What's new:
September 2, 2011, marked the centennial of the birth of Romare Bearden and the beginning of a year-long Bearden celebration. The Studio Museum in Harlem initiated The Bearden Project and asked OCD to create the exhibit graphics and microsite: thebeardenproject.studiomuseum.org.
Hundreds of New Yorkers submitted their ideas for making New York better and "subway signage is confusing" is the one that drove OCD's design brief for GOOD's Design New York City event at Urban Design Week. We proposed three solutions: GPS wayfinding with feedback loop, station mapping and First Car, a tourist attraction underground. And FastCo Design reported on the whole thing: fastcodesign.com.
These are the projects we "envied" most :
The Phoenix Community Garden in Brownsville, Brooklyn, was a vacant lot until 2007. The community reclaimed the space and now uses it to plant beans, corn, collards, cabbage, tomatoes, zucchini, herbs and callaloo. They harvest rainwater and solar energy and they produce nearly 2,000 pounds of produce annually. There's so much happening at Fulton and Rockaway Avenue that the gardeners needed a signage system to get the word out. Eat. Grow. Love.
Partner:
Jennifer Kinon is a founding partner of OCD. She is also a faculty member of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design Program and serves as the president of AIGA/NY.
Kinon most recently worked as a designer for Michael Bierut at Pentagram in New York City. Her work with Pentagram has won awards from the D&AD, AIGA365, Type Directors Club, ID Magazine, Communication Arts and Print. It has also been included in the permanent collection at the Museum of Sex.
Prior to joining Pentagram, Kinon was design director of New York City's 2012 Olympic Bid and art director for Graphis Inc.
She graduated from the University of Michigan, then earned an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. Kinon is the first program graduate to join the faculty.
Partner:
Bobby C. Martin Jr. is a founding partner of OCD.
Martin most recently worked as Senior Design Manager of Visual Communications at Nokia Design in London, where he oversaw communication and identity design across their global packaging range.
Prior to Nokia, he served as design director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. His focus was on developing the brand by visualizing the music.
He also worked at Ogilvy & Mather's Brand Innovation Group (BIG) with clients that include NYC2012, CNN, Coca-Cola, Fanta, Dupont, Hellmann's, Hershey's, and the Miller Brewing Company.
Martin has been featured in Fast Company's Masters of Design 2010 and his work has won numerous international awards, as well as a Sappi "Ideas that Matter" Grant for his work for the Abyssinian Baptist Church of Harlem, New York. He has spoken about design at several conferences, served on the Board of Directors of AIGA/NY and has also taught at the School of Visual Arts.
Martin holds a graduate degree from the School of Visual Arts, MFA Design Program, and a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Clients:
AIGA | the professional association for design
Abyssinian Baptist Church
ArtPlace
Ballet Hispanico
Dance Theater of Harlem
Friends of the High Line
Girl Scouts of the USA
Groves Development Group
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Martha Stewart Living
Omnimedia
Museum for African Art
Museum of Sex
NY Sunworks
NYU Reynolds Program
in Social Entrepreneurship
New York City's Bid for
the 2012 Olympic Games
The New York Times
Nokia
North Star Fund
Nucleus
Offficial, Funded Apps
Phoenix Community Gardens
Saks Fifth Avenue
St Bartholomew's Church
Stanton & Co
University of Michigan
Women for Women International
Overview:
The Original Champions of Design is an independent branding and design agency. We take a brand-experience-based approach to all of our projects, which puts you and your audience at the center of all research and design development. Clients work directly with one or both of the partners, who then collaborate with the in-house team as well as a talented and reliable network of specialists to create beautiful, powerful and accessible work in all its forms from signage to digital, print to packaging.
