The escalation of gun violence in our communities was evidenced most recently in the tragedy at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012. We are not powerless. If the full strength of our profession’s creativity can be harnessed to clarify and give form to this subject, we may be able to command the attention of the public and to help effect a solution. As a community of designers, through AIGA, we can amplify our voices.

This poster suggests that we all see things differently - we all look through a different lens based on how gun violence has impacted us. The smile suggests that if we can end the madness, ensure the safety of children in schools, as well as people on the streets... then perhaps, just perhaps, happiness will ensue.

Merck’s Consumer Care division moved to Summit, NJ where the landscape was beige walls, carpets and furniture. It was very ordinary, totally sterile, and lacked connection to brands and the company. We were asked if we could put a few posters up to liven the place up a bit. Sure we could, but that would suck and not serve much purpose. What would really make an impact was creating a space that inspired a sense of creativity, while bringing brands, customers, and consumers into focus – to remind people why they were in that space each and every day.

With a never-ending spirit to push the limit and a bit of entrepreneurialism added in, I pitched an environmental graphic installation. Sold! The objective was set: to bring life into the environment that represented the ideology of Merck’s Consumer Care division. The primary brands to focus on were Claritin, Coppertone, Dr. Scholls, Miralax, Zegrid and Afrin. We took into consideration each brand’s essence, and supported it with imagery that connected with the audience.

Our target was the dedicated and proud employees who work in the facility everyday, as well as colleagues from other locations and partners/vendors who visit the facility. We wanted folks to feel connected to the consumers for whom they were providing unique health care solutions to around the world.

The result was a vibrant and lively space that made people remember why they got up in the morning to go to corporate America in the first place - it’s about giving people their lives back.

There was talk of a move circulating at Merck's Global Headquarters, and my ears grew big. The plan was to move the executive committee and supporting corporate functions to another building. The time was right to pitch an innovative and cutting edge brand experience for the lobby to coincide with the move.

The best place to get "key" words and phrases is right from the executive staff. I listened closely to what they were saying and aligned a pitch to the message they were delivering to the company. The CEO was talking about being an "innovative company" and using "cutting edge science" to move the company forward. The head of the research labs was using the same language. The problem was that no one ever gets to see "cutting edge science" because it happens behind the most protected walls in the country.

My pitch was to be cutting edge and innovative in a way where everyone could see it. Oh, and interact with it on a deep level, of course. If you want people to think you are a cutting edge and innovative company you have to show them you are at multiple touch points. You need to do it in a way that after an experience, the take away is "Wow, that place is cutting edge."

The plan was to redesign the lobby and to use the latest technology to do it. There would be no pictures on the wall, unless you could touch them and interact with them. There would be no books on the tables, the tables would be the books. The pitch was to install very large multi-user, multi-touch displays throughout the space as well as interactive table tops and additional screens on the walls to bring in external feeds from around the world.

The brand experience would be endless. You could go back over 100 years in time to explore the company, it's milestones, breakthrough drugs and consumer products as well as look at the pipeline, and every other public facing piece of information we could display.

In the end, the CEO and president loved the pitch and I became part of the "team" that was going to redesign the space. As things go in corporate America, the move plans have changed and the project is on hold, but it's not dead. Not yet anyway :-)

The project started by someone asking me if I could "put a logo in a lobby". What I did was communicate a comprehensive story about Merck in a large environment with a limited budget.

Merck acquired office space in a building owned and occupied by another large corporation. That corporation's branding was everywhere. The goal was to make Merck's space feel like it belonged to Merck, so when employees came in to the office, they felt like they were in a Merck office. A logo was not going to do.

My main communications objective was to bring the history and legacy of Merck, as well as the present and the future, to life in order to communicate what Merck does and how it impacts the world. Most employees have no idea what it looks like inside of a research lab or manufacturing plant. They are also unaware ofthe many milestones the company has achieved and how Merck reaches out globally to help those in need.

The installation communicates from the year 1891 (the very beginning of Merck) to the acquisition of Schering Plough at the end of 2009. It covers Merck'shistory, research, development, manufacturing as well as corporate responsibility.

Employeesnow have a full understanding of what Merck does and how it benefits the world.

This project received three industry awards in the category of environmental design.

This Flash game was created to build brand awareness and to give viewers a deeper experience around an Oxygen original program. It helped to drive tune-in and was a successful viral campaign that was inexpensive to produce. Based on the "memory" card game, players would flip cards and learn about fetishes and their meanings.

Special thanks to AgencyNet for all of their work on this project.

Ironically, a human centered approach to design was something new for Merck. UX, what's UX? Why is that even important? It sounds expensive. Why do we even care about this. I heard these questions for about 2 years, actually, I still hear them. It did not, however, stop us from creating a world-class enterprise portal consisting of innovative user experiences that accomplished business goals.

A single point of entry. A consistent brand architecture. The most trusted source of information. These were just a few of the guiding points we continuously visited as we designed and built this behemoth. It is still being built today, with many social networking features being added at each release.

With over 6,ooo intranet sites up and running, Merck's intranet landscape was impossible to navigate. Our goal was to get the number as close to 1 as possible. As the enterprise portal, the site needed to keep Merck's strategy in line of sight, as well as facilitate collaboration between employees and organizations. The site also needed to be the destination where employees go for self service features - one of our goals was to make information so easy to find that it would reduce the number of help-desk calls on a daily basis.

As the intranet site continues to win employees over, it will drive a culture where folks feel attached to the company first and their local areas/organizations second. I'm hearing people say things such as "This is not just stodgy corporate." "It almost doesn't feel like it's a Merck intranet site." " We're fast forwarding, we're not 10 years behind any more." These things make me happy :-)

This Flash game was created to build brand awareness around an Oxygen original program. This game helped to drive tune-in and was a successful viral campaign that was inexpensive to produce.

Special thanks to AgencyNey for all of their work on this project.

Play the Game (Flash)

Totally re-designed and rebuilt, this site was created to promote Oxygen's on-air programming. Content was brought up front and made easy to find by implementing very simple navigation and a clean user interface. With one big promo grabbing most of the attention, and four smaller promos below, there was no mistaking what the priorities were. Quick glance programming "What's On Now, Next and Later" followed by topics such as "Sex Archive" allowed users to scan the homepage quickly. A new schedule and movie pages were also created to make it easy to find air times and show descriptions.

A video player was also designed and developed. This video player was created to accommodate every piece of footage in Oxygen's video library. Video traffic quadrupled two weeks after the player launched. With simple navigation and the ability to choose videos by show or topic, viewers stayed longer and viewed more content. The player also displayed the next airing of the show you were watching, as well as a link to the show's homepage.

This brochure and hang tag were created to go along with gift baskets for moms who brought their daughters to work. The goal was to give moms a few tools and thoughts to help support, encourage and guide their daughters through very common challenges in life.

How do you pass up an opportunity to work with Fabio? The guy is super nice and a consummate professional. This over-the-top "campy" reality show required some over the top stunts and a cheesy online presence as well.

I had a lot of fun with this project creating an interactive box of chocolates which featured behind the scenes footage of the contestants. There was also an online viewers' chioce awards section, as well as cell phone wallpaper, voicemail messages and text message voting.

We announced the viewers' choice winner in Time Square - hunky guys with their shirts off gained a lot of attention, but Fabio took the cake and grabbed the most attention as he entered the middle of Time Square on a white horse to kick-of the festivities.