The campaign for the 32nd installment of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF) uses alliterative English-Yiddish phrases to underscore the spirit of humor, inclusiveness, and multiculturalism that defines the festival. [+]

The visual language contrasts these linguistic non sequiturs with a deadpan graphic Modernism, making the phrases that much more ironic. The video spots translate this minimal aesthetic into off-speed visual gags with deliberately flat audio effects, further animating the knowing humor.

A commission by SFMOMA, this poster contrasts two alternate views of the human body in motion: the stressed and idealized body of Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia vs. the loose and languid body of Hollywood’s Fred Astaire. [+]

An ongoing series of posters announcing different public programs for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. For each poster MendeDesign developed a unique visual language and composition to telegraph the curatorial vision behind each program. [+]

SF Toile is a traditional toile de jouy pattern. Instead of depicting the pleasures of 18th century pastoral France, however, the pattern repeat shows the hazards awaiting the unsuspecting San Francisco cyclist. [+]

A poster for a retrospective of Werner Herzog’s films. The composition tilts the horizon 90 degrees to depict a Herzogian world view – man lost in an unstable, violent, and indifferent universe. [+]

The typographic descriptions of place, character, and film title deliberately confuse Herzog’s iconic mythologies with descriptions of the director himself. The poster format was designed to be presented as one large image, or to be cut down into four individual prints.

Dimensions: 48 x 36 inches
Available for purchase.

A poster presenting a portrait of the artist through his cinematic influences. [+]

Commissioned by SFMOMA for a film series programmed by Jeff Wall, the poster combines film stills with typographic units – one image for each letterform. Together the image-typography becomes an index for the film narratives, mise-en-scène, and emotional atmosphere that influenced Wall in the development of his cinematic still photographs.

Dimensions: 24 x 18 inches
Available for purchase.

A neon wall installation that blinks on and off with increasing rapidity until the eye can no longer sense the transition between light and dark. [+]Neon (Ne) is one of three gases left over once nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon – elements necessary to sustain organic life –have been depleted in breathable air. The piece stands as a warning about the future we are collectively producing.[+]

A series of posters for the American Institute of Architects. More like painting and less like graphic design, the compositions evolved through a process of intuition, material investigation, and the belief that abstract form can transmit poetic meaning. [+]

Poster 1: Process/Product (Design Awards 08)
Dimensions: 32 x 23.5 inches

Poster 2: Data/Space (Design Awards 09)
Dimensions: 26 x 18.25 inches

Poster 3: Lateral/Vertical (Monterey Design Conference)
Dimensions: 35 x 25 inches

Ecco, a Sonoma based coffee roaster, has built long-standing relationships with artisanal growers throughout the world. The Ecco identity suggests both the journey required to bring fair-trade coffee to market, as well as the mechanical craft of the roasting process. The larger project consisted of brand strategy, visual identity, packaging, environmental graphics, and an e-commerce website.

Concept, art direction and design for The Electric Image, a monograph presenting the work of fine art photographer Chris Kitze. [+]