I took the key phrases identified by the OTTO team and used those to start the layering. Since night is associated with dreaming (and nightmares), I added interpretations of dream imagery and a general haze to the pieces as well. Imagery that fades in and out of reality.

The content was based on the phrases and dream-like imagery, human figures, faces and, of course, typography.

The trick was to make the content cross over from layer to layer, what gets hidden under a specific light gel and what gets revealed. I rely on happy accidents as well, makes it more interesting and fluid when you are not always sure what will happen.

‍

So from the beginning of this project, the challenge was how to use paper in an unexpected way that shows off the versatility as well as a compelling piece that would engage people at the conference. Since Invisible ink was not going to work, we had to think of something that kept that essence. When I was young, I had a game ($100,000 Pyramid I think it was) and it came with a little piece of red gel and cards with cyan X patterns, when you slid the gel over the card, it would “cancel out” the cyan and reveal something underneath. More recently a similar thing was done for the cover of a Stefan Sagmeister book. We thought this was the best way to preserve the original intent and concept. The challenge was working on essentially 3 different files simultaneously but on one screen. I had 3 pairs of gel “glasses”— red, green and blue. I would work on one section with the lights off wearing the red glasses (which would cancel out some colors and allow me to adjust, add or manipulate the art) and then put on the green, then blue, allowing me to see different art on the same file. It was a time consuming process, not to mention the file size. As it was a tunnel people walked through, the file was built to size. For the actual final piece, instead of gels, we used theater lighting in the RGB spectrum. I think it was very successful.

I read the brief—the better the brief (this one was spot on), the better the outcome. Also, having experience with trade shows and knowing the idea was to get people in the design industry to interact with the booth, it had to draw them in. Touching on the fears creatives have, mixing it with a tunnel and throwing some lights on it, what better way? I lived the brief since it kept me up at night.

Working wearing the glasses and tweaking to make parts disappear under different colors, then hoping it would translate to the theater lighting. Getting the colors right was tricky but part of the fun.

Of course it all went to plan with no hiccups whatsoever… 😉

Yes, I started as an illustrator and always incorporated typography into my work. I naturally fell into doing a lot of design because of it and now create a hybrid of design and art in what I do.

Music is a huge influence for me. That, and history, art, the world, as well as travel. I am a huge fan of Sigmar Polke, Mark Rothko, Rauschenberg, Vaughan Oliver, Simon Larbalestier, Chris Bigg and Nigel Grierson to name a few visual artists and graphics designers.

See above. Also I have a collection of ephemera, textures, photographs and drawings that I collect and use in my work.

Does it answer on the brief, does it draw the viewer in, and do they see what I am asking them to see.

I think it was received well, looked like people had fun with it and took the promotional pieces. I do not know if their sales went up but it made an impression.

It did, but most likely, I would have been up anyway.