GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival
Promotional/ Website/ Cultural/ Film/ LGBTQIA/ Identity
2023
2023
GAZE is a queer film festival hosted in the Light House Cinema and Irish Film Institute every summer. Initially formed in 1992 as an underground film club, the festival itself predates the legalisation of homosexuality in Ireland.
GAZE's visual identity is inspired by research into the history of queer resistance in Ireland, riffing on protest posters and underground nightclub leaflets. Rooted in our past but aiming its sights on the future, the design puts shape around that which cannot be contained or defined. Namely, queer joy.
Each year champions a new colour, building a rainbow of programmes as the years progress. The powerful sunlight yellow of 2023 references the rebirth of summer, as we emerged from the pandemic together and set our sights on the future.
GAZE's visual identity is inspired by research into the history of queer resistance in Ireland, riffing on protest posters and underground nightclub leaflets. Rooted in our past but aiming its sights on the future, the design puts shape around that which cannot be contained or defined. Namely, queer joy.
Each year champions a new colour, building a rainbow of programmes as the years progress. The powerful sunlight yellow of 2023 references the rebirth of summer, as we emerged from the pandemic together and set our sights on the future.
Political Material: Publication
Branding/ Book Design/ Research
2022
2022
Political Material is a magazine about the nature of things. Inspired by the work of Harvard Design Magazine and MacGuffin, Political Material is a publication following the story of a specific material and its relationship to the political world. Issue one explores the world of metal, deep diving into the ways that metal acts as a mediator between us and broader systemic issues.
From house keys and mobile phones, to bronze statues and oil rigs, the metal objects of the world spell disaster and hope in equal measure. The accompanying sculptural work explores the topic of hostile architecture, re-contextualising objects and allowing participants to interact with these hostile metal hybrids.
From house keys and mobile phones, to bronze statues and oil rigs, the metal objects of the world spell disaster and hope in equal measure. The accompanying sculptural work explores the topic of hostile architecture, re-contextualising objects and allowing participants to interact with these hostile metal hybrids.
Daily Metaverse Newspaper
Publication/ Speculative Design/ Tech Ethics/ Identity
2023
2023
This collaborative publication highlights a selection of articles on the theme of utopian and dystopian futures. Deep diving into the future implications of the metaverse, the piece is a speculative newspaper describing the best and worst case scenarios for the future of work.
The publication is reversible, with two ‘sister’ covers which riff on the theme of utopia and dytopia. The red cover utlises elements of glitch, and follows the design principles of a tabloid newspaper with a bold sans serif. The purple cover emulates a broad-sheet, with opposing serif fonts and a more subdued colour pallete.
What does it mean for technology to deserve our trust? And what do clients need to do to build it?
These are the driving question behind the interactive game Trust Fall. Trust Fall is about pinpointing a company’s strengths and identifying any vulnerabilities when it comes to establishing and maintaining organizational trust.
Inspired by KerPlunk, a game of dexterity in which a collection of marbles is held in place by a nest of straws, this giant version asks players to consider a piece of technology, such as a product or service, and explore the gravity of earning or losing trust.
Answering rapid-fire questions on organizational policy, design and public perception, players see the collection of balls as a representation of their users’ trust, and the sticks holding them in place as core tenets of creating and safeguarding trust.
In a safe, playful environment, players are asked a selection of questions on the four foundations of trust in technology: Data Protection, Ethics, Inclusivity and Transparency. With each answer, players either remove certain sticks or leave them in place, seeing whether the balls are threatened, fall through emerging gaps, or spell downfall.
At the game’s conclusion, you get a review of your processes to help fortify success or address issues. Because, in real life, you rarely get a second go.
These are the driving question behind the interactive game Trust Fall. Trust Fall is about pinpointing a company’s strengths and identifying any vulnerabilities when it comes to establishing and maintaining organizational trust.
Inspired by KerPlunk, a game of dexterity in which a collection of marbles is held in place by a nest of straws, this giant version asks players to consider a piece of technology, such as a product or service, and explore the gravity of earning or losing trust.
Answering rapid-fire questions on organizational policy, design and public perception, players see the collection of balls as a representation of their users’ trust, and the sticks holding them in place as core tenets of creating and safeguarding trust.
In a safe, playful environment, players are asked a selection of questions on the four foundations of trust in technology: Data Protection, Ethics, Inclusivity and Transparency. With each answer, players either remove certain sticks or leave them in place, seeing whether the balls are threatened, fall through emerging gaps, or spell downfall.
At the game’s conclusion, you get a review of your processes to help fortify success or address issues. Because, in real life, you rarely get a second go.
Political Material: Experience Design
Experience Design/ Exhibition/ Sculptural/ Speculative Design
2022
2022
Alongside my publication Political Material, I set out to explore the realm of sculpture & experience design. My two pieces, ‘The Hot Seat’ and ‘Silver Touch’ are the results of this exploration.
The Hot Seat
The streetscape has been designed with pain built in, with sharp corners and metal forms, mediating our urban spaces and pushing us to behave in certain ways. Barbed wire that traces the empty lots of abandoned houses, the uncomfortable ridges of park benches, and padlocked alleyways that close after dark. Built on the presumption of a home to go back to, our urban spaces are not fit for purpose. But what might happen if we flip convention on its head, and make the home a hostile space.
In 1969 the radical Superstudio designed and built the Quaderna table. Its form was simple, with straight edges and a geometric cubed design on its surface. However, the studio turned this simple object into a ground breaking experiment by using it in unique ways. Placing the desk in the middle of a field, or under an oak tree, the desk came to represent a movement towards a new work-life balance. If a desk can be brought anywhere, then so too can our work. It begs the question, why do we settle for anaemic office spaces when nature lies just out of reach?
The Quaderna table still has relevance today, in the wake of the Covid pandemic and the work-from-home movement, corporations have begun their campaign to get us back into the office, even in the face of waning public support for the practice. The Quaderna table asks us to question the very nature of work itself, and what the future might hold for the antiquated office space. Inspired by the work of Superstudio and their radical desk, I set out to re-contextualise my desk chair to become a hostile object.
‘The Hot Seat’ is my exploration upon this theme, lined with solid aluminium, cold to the touch with sharp corners and uncomfortable ridges. This piece is designed to be a painful experience, forcing us to question the nature of our urban spaces. The streetscape should be a comforting environment, it should welcome us in with open arms. The Hot Desk is an attempt to redefine what comfort means, and the ways in which our urban spaces are constructed.
Silver Touch
Silver Touch is a sculpture about interaction, built from alluminium sheets and fastened to a silver frame, the piece asks its audience to stand on either side and touch each other. On one hand, the task is impossible, with milimeters of metal preventing any direct contact, instead the audience is forced to use the sculpture as a tool of interaction, pushing and pulling on the surface as they attempt to push their hands together. In the interaction that takes place, I hope to pose questions about the nature of metal as a mediating force for human contact.
Often cold and harsh, metal is relegated to the cruelty of architecture or the violence of industrial forms. Rarely is metal utilised to foster human conntection and engagement. Perhaps once the piece is littered with fingerprints and moulded to the form of hands, we can begin to understand that metal itself is not inhumane, or cruel, but the ways it is utilised in our built environmeent is. Metal is a tool, inhabiting the will of those who seek to control it, but it can just as easily be a force for good, as much as evil.
The Hot Seat
The streetscape has been designed with pain built in, with sharp corners and metal forms, mediating our urban spaces and pushing us to behave in certain ways. Barbed wire that traces the empty lots of abandoned houses, the uncomfortable ridges of park benches, and padlocked alleyways that close after dark. Built on the presumption of a home to go back to, our urban spaces are not fit for purpose. But what might happen if we flip convention on its head, and make the home a hostile space.
In 1969 the radical Superstudio designed and built the Quaderna table. Its form was simple, with straight edges and a geometric cubed design on its surface. However, the studio turned this simple object into a ground breaking experiment by using it in unique ways. Placing the desk in the middle of a field, or under an oak tree, the desk came to represent a movement towards a new work-life balance. If a desk can be brought anywhere, then so too can our work. It begs the question, why do we settle for anaemic office spaces when nature lies just out of reach?
The Quaderna table still has relevance today, in the wake of the Covid pandemic and the work-from-home movement, corporations have begun their campaign to get us back into the office, even in the face of waning public support for the practice. The Quaderna table asks us to question the very nature of work itself, and what the future might hold for the antiquated office space. Inspired by the work of Superstudio and their radical desk, I set out to re-contextualise my desk chair to become a hostile object.
‘The Hot Seat’ is my exploration upon this theme, lined with solid aluminium, cold to the touch with sharp corners and uncomfortable ridges. This piece is designed to be a painful experience, forcing us to question the nature of our urban spaces. The streetscape should be a comforting environment, it should welcome us in with open arms. The Hot Desk is an attempt to redefine what comfort means, and the ways in which our urban spaces are constructed.
Silver Touch
Silver Touch is a sculpture about interaction, built from alluminium sheets and fastened to a silver frame, the piece asks its audience to stand on either side and touch each other. On one hand, the task is impossible, with milimeters of metal preventing any direct contact, instead the audience is forced to use the sculpture as a tool of interaction, pushing and pulling on the surface as they attempt to push their hands together. In the interaction that takes place, I hope to pose questions about the nature of metal as a mediating force for human contact.
Often cold and harsh, metal is relegated to the cruelty of architecture or the violence of industrial forms. Rarely is metal utilised to foster human conntection and engagement. Perhaps once the piece is littered with fingerprints and moulded to the form of hands, we can begin to understand that metal itself is not inhumane, or cruel, but the ways it is utilised in our built environmeent is. Metal is a tool, inhabiting the will of those who seek to control it, but it can just as easily be a force for good, as much as evil.