSynth Super
“A eureka moment of musical
experimentation meeting creativity
to create something truly unique
and useful and completely new. The
possibilities are endless.” —Pablo Vio

Overview: Exploring how machine learning might give musicians

new ways to be expressive and creative, Google Creative Lab created
the NSynth Super. Using this experimental physical instrument,
musicians can play and make music with sounds generated by the
NSynth machine learning algorithm. The instrument’s intuitive
interface enables musicians to focus on the music rather than the
instructions. Google Creative Lab also made all of the source code,
schematics and design templates available for download on
GitHub so that anyone can build an NSynth Super using readily
available components.
• Google Creative Lab included several features familiar to
musicians, like volume envelope and wave position controls
and MIDI input.
• NSynth Super was built using the Magenta and TensorFlow
machine learning tools, Python, Linux, Raspberry Pi, and
openFrameworks.
• The project received Honorable Mention in the Experimental
category for Fast Company’s 2018 Innovation by Design Awards.

Google Creative Lab (London, United Kingdom), project design and

development
Google, client

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 “Inspires experimentation for all via
simple interactions to create music
and open-source code to build
more devices.” —Megan Meeker

Comments by Zebedee Pedersen, creative technologist, Google

Creative Lab:
What was the thinking behind the navigation structure? “We teams. We used machine learning techniques, like dimensionality
spent a lot of time exploring different ways to navigate the world reduction [reducing the number of random variables under
of sound created by the algorithm before arriving at the simple consideration], and created mathematical plots to inform our user
navigation interface used in NSynth Super. The two core features of interface and physical design, resulting in an interface that is
this interface are: the ability to select four source instruments very highly expressive and makes the most of the innovative machine
easily, narrowing down the more than 100,000 new sounds inside learning technology powering the instrument.”
the device, and the touch panel itself, which enables musicians to
intuitively navigate the world of sound they have selected.”
How did time constraints affect your final solution? “We
challenged ourselves to build an initial hardware prototype of
NSynth Super within the first couple of weeks. This helped to
validate our initial interface designs, and it also gave us key
learnings for the rest of the project that enabled us to arrive at
better design solutions quicker.”
From concept to completion, how long did the project take to
produce? “The creation of the instrument itself was completed in
less than six months by a core team at Google Creative Lab in
collaboration with a handful of specialist designers and coders.
Because the project is so technical at its core, the design process
was an especially close collaboration between the design and tech

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The Colorblind Viewer

“Hopefully this will inspire the rest
of the world to consider how they
too can design for every person.”
—Megan Meeker

Overview: When the state of Tennessee

wanted to remind travelers how special its
fall scenery is, ad agency VMLY&R realized
that there are roughly thirteen million
Americans who have never seen the
changing fall colors because they suffer from
red-green color blindness. The agency
wondered: What if Tennessee could be where
they saw the true colors of fall for the first
time? To make this possible, the agency
created the Colorblind Viewer, a scenic
viewer equipped with high-tech lenses that
help alleviate red-green color blindness.
• On October 26, 2017, the viewers were permanently installed
at three of Tennessee’s scenic vistas.
• As color-blind people used the viewers, the agency captured
their emotional reactions for a short promotional film.
• The Colorblind Viewer was featured on the TV show The
Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation.

Mars Denton, art director

Amy Willsey, writer
Betsy Jemas/Ryan Simonet, creative directors
Stephen Martin/Allison Pierce, group creative directors
Derek Clark, executive creative director
John Godsey, chief creative officer, North America
Debbi Vandeven, chief creative officer
Ryan Schooley, technical lead
Andy O’Neil, editor
Chusy Jardine, director
Nick Keenan, music
Ethan Downing, executive agency producer
Jason Cooper/Megan Davey/Kelly Fischer/Nikki Hardin/Alyssa Murfey/Bill
Patterson/Katie Rogers, project managers
EnChroma/FlyteVu/Natalie Logan/Kent Streeb, consultants
Plan A Films, production company
VMLY&R (Kansas City, MO), project design and development/ad agency
Cindy Dupree/Jill Kilgore/Nekasha Pratt/Kevin Triplett/Brian Wagner,
Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, clients

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 “This project makes you question
the gifts we may take for granted
and the gifts we can give others.
A really elegant and empathetic
project.” —Josh Goldblum

Comments by Allison Pierce:

Was the project part of a larger promotional campaign? Associated Press and NBC Nightly News as well as sites like Upworthy
“Tennessee wanted travelers to know it has some of the best fall and GoodNewsNetwork, resulting in 662 million earned impressions
foliage in the country. The challenge was standing out to an and $2.5 million in earned media value. The weeks following the
audience that is bombarded with the same picturesque fall land- campaign, hotel revenue near viewer locations was up 9.5 percent
scapes from dozens of states year after year. Our aim was to get over the previous year. The public even began lobbying for the
them to see Tennessee’s fall beauty with fresh eyes—by showcasing viewers to be installed in other states and parks across the country.
it through the eyes of color-blind people experiencing it for the Tennessee is currently working on a manufacturing process to
first time. So instead of buying into the cluttered paid media space, make that possible.”
we bought three scenic viewers and some high-tech lenses and
created an installation that not only promoted Tennessee’s fall
colors; it actually changed lives. This strategy opened the state up
to a brand-new audience: the millions of Americans affected by
color blindness who may not have previously been interested in
traveling to see fall foliage.”
Is the audience you were targeting a particularly difficult one
to reach? “Because of the limited window of fall foliage, we used
paid media to promote the film on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
to 21- to 54-year-olds within short driving distance of Tennessee.
Secondly, we targeted people with color-blind-related search history.
As the news stories began to spread, we used paid support to
amplify the best coverage.”
What was the response? “As video views quickly reached nine
million, the story became national news, with features on the

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100LB Coupon
“The industrial design of a 100-pound coupon
leans into the fact that coupons always have
fine print with strings—or in this case,
weight—attached.” —Megan Meeker

Overview: Second Skin, a new line of athletic wear, needed to get

extreme endurance athletes’ attention. Any activation would need
to fit into this niche group’s lifestyle. So, ad agency VMLY&R made
athletes sweat for their rewards by creating the 100LB Coupon.
Anyone brave enough to take this fully redeemable coupon to
a DICK’S Sporting Goods store got 100 percent off Second Skin gear.
• The 100LB Coupon was forged from steel and weighed a full
100 pounds.
• Each coupon was worth up to $500 in Second Skin products.
• The agency first activated the coupons in El Segundo,
California, on August 26, 2017, and concluded at CrossFit’s
Wodapalooza in Miami, Florida, on January 14, 2018.

Matt McNary, art director

Jake Scovell, associate art director
Patrick Farrell, writer
Grant Minnis, creative director
Derek Anderson, group creative director
Aaron Evanson, executive creative director
John Godsey, chief creative officer, North America
Debbi Vandeven, chief creative officer
Emily Dore, strategic planner
Bray Addison, editor
Michael Kinney, senior producer
Chad Martin/Kara Nelson/Abbie Schmid, project managers
Freddie Wise, production supervisor
Endeavor/Haworth Marketing + Media, consultants
Kansas Castings, fabricator
VMLY&R (Kansas City, MO), project design and development/ad agency
Melissa Christian/Ryan Eckel/Kristen Garmey/Jacque Skowvron, DICK’S
Sporting Goods, clients

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 “Digital and off-line connections
are notoriously fraught with
issues, but this was one of the
smartest campaigns of the year.
Anytime you can
capture the
imagination of
a captive consumer,
you have a win on
your hands.”
—Michael Kern

Comments by Aaron Evanson:

Is the audience you were targeting a particularly difficult one
to reach? “The 100LB Coupon targeted extreme endurance
athletes who participate in CrossFit, Spartan Races and Ironman
Triathlons. These athletes flip tractor tires, run 30 miles without
stopping, crawl in the mud under barbed wire and jump through
fire for fun. Their approach to self-improvement is borderline
masochistic. Knowing they’re athletes who live for an extreme
challenge, we gave them one by letting them earn free gear the
hard way.”
Describe any special interactive features. “Before each event,
we promoted the activation on Facebook for mass reach. During
each competition, we had major brand influencers and brand
ambassadors push clues like GPS coordinates on their Instagram
Stories, alerting athletes in real time to where they could get their
own 100LB Coupon. Every few minutes after launching a new
coupon, we’d post more clues to help athletes claim one. After
finding them, athletes were then instructed to cash them in at
a DICK’S Sporting Goods. In total, we deployed 20 coupons across
five events. All were redeemed.”
What was the response? “A 25 percent increase in Instagram fol-
lowers, 4.5 million impressions and more than 2 million video views.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: STUDENT WORK

Invisible
Sculptures
“I love the playful approach to
interface and interaction. A great
set of experiments around
nonvisual and nontraditional
interface design.” —Josh Goldblum

Overview: Invisible Sculptures is a series of artistic experiments

that challenges human perception through sculptures that can only
be “seen” with senses other than vision—they are made out of
sound (Sculpture I and Sculpture II), heat (Sculpture III), directional
airflows (Sculpture IV) and odor (Sculpture V). To perceive these
objects, viewers must align multiple sensory functions to find and
feel the form, texture and boundaries of each sculpture.
• Visitors interact with the sculptures by feeling the air and
syncing their senses.
• People have engaged with each sculpture for up to one
minute and more.
• The sculptures have been shown at three different art venues.

Yeseul Song, designer/developer

Nancy Hechinger, instructor
New York University, Interactive Telecommunications Program
(New York, NY), school

© Yeseul Song

166 Interactive Annual 2019

“So creative! Loved the way this project leverages our senses—sound,
touch, smell—to convey its message.” —Isabel Kantor

Comments by Yeseul Song:

What motivated you to create Invisible Sculptures? “There are I asked the audience to use clay to mold physical sculptures in the
spaces that exist but are not visible. For instance, in a restaurant, likeness to what they had experienced. It is interesting to note
people tend to avoid sitting near bathrooms or garbage cans. that although everyone was provided a similar experience, each
Although there is nothing physical, I can sense invisible boundaries person’s interpretation had some variation in the shapes. The sound
around those spaces. I wanted to create a place where invisible sculptures (Sculpture I and Sculpture II) resulted in the most consistent
forms are perceivable. Invisible Sculptures invites audiences to clay sculptures while the odor sculpture (Sculpture V) resulted in
develop senses toward structures and boundaries that affect us but a huge variety between what people saw.”
are not visible to us.”
What software, back-end technology and programming languages
were used? “It varies depending on each sculpture. To list some
of them: openFrameworks, a software music sequencer, infrared
cameras, a thermal camera, the invisible spectrum of the electro-
magnetic spectrum and infrared heating elements. During the
development phase, I made multiple invisible sculpture prototypes
with different sensing technologies and a variety of complexities
in the form. I conducted user testing with the prototypes to find
a sweet spot for the sculptures, which are perceptible but not too
easy to get. The sculptures also sit on top of identical plinths, which
were designed to hide all of the hardware components, and each
is independent from the others. This provides viewers with
a seamless experience without being distracted by the technology
used to create it.”
What was the response? “From my observation and visitors’
feedback, most people were amused and inspired. Some people
were confused at first when being pushed to deactivate their
primary sense, vision, but soon became immersed in the experience.

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: STUDENT WORK

Synesthesia—Extended Perception
“I was glad to see students exploring
the potential and vocabulary
of immersive, interactive
environments.” —Josh Goldblum

Overview: Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon experienced

by very few people, which makes it hard to understand. Even some
synesthetes are unaware of their exceptional ability. In order to give
people insight into the everyday life of a synesthete, students
at Stuttgart Media University created Synesthesia—Extended
Perception, an interactive installation that implemented various
types of media to give visitors an experience in which their senses
are fully catered to.
• Interactive procedurally generated content was displayed on
the LED floor and walls in the installation’s showroom.
• The exhibition took place on the evening of July 5, 2018, and
was experienced by more than 500 visitors.
• Eight students worked for six months to complete the
project, putting in more than 400 hours of work per person.

Niels Keller/Maria Mühr/Franziska Schicht/Jonathan Tenhunen/Marcel

Werner, designers
Kai Kirn/Valentin Schneider, developers
Markus Hirsch, programmer
Ursula Drees, instructor
Hochschule der Medien (Stuttgart, Germany), school

© Markus Hirsch/Niels Keller/Kai Kirn/Maria Mühr/Franziska Schicht/

Valentin Schneider/Jonathan Tenhunen/Marcel Werner

168 Interactive Annual 2019

“Did the students actually build this? Because it looks professional.”
—Michael Kern

Comments by Niels Keller:

What was the thinking behind the navigation structure? design and lay out our build in the studio. All of the audio content
“Visitors are not supposed to hinder each other from experiencing was produced and mixed with Ableton and Max for Live. The LED
the installation at their own pace. First, visitors enter an entry room, walls were controlled with the lighting software Madrix.”
which serves as a portal into the world of synesthesia. Next, visitors
arrive in the main showroom, which makes up the interactive part
of the installation. The last room is the information room, which
explains our approach and provides more detailed information for
those who are interested.”
Are there any other technical features you’d like to call attention
to? “We implemented more than 20 sqm2 of touch interactive LED
floor, which reacts to people walking on it, as well as LED balls in
combination with infinity mirrors to act as a display. Also, our central
control unit—which is controlled by hand gestures, enabling visitors
to interact and change the surrounding LED walls’ content—was
entirely self-built and programmed from the ground up. It operates
with four leap motion controllers connected to four personal
computers, with which the visitors’ hand movements are tracked
and projected onto the LED walls as shapes and colors. On top of
that, we suspended an 8.2 audio system around our self-constructed
showroom for maximum immersiveness.”
What software, back-end technology and programming languages
were used? “We used the software vvvv for programming and for
communication between media devices. Vectorworks was used to

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: STUDENT WORK

Expressive Tactile
Controls
“I look forward to a future full of
expressive controls. There is little
better in the world than seeing
inanimate objects wonderfully
brought to life.” —Megan Meeker
Overview: Push buttons, sliders, switches, dials—we use such
controls every day and everywhere, and we barely notice them. But
what if controls had unique personalities, and they could express
their emotions through haptic feedback? Hayeon Hwang approached
this question in Expressive Tactile Controls, a series of research
experiments that aims to expand the capability of tangible interfaces
and improve haptic interaction. Hwang constructed button proto-
types that are able to express themselves with various tactile and
kinesthetic feedback, like vibration and movement.
• Expressive Tactile Controls is an ongoing research project; the
first experiment took three and a half months to complete.
• Hwang presented the project at the New York University
Interactive Telecommunications Program Spring Show and
the NYC Media Lab Demo Expo in 2018.
• The project was awarded in the Engineering category at
NYC Media Lab’s 2018 Summit.

Hayeon Hwang, designer

Gabriel Barcia-Colombo/Tom Igoe, instructors
New York University, Interactive Telecommunications Program
(New York, NY), school

© Hayeon Hwang

170 Interactive Annual 2019

“Another great example of leveraging senses—this time through haptic
feedback—to explore emotions and give a sense of ‘personality.’”
—Isabel Kantor

Comments by Hayeon Hwang:

What do you think are the project’s core features? “The project personalities the buttons meant to express but asked them to guess
aims to expand the capability of tangible interfaces and improve instead. Based on the users’ feedback, I refined the haptic effects
haptic interaction. I believe that haptic feedback elements in to describe emotions in a way that most people would understand.”
controls can facilitate an intuitive interaction design and enrich the
user experience. After the first experiment, I explored some use
cases with lighting. For example, when using the Stubborn button,
turning on multiple light bulbs will require stronger force than
turning on a single light bulb. It will let users immediately feel
how much they are using their energy when pressing the button.”
Are there any other technical features you’d like to call attention
to? “I built a series of buttons that behavior designers can control
programmatically. The buttons are controlled by an Arduino micro-
controller and consist of assorted actuators and sensors required
to create the characteristic behaviors. After building the physical
prototypes, I developed a dashboard application to observe constant
input and output values of haptic activity and to assign an individual
tactile effect conveniently. The software was written in JavaScript/
HTML/CSS, the p5.js library and Arduino.”
Did you meet with any out-of-the-ordinary obstacles during
development? “The challenge was to express the characters’
features only through tactile feedback. I built the prototypes rapidly
for user testing. During user testing, I did not let users know what

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: STUDENT WORK

FLUX
“What I enjoyed about this one
was how they used phones to get
kids moving. I’ve seen apps on
iPads or larger screens try to do
this, but it’s great to see it done
so well on a mobile phone.”
—Isabel Kantor

Overview: Millennials spend an average of 223 minutes a day on

their phones. In order to transform some of this phone time into an
active experience, a team of seven students at Rochester Institute
of Technology (RIT) created FLUX, a mobile game that redefines
touchscreen gestures with full-body interactions. Running in place
powers the game. Instead of tapping to jump, users have to
physically jump. And instead of swiping to change direction, users
turn their bodies. FLUX motivates people to get their blood pumping
while having fun on their phones.
• FLUX was the result of RIT’s New Media Team Project.
• The game was developed in C# using Unity, and the
environment visuals were 3-D modeled in Cinema 4D.
• FLUX was exhibited at Imagine RIT: Innovation and
Creativity Festival.

Melissa Hochadel/Jack Kaiser/Solomon Mercurio/Rikesh Mistry/Amy Pham/

Riley Yankowich, designers
Megan Smith, developer
Sten McKinzie/Adam Smith, instructors
Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY), school

© Melissa Hochadel/Jack Kaiser/Solomon Mercurio/Rikesh Mistry/

Amy Pham/Megan Smith/Riley Yankowich

172 Interactive Annual 2019

“Impressive and fun! An innovative way to address screen overuse that
keeps people active and engaged.” —Pablo Vio
Comments by Amy Pham:
What do you think are the project’s core features? “In addition
to the main game, users can earn FLUX Facts cards when they
meet certain achievements. With these cards, users can learn how
getting active benefits their health, and easily spread the word by
sharing them with family and friends. We also have an activity
tracker. After each game session, users see how long they’ve been
moving and work their way up to their daily target time. This gets
logged into the activity tracker, where users can see how they’ve
done throughout the week. To push themselves to move more, they
can raise their daily goal time.”
Are there any other technical features you’d like to call attention
to? “The most unique technical feature of FLUX is how we detect
whether our user is jumping, running or standing still. We got
data from the accelerometer found in smartphones and converted
it into data that shows how much force was applied to the phone.
If it passed a certain threshold, that would mean the user is jumping.
If it didn’t reach this threshold but was higher than a lower thresh-
old, that meant that the user was running.”
What was the response? “Many people of all ages visited our
exhibit, and there were smiles all around. Kids would finish and get
back in line to play again, and we had friends compete against one
another. We got responses like ‘It’s wonderful seeing my son up
and active while on the phone’ and ‘As someone who does not
exercise, I would definitely exercise to this!’”
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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: STUDENT WORK

Indigo
“My favorite part about this project
was the usage of light to create an
ambient mood.” —Isabel Kantor

Overview: Indigo is an audio-visual performance designed for

a 120-foot-wide screen. The screen acted as a backdrop as live
electronic music was created onstage. The music was transformed
into data on the fly, and signal processing techniques were used
to isolate recognizable elements of the sound and map them to
visual elements on the screen.
• Indigo was shown at the Interactive Telecommunications
Program’s Big Screens Show in 2017, hosted at the IAC
Building in Manhattan.
• The project needed to fill almost 9.5 million pixels over
a 120-foot-wide screen.
• The project was created using C++, openFrameworks, Open
Sound Control and SoundFlower.

Michael Simpson/Yeseul Song, designers/developers

Mimi Yin, instructor
New York University, Interactive Telecommunications Program
(New York, NY), school

© Michael Simpson/Yeseul Song

174 Interactive Annual 2019

“The real-time visual graphics seemed to create a pretty compelling and
surprising canvas. I appreciated the variety and interest created with
a limited color palette and grid.” —Josh Goldblum

Comments by Yeseul Song:

Describe the purpose of the project and its target audience.
“The project was designed to be shown at an event hosted at the
IAC Building in New York. The IAC Building was designed by Frank
Gehry and comes equipped with a magnificent screen that is 120
feet long and faces the west-side highway. Indigo was designed to
be displayed on that screen and performed in the hallway for the
event, which was attended by several hundred.”
Describe any special interactive features. “The audio-visual system
we created reacts to any kind of sound. The system analyzes the
sound and generates graphics accordingly. The system interacted
with the music we were creating during the performance. The
performers interacted with the piece, not the audience.”
What was the response? “The audience found the experience to
be immersive and meditative. People appreciated the contrast
between simple and complex. We believe that we made good use of
the big screen and the architecture of the IAC Building. Instead of
trying to say too many things, we focused on creating a ‘space’
with consistency in the color theme, music and dynamics of the
graphics—we believe it worked.”

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 INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: STUDENT WORK

My Cells and I
“Among the student work, this
project stood out distinctly. Well-
executed print and digital working
in tandem in a cohesive, surprising
way. Delightful.” —Michael Kern

Overview: My Cells and I, a children’s book that integrates a mobile

app in the reading experience, teaches readers about biology by
taking them on a journey into the human body. Children dive into
the body tissue, the cells, the organelles inside the cells and the DNA
while interacting with the app.
• The original video posting of the project has more than 1.2
million views, plus 14,000 shares.
• The app was developed in the Unity game engine using C#.
• The project took a year to produce.

Omer Viner, designer/developer/writer

Amitay Gilad, instructor
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design (Jerusalem, Israel), school

© Omer Viner

176 Interactive Annual 2019

 “A beautifully crafted and truly remarkable way
to bridge the gap between digital and print.
Very inspiring!” —Pablo Vio

Comments by Omer Viner:

What do you think are the project’s core features? “Every page questions, I brought my experience in both worlds into one book.
has its own corresponding screen, which enables the readers to I thought about myself as a child, taking a magnifying glass and
interact with the information shown in the book. One of my favorite looking at ants in the garden, or wondering and asking about the
pages is the DNA page, which explains the process by which DNA human body. I wanted to awaken the same feelings I felt then
helps build the cells. The application screen accompanies the text among other children, and as both a designer and a developer,
and helps the reader interact with the DNA directly, move it around I felt that I had the ability to do so.”
and see it change with every action. It enables kids to learn some-
thing they didn’t know before, through touching and feeling the
DNA ‘directly.’”
Did you meet with any out-of-the-ordinary obstacles during
development? “The most complicated task was designing the user
experience and making sure the different elements of the project
work well together as a whole. The process of making the book
included writing texts, drawing illustrations, creating animations,
programming and paper engineering. The process also included
researching different options, and I was surprised to find that the
ideal way to combine the different elements was the most simple
one. It wasn’t that easy to weave two different elements together
into one experience, but the idea charmed me with its simplicity.”
What drew you to this idea? “I graduated from a joint program of
BSc in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and BDes in the Bezalel
Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Towards the beginning
of this project, I asked myself, ‘Who am I, and what does it mean
to be both a designer and a developer?’ In order to answer these

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 1

FRESH When Weitong Mai was still a student at Camberwell College of

Arts in London, United Kingdom, she received her first commercial

WEITONG commission. The illustration was for a subway poster for Moleskine
and Chinese online retail platform Tmall.com, and the hyper-

MAI detailed scene she drew—undulating hills overflowing with

characters and objects—took her months to finish. “Since then, I’ve
realized the importance of finding a balance between my own
aesthetic and personal expression and the client’s needs,” she says.
After graduating, she interned at illustration, animation and design
studio Shotopop, and as a freelancer, she’s been gracing everything
from drink labels to magazine pages with her thoughtful details
and fluid lines. “I am fascinated with different forms of lines,” she
says. “The flexibility of lines enables me to fulfill every idea I have.”
While Mai curves around artistic obstacles, she takes a hard line
on dedication. “My parents used to tell me to take full responsibility
on every decision I make,” she says, “So, I want to be responsible
to my family, my clients and myself.”
weitongmai.com

178 Interactive Annual 2019

2 3

4 5

1. “Illustrated subway poster and key visual of related products for the Chinese internet technology company NetEase.” Nicole Gu, art director; NetEase, client.
2. “For British fiction and poetry magazine Firewords’ tenth issue.” Dan Burgess, Firewords, client. 3. “Personal piece inspired by Dr. Margaret McCollum’s story
in the short film ‘Mind the Gap.’” 4. “Cover illustration for German magazine Mixology’s October 2017 issue.” Christine Gundelach, art director; Mixology,
client. 5. “Personal piece inspired by my neighbor’s daily routine of walking along the beach and feeding seagulls.”

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 1

FRESH This photographer serves up a visual buffet on his website. Click

on “Sport,” for instance, to see soccer players and the blur of

COLE cyclists streaking past. “YUMMY” leads to chefs and richly plated
meals. And sections titled “Faces,” “More Faces” and “Even More

WILSON Faces” show that everyone from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates to Kermit
the Frog has been at the receiving end of Cole Wilson’s gaze. “I’m
a bit of a ‘yes’ person,” he says, with a comprehensive portfolio to
show for it. An art school dropout and a former bicycle mechanic,
Wilson began working for himself when he moved to New York City.
He’s now based in Brooklyn, with a client list that includes the
New York Times and Reebok. “Soccer is a bit of an obsession for me,
and for the last few years, I’ve been trying to push my work in
that direction,” he says. “Food and beverage photography, along
with my soccer and athletic work, seem to be two markets for me
to try branching out to in a commercial sense.”
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180 Interactive Annual 2019

2

3 4

1. “Young soccer players from major league soccer academies participate in adidas’s Elite Soccer Program camp.” adidas Soccer, client. 2. “Photographed for an
ongoing personal project on youth soccer academies worldwide. Young players from the Levski Sofia football club in Bulgaria (left). Youth academy jerseys at
Cruz Azul football club in Mexico (right).” 3. “New York City–based fans of Chelsea Football Club (CFC). Emmy has a CFC tattoo on her arm and bartends at
a soccer bar.” Thomas Watt, creative director; Chelsea Football Club/Cultureshock Media, clients. 4. “This shoot shows an athlete with Puma’s Future soccer
cleats in Brooklyn Bridge Park.” Cooper Lemon, Eight by Eight, art director; Lake Retreat, ad agency; Puma, client. 5. “Nigerian Canadian model Folasade
Adeoso wears the 2018 Nike x Nigeria Super Eagles soccer jersey ahead of the 2018 World Cup.” Cooper Lemon, Eight by Eight, client.

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 1

FRESH After the three founders of this Paris, France–based studio met at
digital agency ultranoir, where they were producing websites, they

MONOCHROME discovered another calling. “We felt that this market was slowly
disappearing,” say Axel Aubert, JB Grasset and Guillaume Nicollet,
“so we decided to move to a new territory—the virtual reality (VR)
space, where everything has yet to be created.” Established in
2017, their studio has crafted VR pieces for the likes of adidas and
Christian Dior, helping to establish VR as an essential creative
medium of branding. “Brands will create experiences between
games, art and learning experiences. We believe that real-time
VR experiences will be the future of media,” the cofounders say.
© Esteban Wautier The Parisian studio has already released a manifesto on the ten
principles for good VR, and inspired by the idea of an art gallery
dedicated to VR creation, even modeled its office to look like
a boutique—a space that bridges art and technology. What’s in the
future for this pioneering firm? “To be considered one of the top
worldwide studios in VR creation.”
monochrome.paris

182 Interactive Annual 2019

2

1. “Using Unreal software, we produced an interactive VR experience to entertain the young, trendy audience at a special event held at ASICS House Paris.”
Guillaume Nicollet/Axel Aubert/JB Grasset, creative directors; ASICS, client. 2. “Eternal Landscape (2017) is artist Yang Yongliang’s first work based in VR. The
audience can walk inside the immersive Chinese landscape of the painting while wearing VR goggles.” Axel Aubert, art director; Yang Yongliang, creative
director/client. 3. “An interactive VR tour of ShAKe, a new mixed-use development where the concepts of work, nature, services and social life are mixed
with modern architecture.” Gabriel de Laubier, creative director; Nacarat/ShAKe, clients. 4. “A VR experience to promote dental prosthesis laboratory Made
in Labs. The goal was to have the viewer travel inside an imaginary factory.” Axel Aubert/Guillaume Nicollet, creative directors; Made in Labs, client. 5. “To
promote the adidas Deerupt sneaker in Europe, we created a VR experience that served as a central installation. This production is an interactive interpre-
tation of the main grid pattern on the sneaker.” Guillaume Nicollet/Axel Aubert, creative directors; adidas, client.

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 INSIGHTS
Erin Hoffman-John
Building Game Worlds

For Erin Hoffman-John, games can be hard work. After all, it’s no
easy feat to craft a world rich with emotion, rules, art and char-
acters that both delights and challenges a community of players.
Since entering into the realm of game design in the late ’90s, when
she began working as an assistant world-builder on the medieval
fantasy game DragonRealms, she’s led design at GlassLab, a nonprofit
studio that developed educational games, and has helped produce
titles including Kung Fu Panda World and Doki-Doki Universe. A true
storyteller, Hoffman-John’s world-building is not limited to screens.
She also spins stories from words, having penned the Chaos Knight
fantasy series, published by Pyr. Currently, she is a lead prototyper
and game designer at Google and the creative lead at Sense of
Wonder, an indie maker of games with a social mission. She works
so that others may venture beyond newly opened doors. —Esther Oh

How did you find your passion for game design
and learn the necessary skills? I started out with
play-by-email role-playing on America Online
as a teenager in the mid-’90s and decided to
create my own group. This involved what I now
recognize as game design: world creation, rules
creation and community management. One of
my players introduced me to a text-based game
called GemStone, made by game development company
Simutronics. I didn’t like GemStone, but I did get enthralled by a spin-
off called DragonRealms. I played enough of that game to more or less
master it, though I never level capped, and was then hired as an
assistant game designer—a common thing with online games at the
time was to pull from the player base for new hires. This was mostly
a hobby, but I did it throughout college, and it allowed me to have
a slow, steady, project-oriented apprenticeship in game development.
How does fiction writing feed the work you do as a game designer?
Storytellers have different language for what we understand to be
engagement structures in user experience. These structures have
their roots in human psychology and so translate across disciplines.
Most of it is subconscious, but when you have strong training in
storytelling—whether through apprenticeship or formal instruction—
you develop instincts for the kinds of things that generate drama,
surprise, intrigue and wonder. Things like foreshadowing and reversal
have direct analogues in game design because they are “deep
psychology”—and because human beings experience life as a linear
story, even if they are engaging with a machine or system. Fiction
and storytelling help me stay grounded in the player’s moment-to-
moment experience and in things like the deeper themes, the core
psychology of what will draw a person to a kind of experience.
What conversations would you like to see the game industry
having? I would like to hear more about how to create games for
people who aren’t currently part of the game-playing community. The
industry itself has been in an inward-turning cycle. What usually
happens is the market wants to fund things it thinks already work,
which usually means making more games for people who already play
a lot of games. I’m interested in the makers of games pushing outward
against that and broadening the field, bringing in more kinds of
players. There are so many things we haven’t made games about
yet, and so many people who could be making games if we would
bring them in.
What monetization models are gaining popularity in the game
industry? The industry is very large, and the monetization models
vary depending on what subset you’re thinking about. I do think there
has been a growing realization that just selling $40 or $60 of software
and calling it a day is no longer enough in the most commercial parts
of the industry. Downloadable content extensions have been part of
that reality for quite a while, and free-to-play is maturing into more

184 Interactive Annual 2019

dedicated player bases, where vanity add-ons and seasonal content
yield a greater long-term profit than the single sale.
I will say that I think a lot of the way we think about this is very anti-
player—the notion of “monetization” itself suggests that “monetizing”
is something that happens to a player, which is fairly antihuman,
and we talk about “lifetime value” rather than giving continual value
to a player such that they want to buy things from us. “Monetization”
as a field in games is still immature philosophically.
How is the rise of streaming impacting the industry? Streaming is
having a dramatic effect, and the way it is yielding new avenues for
experience design is very delightful to me. I’m an introvert and an
“active” media type, so neither the performer/streamer role or the
audience is something I naturally connect with, but I definitely
understand them as new roles in the space of massively multiplayer
archetypes, which is exciting. Similar dynamics emerge in massively
multiplayer online games (MMOs)—emergent communities, dynamic
influence and rapid information transfer. I love that stuff, and stream-
ing in a way turns every game into an MMO at least in terms of creating
communities and repeat engagement.
What is the most exciting game world you’ve experienced
recently? The thing that leaps to mind is still Pokémon Go, only because
of the way it so effectively creates another world on top of our own
and the way it galvanizes a new generation toward an IP I quite like.
I like this question because I read fiction and play games primarily for
their worlds—I’m fond of new ones. In more recent games, I will say
I’m consistently fond of the worlds created by video game developer
Lucas Pope, who recently released his second solo game, Return of the
Obra Dinn. I don’t necessarily want to live in those worlds, but I greatly
admire their execution and uniqueness.
What excites you about storytelling today? Storytelling and games
have never been so blended as they are today. The rise of successful
visual novel and choice-based story games on mobile is very exciting
to me because it’s among my favorite game styles—text-based,
language-based—and it seems to be really finding a market. These
things tend to wax and wane, but if there becomes a large, sustainable
market for that kind of game, it will be very exciting for storytellers,
especially given the decline of the paper book market. I only wish I had
less screen fatigue. I find myself reading older books for that reason,
and also for fiction study.
What advice do you have for a game designer who’s just starting
out? Make small games, finish them and publish them. A completed
board game that you play with your friends, with an eye for how to
make it better, is worth ten 100-page design documents—but do not
ever write a 100-page design document. This is in some ways enor-
mously hypocritical of me to say because I don’t make board games,
but I had the advantage of a creation space with players that I’m not
sure exists anymore. I would also say to cultivate critical thinking
about games. Read scholarly work about games—Caillois, Huizinga,
Bogost, Flanagan—as well as the practical—Fullerton, Schell, Koster.
Take it slow. It’s hard work, but it’s worth it. ca
Communication Arts | commarts.com 185
 Hacking
Product
Design
Critical Theory and A Guide to
Designing
Interaction Design Products for
Startups
Edited by Jeffrey Bardzell, Shaowen Bardzell
and Mark Blythe By Tony Jing
Hardcover, 840 pages, $90 The world of
Published by The MIT Press
mitpress.mit.edu tech startups
can seem like
The term critical theory refers to a strange factory
a collection of schools of philosophy in pumping out ever sleeker products. In
academia that can and do get applied to Hacking Product Design: A Guide to Designing
many things—from these emerged Products for Startups, product designer and
important ideas such as feminism and Medium writer Tony Jing guides readers on
postcolonialism. In Critical Theory and a tour of the general inner workings of tech
Interaction Design, editors Jeffrey Bardzell, companies both big and small. Written in
Shaowen Bardzell and Mark Blythe have assembled 40 essays from an array of philoso- an efficient manner befitting a book with
phers—from Umberto Eco to Slavoj Žižek—that apply critical theory to interaction design. the word hacking in its title, this guide high-
lights the soft skills that can help designers
I’ll be honest: This book is not an easy read. It is not a particularly light read, either, succeed in the industry, unveiling how to
nor is it, at 840 pages, particularly light. It is going to make you, brave interaction work with engineers, design in the context
designer, question yourself. Are your creations truly making a difference? Critical Theory of culture, evaluate a new product and more.
and Interaction Design will just as likely bruise your motivation to work on valueless 116 pages, softcover, $32.99, Apress.
apps as it will bruise your foot if you drop it. —Michelle Yee
But hear me out: this book is a necessary read. While many essays do not relate to
interaction design directly, there are several that excellently bridge the gap between
concept and application. For example, in “Performing Interaction Design with Judith Playing
Butler,” Ann Light, who is a professor at Northumbria University’s School of Design, Smart
writes on how, after reading Butler’s theories on gender construction, she better On Games,
Intelligence,
understands why users might reject narrow definitions of gender embedded in computer and Artificial
operations. How can you improve your approach to solving the world’s problems not Intelligence
only from a technological standpoint, but also from a philosophical standpoint? Critical By Julian Togelius
theory will only help you Are games the
design more effectively. future of artificial
—Michael Coyne intelligence (AI)?
Is AI the future
of games? Can
games and AI for games help us understand
intelligence? Yes, yes and yes, argues Julian
Togelius in Playing Smart. Writing for an
audience that does not have master’s
degrees in computer science, he simplifies
such basics as how neural networks and
evolutionary algorithms work so readers
can grasp the importance of AI for game
design, and vice versa. Perhaps the most
fascinating question Togelius broaches is:
What is intelligence, and thus, artificial
intelligence? Long after the last page, this
question will linger, along with a strong
urge to play games and learn. 192 pages,
hardcover, $21.95, The MIT Press. —Esther Oh

186 Interactive Annual 2019

 Browsers, Devices, implement hosted fonts from Typekit (now Adobe Fonts), under-

and Fonts stand file formats, optimize images, analyze page performance,
work with breakpoints and much more. Although code snippets
A Designer’s Guide to are provided, you will need to have some familiarity with writing
Fonts and How They HTML and CSS and implementing code. There is also a multitude
Function on the Web of software tool options, and personal tips, so it may take you
By Gary Rozanc a while to meld all this advice into a workflow that’s right for you. If
Softcover, 196 pages, $59.95 you know code and want to evaluate fonts on the page in order to
Published by CRC Press make better design
crcpress.com
decisions, this
As a designer, it’s not an easy job book suffices.
to extend visual standards for —Rachel Elnar
typography across multiple mediums
and specify them for web applications. Browsers, Devices, and Fonts:
A Designer’s Guide to Fonts and How They Function on the Web by Gary
Rozanc attempts to help with this task. The book doesn’t cover the
fundamental aspects of type design and screen reading, nor the best
design practices for typography on the page; it’s more of a guide
that walks you through how to put fonts on a web page and get
them to display correctly. It gives you what you need to let you make
the typographic decisions that inform a design system and then
hand your work off to a developer confidently.
Much of the book is highly technical and gets into the nitty-gritty
right away. It covers how to set up a device lab, work with CodePen,

Conversational Like a pleasant conversation with a helpful coworker, Hall’s writing

Design flows with guidance, examples and humor. Her recommendation

to read poems for their fresh language is lovely, and her list of
By Erika Hall; foreword by John Maeda
“avoidably ugly words” should be hung up and expanded. Conversa-
Softcover, 130 pages, $21
Published by A Book Apart tional Design will come as a welcome balm if you’re struck speechless
abookapart.com at the thought of leaping into this new world of machines that
Chatbots and virtual assistants are sound like humans. Because, as Hall writes, “there is no next big
popping up everywhere these days. thing, only the next step in an unfolding story of how people use
When designed well, conversational technology to be
interactions can be natural, quick more themselves.” 
and even delightful. But when —E.O.
designed poorly, not even the most
breezily written responses can
conceal the screech of the underlying digital machinery. Just
because it talks like a human or texts like a human doesn’t mean
that it’s truly human-centered design.
Erika Hall reminds us of this in Conversational Design. She reaches
beyond the gleam of conversational interfaces by digging deep into
the heart of what it means to be human. You’ll gain a newfound
appreciation for human language as Hall outlines the core principles
of conversation—for instance, providing just enough information
and being polite—which she translates into design principles for
human-computer interaction. Hall also digs into how to develop
an appropriate personality for your product or service, and shares
tips that will help your design team escape hierarchy and reams of
documentation to work in a more conversational—namely,
collaborative and immediate—manner.

Communication Arts | commarts.com 187

 INDEX TO INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25
a
A-Trak & YehMe2 138
Addison, Bray 164
Adobe 134
The Adventure Group Whistler
Aguilo, Jamie 116
Akufen 112
Alter Ego 136
Amazon 158
Amiot, Louis 126
Anderson, Derek 164
Andres, Karen 104
Aparato 110
AQuest, AQlab 132
Arasin, Chris 114
Araujo, Vinicius 110
Arenstein, Scott 104
Arshad, Khizra 136
Assembly 124
Atwell, Chelsea 120
Aylward, Brynna 150
Ayres, James 130
b
Bacardí 138
Baillie, Geoff 140
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
146
Barcia-Colombo, Gabriel 170
Barnes, Matt 124
Barrett, Andrea 136
Bartholomew, Elan 134
Barton, Mitchell 134
Bashash, Sonia 142
Baskin, Adam 144, 158
Bass, Sarah 142
BBDO New York 138
BBDO Studios 138
Bedard, Annie 110
Belina, Adrian 142
Bernardi, Andrew 136
Berringer, Sean 150
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design
176
Bittner, Kirby 104
Blackwell, Justin 104
Bluecadet 114
Boccio, Kate 142
Bodge, Mike 150
Boer, Danilo 138
Bogdanow, Maya 114
Bonaccorsi, Putra 114
Bonagura, Tori 134
Bone, Clare 124
Bonomi, Silmo 142
Bories, Emmanuelle 126
Breighner, Mike 142
Briaux, Romain 116
Bro, Taylor 158
Brown, Lauren 150
Bundock, Jake 140
Butka, Lucy 150
Butler, Luke 138
188 Interactive Annual 2019
c
Callif, Dustin 144, 158
Canada, Dane 150
Casalena, Anthony 106
f
Facebook 142
Fane, Dave 124
Fardeau, Corentin 120
154 Casey, Rebecca 124 Fardin, Shalta 136
Cha, Christine 106 Farquhar, Meg 150
Chan, Colin 104 Farrell, Patrick 164
Chang, Jean 158 Fash, Kendall 150
Choi, Jaehyuk 150 FCB New Zealand 124
Christian, Melissa 164 FCB/SIX 136
Ciesielski, Jacob 136 Ferens, Sarah-Jane 124
Ciolino, Skylr 104 Fernandez, Renato 144
Clark, Christian 142 Fischer, Kelly 162
Clark, Derek 162 Flare 150
Clewett, Tony 124 Fleet, Molly 158
Clutcher, Jamin 150 Flores, Carlos 138
Cobler, Casey 150 Flores, John 110
Cohn & Wolfe 142 FlyteVu 162
Cook, Andrea 136 Ford, Charlotte 142
Cooper, Brian 150 Fourt-Wells, Josh 124
Cooper, Jason 162 Franceschini, Alessandro 132
Coppeto, Marco 116 Frantz, Cameron 158
Cowboy 116 Fraser, Alistair 124
Crawford, Sean 110 Fuller, Alex 134
Crispin Porter Bogusky 108 Fuller, Sarah 146
Crociani, Cinzia 150 Fung, John 136
Cummings, Chris 138 Furse, Chris 142
g
Cummings, Kyle 134
d
Galloway, Kyla 140
Davey, Megan 162 Galloway, Lennie 124
Davis, Scott 130
Gardiner, Cecilia 124
Dean, James 124
Gardner, Kimball 134
Deegan, Liz 150
Garmey, Kristen 164
Deeplocal 148, 152
Gentile, Michael 138
Delaney, Joseph 120
George, Rafi 142
Denton, Mars 162
Gies, Larry 150
DesLauriers, Matt 110
Gilad, Amitay 176
Dibble, Lena 134
Gilbertz, Sarah 142
DICK’S Sporting Goods 164 Giovanni, Celine 124
Dietrick, Jason 126 Gladeye 118
Ditchman, Amy 150
Gledhill, Thomas 124
Dodd, Phill 110
Glennon, Wyatt 114
Domino’s 108 Godoy, Marcos 124
Dore, Emily 164 Godsey, John 162, 164
Dore, Oliver 130 Goldblum, Josh 114
Doubleday, Jenni 124 Goldstein, Mark 120
Downing, Ethan 162 Google 152, 160
Drees, Ursula 168 Google Arts and Culture 156
Dubrick, Mike 140 Google Creative Lab 156, 160
Duncan, Damon 124 Goretti, Tanguy 116
Dupree, Cindy 162 Graham, Elliott 142
Dynkin, Ksenia 114 Grais, Ian 140
Dysinski, Tomasz 110 Grayson Matthews 110, 136
e
Greenawalt, Nick 114
Greenberg, Joshua 144, 158
Eckel, Ryan 164 Greene, Sula 110
Elimeliah, Craig 142 Guest, Jon 128
Elliot, Gabrielle 140 Gustavson, Steve 134
EnChroma 162
Endeavor 164
Energy BBDO 150
Evanson, Aaron 164 h
Hacohen, Nancy 144, 158
Hahn, Greg 138
Halcomb, Will 120
Hammer, Jillian 114
Handler, Sofia 138
Hanify, Janina 124
Hann, Lindsay 136
Hardin, Nikki 162
Haworth Marketing + Media 164
Hawthorne, Ryan 158
Hechinger, Nancy 166
Hello Design 104
Heyd & Seek Inc. 140
Higson, Ness 106
Hill, Craig 110
Himeno, Hajime 104
Hirsch, Markus 168
Hochadel, Melissa 172
Hochschule der Medien 168
Hollings, Pirihira 124
Holtby, Joel 140
Hsu, Jonathan 138
HuffPost 118
Hummel, Camila 150
Hwang, Hayeon 170
Hyphen-Labs 150
i
Igoe, Tom 170
j
James, Malia 138
Jam3 110, 142
Jardim, Gabriel 142
Jardine, Chusy 162
Jemas, Betsy 162
Jensen, Luke 134
Joiner, Erich 144
Jones, Chris 142
Juip, Kari 134
Juli, Alejandro 150
k
Kaiser, Jack 172
Kansas Castings 164
Kapadia, Harsh 142
Karley, Jason 144
Keenan, Nick 162
Keller, Niels 168
Kemp, Kate 158
Kennedy, Graham 124
Kern, Michael 134
Kilgore, Jill 162
Kim, Andrew 106
Kinney, Michael 164
Kirk, Josh 120
Kirk-Smith, Geoff 124
Kirn, Kai 168
Knecht, Katie 106
Knight, Linda 144
Knott, Erin 150
Koschak, Corban 124
Kotlhar, Marcos 138
Kraft Peanut Butter 140
Krohn, Sarah 150
Ksiazek, Natalie 150
Kuypers, Daniel 150
l
La boîte à pitons 112
Lai, David 104
Laing, Dave 136
Mühr, Maria 168
Mullin, Krystle 136
Murfey, Alyssa 162
Roussilhe, Timothée 106
Rowe, Jr., André 138
Russell, Liz 114
uUeno 116
United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian

n s
Landis, Carissa 158 Affairs 142
LaRoy, Danielle 126 Unzer, Joao 138
Larson, Anna 134 Naeher, Katie 124 Saba, Karim 142 Upjohn-Beatson, Tane 124
Lee, Anh-Thu 144 Namniak, Vadim 110 Sahler, Nick 106 Upperquad 126
Lee, David 106 National Safety Council 150 Salas, Albert 138 Upstate 140
Lee, George 104 Navarro, David 116 Salvatori, Joseph 120 Utting-Moa, Natasha 110

v
Lee, Heung 136 Nelson, Kara 164 Salzman, Allie 150
Legwork Studio 108 Neustroski, Melissa 124 Samuels, Armando 144
Leitz, Ryan 130 New York University, Interactive Sanford, Jonathan 136 Vaisman, Lina 136
Leung, Jen 138 Telecommunications Program Sarney, Carl 124 van der Does, Martijn 122
Levron, Fred 136 166, 170, 174 Schaer, Carrie 158 van Ginkel, Dirk 142
Lim, Duri 142 New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Schicht, Franziska 168 Vandeven, Debbi 142, 162, 164
Lin, Cynthia 142 124 Schmid, Abbie 164 Vanhenden, Wim 144
Liquid Studios 124 Nguyen, Kal 134 Schneider, Valentin 168 Vardy, Laura 140
Logan, Natalie 162 nøcomputer 144 Schooley, Ryan 162 Vassallo, Marie-Angie 142

o
Loica 128 Scovell, Jake 164 Viner, Omer 176
Lubars, David 138 Scoville, Matt 150 Vinh, Hung 150
Ly, James 136 Ólafsson, Arnar 116 SHED 144 Vio, Pablo 110
Lyft 148 O’Neil, Andy 162 Shiina, Ryo 104 Vleugels, Maarten 122

m
O’Neill, Tamara 124 Shirley, Michael 150 VMLY&R 142, 162, 164
Ordóñez, Andrés 150 Shrikhande, Tarini 142 von Trott, Matt 124

w
m ss ng p eces 150 O’Rourke, Brian 144 Siepert, Ryan 144
Mackenzie, Ian 136 Osborn, Madeleine 114 Silva, Ramiro 150
Malik, Nomi 144 Osborne, Andrew 138 Sim, Booker 110 Wagner, Brian 162
Mancini, Manuel 132 Outrider Foundation 114 Simonet, Ryan 162 Walsh, Tucker 150

p
Manco, William 132 Simpson, Bryan 150 Wei, Le 126
Manz, Jason 144 Simpson, Michael 174 Welikesmall 128, 134
Mapp, Steve 158 Patterson, Bill 162 Sirianni, Britney 142 Wellerstein, Alex 114
Marsh, Taylor 138 Pengelly, Nick 124 Skowvron, Jacque 164 Wente, Mike 142
Martin, Chad 164 Percy-Dove, Anna 136 Slaoui, Karim 116 Werner, Marcel 168
Martin, Stephen 162 PFLAG Canada 136 Smith, Adam 172 Whelchel, Rich 142
Masih, Noreen 138 Pham, Amy 172 Smith, Blue 150 Whitaker, Ashley 136
Matheson, Zac 136 Phenix, Heather 110 Smith, Jay 140 Williams, Angela 150
Mathew, Shobin 150 Pierce, Allison 162 Smith, Megan 172 Williamson, Devon 136
May, Rebecca 140 Plan A Films 162 Solomon, Paul 134 Willsey, Amy 162
Mayne, Pip 124 Pleckaitis, Kristy 136 Sommerville, Andrew 150 Wilson, Matt 124
McDonald, Sean 140 Pompougnac, Gauthier 110 Song, Yeseul 166, 174 Wilson, Scotty 124
McDonald-Shaw, Shirleyanne 124 Pratt, John 150 Souter, Josh 134 Winfield, Sam 114
McKeich, Hamish 124 Pratt, Nekasha 162 Speakman, Craig 124 Wise, Freddie 164
McKinnell, Jonathan 142 Priddy, Ben 144 Squarespace 106 Wolf, Josh 142
McKinzie, Sten 172 Production Bulles 112 St. Hilaire, Sara 104 Wonderland 122
McNary, Matt 164 Purdy, Charlotte 110 Staples, Chris 140 Wong, Benson 110

q
Meidell, Travis 158 Starkman, Aaron 140 Work & Co 130
Meilgaard, Andrea 120 Steve Wilson 112 Write On 134

y
Mengin, Steven 110 Quann, Liz 114 Stewart, Joe 130
Mercurio, Solomon 172 Stolk-Ramaker, Patrick 136

r
Mesa, Alejandro 110 Streeb, Kent 162 Yang, Andrew 136
The Mill 150 Ramaswamy, Mohan 130 Stronge, Elliot 124 Yankowich, Riley 172
Millison, Julia 138 Ramirez, Chris 106 Sullivan, Gary 124 Yarian, Caleb 130

t
Minerva, Fabio 132 Ranawake, Madara 136 Yates, John 106
Ministry of Education 124 Rapha Racing Limited 130 Yin Mak, Kwok 116
Minnis, Grant 164 Ray, Erin 110 Taylor, Piripi 124 Yin, Mimi 174
Mistry, Rikesh 172 Rayback, Matthew 134 TBWA\Chiat\Day 144 Yoozoo 112

Mitsubishi Electric 128
Mok, James 124
Moment Factory 146, 154
Montague, Stephen 134
Monteiro, Guto 142
Monteiro, Marco 144
Montgomery, Phil 144
Monzon, Mitch 150
Moore, Calum 110
Morel, Jose 120
Morgan, Adam 134
Morgan, Julian 140
Morris, Aaron 110, 142
Morrison, Gillian 136
Morrison, Luke 150
Mountain, Tom 140
MRM//McCann 128
Recording Academy 144
Reeves, Anthony 158
Resenterra, Michele 132
Rethink 140
Ribeiro, Andre 106
Richards, Ayla 106
Rioux, Laura 140
Roberts, Charlton 106
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rock Paper Scissors 144
Rogers, Katie 162
Rogue Productions 110
Rolfe, David 138
Roose, Adrien 116
Rosen, Kevin 128
Rosenblum, Molly 120
Rosser, Amélie 110
z
Tenhunen, Jonathan 168
Tennessee Department of Tourist
Development 162
Terpstra, Seth 130
Thomas, Lauren 130
Thursby, Stuart 136
Tillamook 104
Tomasiewicz, Patrick 138
172 Tomasso, Patrick 140
Tool of North America 144, 158
Trento, Giovanni 132
Triplett, Kevin 162
Trivedi, Meet 104
Twins, Les 138
Zambanello, Ivan 132
Zardini, Valentina 132
Zero Studios 120
Editor’s Note
Every effort has been made to
ensure that the credits comply
with information supplied to us.
If, for any reason, a misspelling,
omission or other error has
occurred, notify us within 30
days and we will be able to
issue corrected award certificates.

Communication Arts | commarts.com 189

 “Training algorithms “Design is only
to make qualitative 50 percent
decisions usually design. The rest
makes me uneasy.” is herding cats.”
Gretchen Anderson, via Twitter Kim Goodwin

“Don’t be so hard on yourself if your skills don’t fit “I remember

neatly into a box, especially as a developer with
The future of being able to
a creative sideinteraction
or a designer with a technicaldesign
side.”
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is human.
Marcy Sutton, via CreativeMornings Seattle

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ROBOTS AREN’T DESIGNING WEB LAYOUTS—YET.

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