I had the immense pleasure of creating the titles for Taylor Tomlinson's hilarious 2024 Netflix comedy special "Have it All." The first .gif is the version that ended up making the cut; the rest are the unchosen options.
I art directed and designed a full-suite campaign (website, custom videos, social extension) for a partnership between Refinery29 and Shane Co. jewelry. The emphasis of the campaign was to highlight and celebrate ways for our audience to practice self-love and self-care, and the design direction took a dreamy, calming approach that reflected this concept as well as Shane Co.’s jewelry.
I made the key art for the podcast “The Sicilian Inheritance,” a show about family, murder, and all things Italian, produced by Kaleidoscope for I Heart Radio.
Since the start of the pandemic, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
While at VICE media, i art directed and animated Unbothered’s “Black Is Thee Beauty,” a groundbreaking project that transformed digital content into a kind of “zine” the audience could flip through on social media platforms. Like the concept of the zine itself, I took an approach to the art direction that was both forward-thinking in terms of concept and style, while playfully retro, hearkening back to a nostalgic era when magazines where the main media for exciting new content.
While at VICE media, i art directed and animated Unbothered’s “Black Is Thee Beauty,” a groundbreaking project that transformed digital content into a kind of “zine” the audience could flip through on social media platforms. Like the concept of the zine itself, I took an approach to the art direction that was both forward-thinking in terms of concept and style, while playfully retro, hearkening back to a nostalgic era when magazines where the main media for exciting new content.
Key art for I Heart Radio and Kaleidoscope’s original podcast “Afghan Star,” which tells the brief but remarkable history of the country’s American Idol-like eponymous television show.
My wife Maria writes a weekly newsletter in which she muses on love, life, and – perhaps most importantly – food. For each issue she cooks one of her grandmother’s Italian-American recipes and draws from it what lessons she’s can. I make the graphics and my reward is I get to eat her delicious cooking.
Since the start of the pandemic, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
I had the privilege of making the titles and credits for the hilarious Nimesh Patel Comedy Special, Thank You China.
My wife Maria writes a weekly newsletter in which she muses on love, life, and – perhaps most importantly – food. For each issue she cooks one of her grandmother’s Italian-American recipes and draws from it what lessons she’s can. I make the graphics and my reward is I get to eat her delicious cooking.
Since the start of the pandemic, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
My wife Maria writes a weekly newsletter in which she muses on love, life, and – perhaps most importantly – food. For each issue she cooks one of her grandmother’s Italian-American recipes and draws from it what lessons she’s can. I make the graphics and my reward is I get to eat her delicious cooking.
Inspired by an especially rough patch I went through. My depression and anxiety was such that I’d stopped reaching out to friends, and I wanted to let them know that despite my radio silence I was still thinking of them, and had every intention of getting back to our regularly scheduled programming in due time.
My wife Maria writes a weekly newsletter in which she muses on love, life, and – perhaps most importantly – food. For each issue she cooks one of her grandmother’s Italian-American recipes and draws from it what lessons she’s can. I make the graphics and my reward is I get to eat her delicious cooking.
A short animation accompanying an article about the Jewish customs surrounding death, for Tablet magazine.
Inspired by an especially rough patch I went through. My depression and anxiety was such that I’d stopped reaching out to friends, and I wanted to let them know that despite my radio silence I was still thinking of them, and had every intention of getting back to our regularly scheduled programming in due time.
A logo I made for a buddy of mine’s IG account, in which he shows off his collection of rare (and schlocky) 70s, 80s, and 90s VHS tapes.
My wife Maria writes a weekly newsletter in which she muses on love, life, and – perhaps most importantly – food. For each issue she cooks one of her grandmother’s Italian-American recipes and draws from it what lessons she’s can. I make the graphics and my reward is I get to eat her delicious cooking.
A logo made for my lovely girlfriend’s lovely newsletter, Sunday Sauce. Subscribe here for musings, recipes, and musings on recipes: https://mariadelrusso.substack.com/
A digital collage I made of photos taken on a roadtrip Maria and I took through the American Southwest.
My wife Maria writes a weekly newsletter in which she muses on love, life, and – perhaps most importantly – food. For each issue she cooks one of her grandmother’s Italian-American recipes and draws from it what lessons she’s can. I make the graphics and my reward is I get to eat her delicious cooking.
Titles and credits made for the short film “Everything For Taurean,” a.k.a. E4T. The film tells the story of Taurean Spears, a neighborhood fixture and basketball player whose tragic early death brought the community together and led to an East Williamsburg basketball court being named in his honor.
A poster for They Killed Pedro (Mataron a Pedro), which chronicles the life of Pedro Albizu Campos, a young black Harvard educated lawyer who in the 1930s fought for the right of disenfranchised farmers in Puerto Rico.
A small series of small faces, loosely based on graphics I came across in a flea market in Estonia that specialized in soviet toys and collectibles.
I noticed that when I scrolled through the photos on my phone quickly, it created a neat little timelapse of the past several months or so, so I decided to turn it into a movie.
A collection of animations evoking the feeling of wading through the soupy, stagnant summer air of New York at night, to the sounds of garbage trucks and the flashing LED lights from bodegas and halal carts.
A series of videos promoting Traceroute, the new podcast from Equinix, which gives listeners a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of our digital world. Graphic design by Lisa Harris and audio design by Mathr de Leon of Stories Bureau.
A series of .gifs made for Valentine’s Day, a superficial holiday that runs pretty deep.
A .gif to ring in the new year, which I (and many others, I’m sure) have mixed feelings about. The designs were based vaguely on packaging I came across in Helsinki.
A logo I made for a friend’s hair styling business (he ended up choosing the first one).
Designs I had made originally for a client weren’t used (they ended up going in a different direction). But I liked them, so I made a few edits and turned them into holiday themed .gifs.
Backgrounds for a music video by the Chicago-based band Desert Liminal
Lettering for the Meta campaign #SomosLimitless. “Somos Limitless” brings together six Latinx musicians and one poet who embody this ethos — each with a distinctive flow, look, and approach — to create one incredible new song and video that is a celebration of a new generation of Limitless Latinx talent.
A pattern in homage to early (like, early early, 70s and early 80s) graffiti writers of NYC and Philly (Taki 183, StayHigh149, etc.). Had I been around then my tag would’ve been Benno 86.
A couple of .gifs made for Pro Mark’s social channels, in the style of 80s MTV.
Lettering for an independent film
Title design and credits for the independent film “They Almost Look Like Tigers.”
A set of dreamy .gifs i was compelled to make.
Stickers made for Microsoft’s Clipchamp, the go-to video editor for Windows PCs.
An homage to the LED signs seen on bodegas and halal carts and a celebration of summer in New York.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
Made the logo for Comedy Central’s specials, Ilana Glazer Presents: Comedy On Earth NYC 2021. The show features an array of new comics doing sets about the last year or so in NYC, which has been odd, to say the least. The logo was meant to evoke Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and other nostalgic educational pieces about space and science. The second .gif is what the show ultimately went with.
Lettering (and animation of that lettering) for Ilana Glazer Presents: Tight Five, a series showcasing up and coming comics (aired on Comedy Central digital).
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
A set of papery nostalgic animations I did to ring in Spring 2021.
I collaborating with the director of the astounding animated film Nuevo Rico to create a set of promotional lettering.
A set of gifs and giphy stickers I made to celebrate St. Patty’s day, luck, and our toxic but on occasion joyous addiction to social media and the endless scroll.
A sample of lettering options for Gut Glory yogurt
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
Logo redesign for the (highly dope) production company Pyramyd Studio (https://pyramyd.studio/).
Another design for Valentine’s Day 2021, this time playing with cute symbols and other clichés, as V Day is by nature supremely cliché.
A pattern in honor of the raunchy and complex feelings Valentine’s Day usually brings about.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
A series of posters and .gifs made for La vs. Hate, a a community-centered creative campaign to encourage and support all residents of Los Angeles County to unite against, report, and resist hate.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
In late 2020 I was commissioned by Honda to create a pack of Giphy stickers promoting the latest model of their Passport SUV. For the designs, I drew from classic mid-century camping and boy scout badges.
Social media asset creation for The Very Warm, makers of very cool outerwear.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
In late 2020, I was commissioned by Honda to create a pack of Giphy stickers promoting the release of the Apollo prototype. For this pack, I took a distinctly 80s / new wave approach.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
I recently had the privilege of animated a video segment for Crooked Media in which John Favreau interviews Ari Berman on the facts about – and lies surrounding – voting by mail.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past year or so, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past several months, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past several months, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past several months, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past several months, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
An ode to popsicles, in the spirit of summer. A personal project.
A pattern in the style of those glow-in-the-dark stars we used to stick on our ceilings back in the day, ruining the paint job for years to come.
In response to the calls for justice and reform in response to the murder of George Floyd (and countless others) at the hands of police, I wanted to create a series of pieces that hearkens back to an earlier time whose issues are no less relevant. The gorgeous and timeless art of Emory Douglas, chief designer of the Black Panther newspaper, seemed especially relevant.
For the past several months, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past several months, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past several months, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
For the past several months, I’ve been creating .gifs for Taskforce.pr, a Los Angeles-based creative agency that collaborates with non-profits to take on pressing issues. This has been a fantastic opportunity to do what I love to do (design, illustrate, and animate) in the service of society as a whole.
A former coworker of mine, along with other friends of his from the marketing world, recently launched The Auxiliary, an agency based entirely on combatting covid-19 misinformation. To help them get the word out, as well as to entice investors, I created a number of motion graphics that highlight the urgency and immediacy of their work.
Another pattern I made. You like it?
I recently collaborated with GIPHY and the GIPHY Arts team for their GIPHY Arcade project, a platform that allows users to create their own micro-arcade games using GIPHY stickers. I created stickers for three arcade game templates – including all playable characters and background – to help give users an idea of how the platform works.
I created a suite of social content for For All Mankind, a show that launched with Apple’s new streaming service, Apple TV+. FAM depicts an alternate history in which Russia is the first country to land on the moon, spurring the US to accomplish astronomic feats of their own, including creating a team of female astronauts. One of the more notable pieces of content, chiefly shown here, are “alternate history quotes,” which use the art and iconography of NASA in the late 60s and 70s to create custom, eye-catching bits of content.
In the fall of 2017, I was among a handful of artists chosen by GIPHY to create a custom pack of GIPHY Stickers, which have since become ubiquitous in Instagram Stories and elsewhere. For my pack, I created a series of fun and simple animations in a playful 8-bit pixel style, which I thought would work well for all sorts of Instagram users. I wasn’t wrong – to date, my stickers have racked up nearly 4 billion views.
Through my agency GLOW, I designed and art-directed a suite of social content for the first season of HBO’s “High Maintenance.” The social content needed to present the show for what it was – not a typical “stoner” show but an honest, insightful, and at times hysterical glimpse into the lives of Brooklynites, who do, of course, all have one thing in common: their weed dealer. The content received extensive praise from HBO and the show creators themselves.
Content included quote cards, "enhanced" .gifs with a slightly-stoned look & feel, and a custom map of Brooklyn that showed the characters' locations in relation to each other and served as a way of delivering clips.
This personal piece was inspired by the gorgeously campy graphics of roadside signage I saw on a recent trip to Ocean City, MD. (“Benno,” a childhood nickname, is my nom de plume for personal projects.)
I created a suite of social content to help drive awareness for HBO's Los Espookys, the hilariously bizarre Spanish / English comedy created by Fred Armisen, Julio Torres, and Ana Fabrega. The content, which received high praise from the creators, expanded upon the highly stylized world of the show and captured its irreverent, absurdly surreal vibe.
