I worked extensively on a range of design projects for the international recording artist K'NAAN on behalf of his management company Direct Current Media and his record label A&M Octone Records – the home of Maroon 5.
Spanning the development, release and worldwide success of his sophomore album 'TROUBADOUR', I designed K'NAAN's album art and tour merchandise as well 2 viral music videos, which have amassed over 350,000 hits on Youtube collectively.
In 2010, after K'NAAN's track 'Waving Flag' became the official Coca-Cola World Cup anthem, I was contracted by Coke to reinterpret my original cover art for their global marketing campaign. As part of the campaign, the song was localized into 20 different versions reaching every continent on Earth, including 'local' variations of the digital album cover. The single went on tour in over 50 countries, charted at number 1 in many, and sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
I worked as an art director for the globally broadcasted TV series '4REAL'. The show featured celebrities such as Cameron Diaz, Joaquin Pheonix and Eva Mendes venturing into remote parts of the world to meet local leaders who were having a powerful social impact on their under-served communities.
Spanning the development, release and worldwide acclaim of the series, I designed the online and offline identity assets, the DVD artwork and packaging, event collateral and promotional materials as well as merchandise for the series.
The show was developed by Direct Current Media in partnership with CTV and MTV Canada, and syndicated by National Geographic and broadcast in 166 countries in 35 languages.
Working with International Arts Music Group and Her Royal Majesty Records, I designed the complete album art and packaging for Canadian music icon Bif Naked for her album 'The Promise'.
As she was coming off a long hiatus from the industry, I met with Bif and her record label and explored various creative directions for her return album. Ultimately we implemented an art direction that expressed her edge, powerful, and inner beauty.
I was also commissioned to direct a viral video for her single 'King of Karma'. Capturing the tragic love story at the heart of the song along with her new image, I sought out to make a video unlike anything in her entire catalog. The video amassed nearly 100,000 hits on Youtube and was featured in several online magazines.
I work as the creative director and lead designer of Temple of Ruin – a mens fine jewelry line. Alongside my wife Mona Aziz, this project represents a concept-to-market effort in which I directed the brand concept, the product design, manufacture, and packaging as well as the editorial art direction, photo styling, graphic art, and web design.
Temple of Ruin is a concept brand which portrays an esoteric mystique through unique limited edition jewelry pieces created in silver, gold, black diamonds and other precious gems. The line was launched in 2015, and continues to expand.
Edgeworth Properties was a property investment company which sold land banking equities globally, from the energy corridor in Alberta, Canada. I was contracted by them to create a interactive investment presentation, since they previously lacked a standardized presentation asset for their agents to use in securing investments.
Over the course of the project, I worked closely with the Vice President of Marketing to develop an animated video presentation, which could be interactively controlled like a website. This became a powerful tool in the hands of Edgeworth's equities team. They became one of the fastest growing companies in Canada at that time, grossing over 90 million dollars in their first year of business.
I was commissioned by the Basscoast Music Festival to create a unique video installation in their inaugural dome stage in 2013. We set up a 3 projector video mapping, featuring original video animations mapped onto panels of the geodesic dome as well as 3D spire structures in the space. The installation created a dynamic video environment and stage setting for top tier electronic music talent from around the world.
In 2014, I was commissioned to create a projection installation for the TED PRIZE Gala in Vancouver. I directed the design of a 3D animation that whimsically showed a Rube Goldberg machine fabricating Ted Prize trophies through an assembly line of industrial processes. The animation was projection mapped onto the architecture at Montauk Furniture, to appear as a virtual extension of the physical room.
Then in 2015, in conjunction with Invoke, Summit Series and Fortune Sound, I art directed a series of after-conference events featuring a showcase of interactive projection art from myself, and local artists Mark Nazemi and Karl Simmons. We transformed a gutted industrial space in Chinatown into a dynamic video environment using projection mapping techniques, and hosted hundreds of TED conference attendees as well as world class musical acts such as Jon Batiste & Stay Human.
Science of Self is a global lifestyle meditation project which fuses technology with meditation, through a mobile app. The project presents powerful meditation techniques through accessible programs featuring world class sound design and visual animations.
As a consultant and creative partner, I work as a creative director within the scope of this project. I direct critical aspects of the identity creation, art direction of visual animations, sound design, web and graphic art, business strategy and technology integration.
As part of this project, I am also responsible for leading the initiative to incorporate the meditation programs into fully immersive multimedia dome shows, which will premiere across Canada in 2016. These shows present a guided meditation experience, with 360˚ visuals and surround sound in a planetarium dome environment.
