Casimir Effect

Beginning in 2010, I was contracted to art direct and design all of the marketing material for the Exploratorium’s annual fundraiser Science of Cocktails.

As befitting the name, this was a gala that encouraged Exploratorium Lab members, donors, and the science-loving public to put their best foot forward and step out for a night of clever cocktail experiments, hands-on science exhibits and boozey grown-up fun in one of San Francisco’s most beloved and endearing institutions.

Each year had a different graphic theme. For 2011, I designed a soaring Diesel-Deco inspired “World of Tomorrow” motif. This was applied across all materials, including advertisements, brochures, tickets, invitations, and custom event signage.

In 2012, we moved forward a bit in history and affected a playful “International” style inspired by mid-century science textbooks and illustrations.

2014 saw the Exploratorium move into its new home in the fully renovated Pier 15 along the Embarcadero. A bright, spacious hall that took advantage of the interplay of light, glass, and its proximity to the Bay, the beautiful new building was the inspiration for the graphic theme of that year’s event, which I called “Liquid Light & Color.”

Driven by macrophotography of cocktails in mid-mix, the campaign and graphics immersed attendees in the inner world of a cocktail — an ethereal landscape of bubbles, swirls and sensory stimulation.

My work with Science of Cocktails put me in touch with the Exploratorium’s donor outreach team. They commissioned me to develop an animation to be sent out to their generous and essential donors every holiday season as a sincere thanks for their contributions.

For three seasons I worked closely with the Exploratorium outreach staff through a scripting, storyboarding, and animation process that saw the videos get progressively more technically complex with each iteration.