Hel Grotesk Gothiq Typeface. 2006.

This typeface was born as the bastard love child of Helvetica Neue and Wilhelm Klinspor Gotisch during a tryst they had one sad, desperate night. The calligrapher seduced the industry leader with her curves, elegant vocabulary and hand skills. But the affair was not to last, and though their union was never recounted (Helvetica being one to bury the past), the hidden story of that night lives on in Hel Grotesk Gothiq.

I designed Hel as a critique of the supposed neutrality and authority of Helvetica and the stylistic reappropriations of Blackletter typefaces in contemporary design. A subversive typeface steeped in history and irony.

FREE download of Hel Grotesk Gothiq (OTF).

Hel is an all-caps typeface, and can prove a little difficult to work with on her own. However, her hefty-size and shape works perfectly paired with lowercase Helvetica Neue Black (she’s her daddy’s little girl…).

Launch Images >

I’m very pleased to announce the launch of the new Secret City Records website. This amazing Montreal-based independent record label hosts a small but incredibly talented roster of artists including Patrick Watson, The Go! Team and Plants and Animals. The site design and build was the result of a fruitful collaboration between LOKi design and Delmarr, featuring some very tight css scripting by Chris Desjardins.

We’re still working out a few kinks and getting all the content in place, but please check it out and let us know what you think. Welcome to our little corner of the web, your ears and eyes will thank you…

Critical Engagement Thesis, 2002

In 2002, I wrote and designed this extended essay as part of my Graduate Certificate Degree at Concordia University. Taking cues from literary criticism and political economy, it addresses the interrelation of formal strategies in (graphic) design and their socio-cultural implications, casting a critical eye on design’s central role in fostering a harmful, commodity-based culture.

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For the ninth issue of Four Minutes to Midnight, we sent out a call for submissions with the tentative theme of “conflict and silence” and were happy to receive responses that explored this relationship through personal and autobiographical perspectives. Gathering these together alongside numerous fragments found along the way, the issue was crafted over the course of a year in the margins of our days and nights. It was truly a labour of love to produce and we hope that it shows…

Featuring the work of over 25 contributors, FMTM 9 is filled with 112 pages of radical textual & visual stimulation. Without a doubt, our sexiest issue yet!

The issue will be launched this weekend at lab.synthese, with musical guests Parlovr, Flames! and American Devices. It should be a really great time, so we hope to see you there!

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Pop and Politics Poster Series, 2005

A series of posters designed for the 2005 edition of the Pop and Politics conference, part of the Pop Montreal music festival. Working with my good friend Jay Delmarr, we created a series of bold typographic posters to promote the conference which dealt with wide-ranging issues at the intersection of music and politics. The conference included performances by Saul Williams and K’naan, two of my favourite artists, and having the opportunity to design these posters was an absolute treat.

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Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I’ve watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die…
Rutger Hauer, as Roy Batty, in Blade Runner

Four Minutes to Midnight is a visceral reaction to the encounters between: typography and language, language and culture, culture and politics, politics and fear, fear and love, love and sex, sex and death. Between death and memory, memory and the printed page. In the wake of our sadness, joy, anger and hope. This issue is dedicated to the birds…

True to the expansive definition that introduces this issue of the zine, Issue 8 features the diverse work of over 20 international writers and artists. Some personal highlights include Ralph Dfouni’s personal account of the war in Lebannon, Vincent Tinguely’s polemical poem Oilers, photography by Brigitte Henry, a graphic interpretation of Nadia Myre’s scar project, and of course Fugue 8. With the Fugue, I think we finally articulated the core concept behind the project; composing all the textual fragments and dialogue we’ve shared into a compelling, 28-page typographic epic.

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It’s time to build a new architecture of resistance…
Issue 7 of FMTM was the first issue published out of Montréal in the new (which some call “fancy”) format. Growing out of the concepts developed in my thesis work, but unrestricted by any academic criteria, this issue brings together the work of over 25 artists and writers, remixed, edited and designed by John and myself into a 124 page visual essay on typography, poetry and personal politics.

The issue features a full-colour cover by Abe Burmeister from his Wind Is The Enemy days, and is printed on Strathmore recycled cotton writing paper. Perfect-bound in an edition of 150 hand-numbered copies.

Two years and two issues later, I think it is safe to say our first foray into “radical” self-publishing was quite successful, building a strong community of interest (who knew?) and selling out over the course of the first year. So, if you picked up a copy a some point, thanks!

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While I slowly work on feeding my design work into wordpress, I’ve created a PDF portfolio containing selected projects I’ve worked on over the last few years. You can download it here (it’s 15 MBs though!).

More excitingly for me, I’ve just finished delivering my first class at Concordia University in Experimental Typography. Overall, I was really impressed by my students’ work and enthusiasm for the subject matter. I’ve compiled a small selection of their work into a pdf for presentation purposes. Download it here (2.3 MBs). I’d love to hear what people think, so please get in touch!