The new Midjourney logo is an evolution of the previous sailboat symbol. “The Sail” places focus on the most important part of a sailboat enabling navigation and speed, both for their team and users. This refined symbol is a reminder of the groundbreaking work they do.


Audit of current brand assets. Through my interviews, I was surprised how many users of Midjourney knew little to nothing about the brand, many had no idea their logo was a sailboat. Though I explored many forms, with I chose a brand evolution rather than revolution and continued the nautical theme based on interview text with the Founder, David Holz.


There was little information about Midjourney’s existing brand given how new the company is. My research focused on Founder interviews to get a clear understanding of his mission.


The Sail. After an exhaustive exploration of logo designs, I found a beautiful compromise of abstraction while carrying forward the DNA of their existing logo. The sail is the simplest expression of the sailboat, which connects back to the above quote from David Holz.


The brand colors emerged from light refraction, symbolizing expansive creativity possible with their products.


These colors aim to connect with a broader audience across cultures, ages, and industries. The primary color palette helps Midjourney stand out from the majority of tech companies.




The abstract intelligence (AI) pattern.


Midjourney stationery stystem.


Promotional posters displayed in the HQ as a reminder of company culture.


Though Midjourney has been a remote company, I wanted to imagine what their first HQ office space might look like. The HQ would feature a brushed stainless steel sculpture of the Midjourney sail outside.


I also envisioned Midjourney launching a users conference called Midjourney Navigate, to be held in San Francisco.


Keynote stage and various conference merch. At Navigate, Midjourney would announce their new digital platform featuring an iOS app and image generation in browser (evolving from the Discord only experience).


Promotional posters in context.


Notable creative leaders would receive VIP invites to the conference, including customized VIP cards, access to 1:1 consultations with AI experts, and an invite to a celebration evening.


Midjourney VIP access cards would have digital integration and provide access to VIP lounge areas at the venues.


I also explored what form an interactive installation might look like at the conference. Attendees would be able to speak into microphones placed around the installation to generate images from their voice. During the process, I prototyped physical models at “table top” scale using Bristol paper and multiple projectors.


A selection of logo refinement from paper to digital sketches.

When: 2023 (in progress)
Media: branding, strategy, website, motion, 3D, transmedia, augmented reality, website, mobile app, packaging, installation
Tools: InDesign, Illustrator, Figma, AfterEffects, Blender, Midjourney, Photoshop

Goal: reimagine the brand to be more approachable and aligned with their mission through design.

Typefaces: Clash Display and Clash Grotesk from Indian Type Foundry.

Disclaimer: this is a student project at ArtCenter College of Design.

I re-imagined the identity of Midjourney across a wide range of touchpoints including digital, print, conference, wayfinding, a new corporate headquarters, and much more.

“How do you build these boats that let them navigate and be empowered and sort of sail the ocean of imagination, instead of just drowning?”.
(Founder, David Holz).

The new Midjourney logo is an evolution of the previous sailboat symbol. This refined symbol is a reminder of the groundbreaking work they do within generative AI.

The new brand colors are inspired by light refraction, symbolizing the expansive creativity possible with our products. These colors aim to connect with a broader audience across cultures, and industries.

The underlying strategy is rooted in remaining competitive with the many new generative AI companies emerging since 2021. 

I applied this identity system across many touch points including a new users’ conference called Midjourney Navigate, and a possible interactive installation for the event.

Special thanks to: Gerardo Herrera and Miles Mazzie.

A poster series promoting the documentary episode.



Sean Adams, the (previous) Department Chair of Graphic Design at ArtCenter, selected one poster from the set to display in his office.




The final wordmark set on a purple inspired by the colors of Rothko’s paintings in the Rothko Chapel. The primitive forms for “Mark” tie back to the primitive emotions evoked by his work. While “Rothko” is set in all caps to symbolize the monolithic scale of his paintings.


During critique with some recent alumni, Erin Son suggested looking at the placement of “Mark” as a dynamic element which could create a logo system. Conceptually, this connects back to Mark Rothko’s many years of searching before finally settling on the style of art we know him for (and his legacy) as Rothko.


Extending the identity to a booklet required a special consideration for messaging. I chose the title “Art for Mystics”, based on the following definition for mystical: inspiring a sense of spiritual mystery, awe, and fascination. This sense of awe is due partly to the scale of Rothko’s paintings.


The complete book is available for viewing above.


Colors were inspired by the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. The non-denominational Chapel was one of Rothko’s final projects which he never saw completed.



Intro/outro: A few spreads guide the reader from from the everyday material world to that of the mystical, symbolized by a slow gray to purple gradient. The outro follows the sequence in reverse. This concept is based on an engawa, a Japanese architecture element to bridge the outside world to the home.


Recalling the definition of mysticism which inspired the publication title.


Each chapter begins with a full spread. The chapter title is large, paired with a relevant Rothko quote on the opposite page.





Spread from chapter 5: Legacy — an interview with Christopher Rothko, his son, which informed my overall design direction.

Special thanks to Architectural Digest for a beautiful photo of the Rothko Chapel.


Full pagination of the book, a tool I continue to return to in all editorial projects.


This was the first editorial project that I shared on LinkedIn, and the post received some unexpected praise.



Envisioning the start of an opening title sequence for the documentary.


Each poster has a call to action to stream the documentary at PBS.org.



Screenshots of the augmented reality experience created using Adobe Aero.


During my research I visited MOCA in Downtown Los Angeles for another Rothko experience.


My research included reading Johanna Drucker’s recently released book, Inventing the Alphabet, as I saught a deeper understanding for primitive letterforms. Conceptually, this aligned with Rothko’s ability to tap into the viewer’s primitive emotions with his artwork.


Various sketches during the wordmark design process which ultimately led to me discovering the magic of this H-K ligature to minimize visual clutter.


Though I’m satisfied with the overall direction of the wordmark, there is room for refinement. After learning more about type design best practices, there are a few quite minor curve, spacing, and scale adjustments I would like to make before calling this project “done.”

When: 2022 
Media: Branding, Posters, Augmented Reality,
Tools: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, AfterEffects, Aero

Goal: promote a documentary about the artist.

Recognition: One poster was selected for display in office of the Chair of Graphic Design at ArtCenter.

I designed a wordmark, posters, and accompanying booklet for a campaign promoting a PBS documentary about Mark Rothko, the abstract expressionist.

My design concept was: in memoriam.

Depth of research and critique helped me to clarify the forms and vocabulary used throughout the project. Ultimately, I landed on a dynamic system.

In my solution, “Mark” can be placed in numerous positions around “Rothko”, symbolizing the artist’s search among many styles of art. Big thanks to Erin Son for this idea during midterm guest critique!

As for the book, colors were inspired by the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. The non-denominational Chapel was one of Rothko’s final projects which he never saw completed before his passing.

Intro/outro: A few spreads guide the reader from from the everyday material world to that of the mystical, symbolized by a slow gray to purple gradient. The outro follows the sequence in reverse. This concept is based on an engawa, a Japanese architecture element to bridge the outside world to the home.

Each chapter begins with a full spread. The chapter title is large, paired with a relevant Rothko quote on the opposite page.

1. Preface — an introduction to Mark Rothko.
   
2. Search — early explorations through his lesser known styles of art.
   
3. Voice — a photo essay of his best known abstract works.
   
4. Wisdom — his advice for new artists.
   
5. Legacy — an interview with Christopher Rothko, his son, which informed my overall design direction.
   
6. Reflection — my brief and emotional editorial capturing my thoughts as I completed the book.

I experimented with a rough augmented reality experience with Adobe Aero to view selected paintings when pointing a mobile device at the book cover.

Future work: I’m currently redrawing the R in the ROTHKO wordmark to adhere to type design best practices which I’ve recently learned. Before my Spring 2025 grad show, I plan to make some revisions and reprint the book.

Special thanks to: Christian Perez-Morin, Sean Adams, Michael Neal, Erin Son, Sean Shang, Brad Bartlett, and Greg Lindy of Lux Typo. Additional thanks to the National Gallery of Art for high quality images of Rothko’s artwork, and to Architectural Digest for a beautiful photo of the Rothko Chapel.

Salgirah International Festival Identity

Full-color logo. The colors come from the Ismaili community’s flag, seen in the photograph of His Highness the Aga Khan (below).


This is a mini-reel of all motion graphics I worked on for #Salgirah85. These animations were used across social media, opening slates for various forms of video content for the festival, and on stage at some live events. Music was selected by The Ismaili Sounds global team.


Above is the recording of my presentation of this project (at 6:15) from the 2022 AIGA Portfolio Festival.





Here, His Highness the Aga Khan is pictured in front of the Canadian and Ismaili flags at the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa, Canada.


Five Ring Motif. The motif is my take on Islamic geometric design. Initially, you see three rings of 17 diamonds. In the negative space between them, two additional rings are created for a total of five total rings of 17 (17x5 = 85). One diamond representing each year of His Highness’ life.


Initially, you see three rings of 17 diamonds. In the negative space between them, two additional rings are created for a total of five total rings of 17 (17x5 = 85). One diamond representing each year of His Highness’ life.

The three rings are inspired by the three nuktas (dots) above the first letter in the Arabic word, shukr, meaning gratitude. The rings in negative space are a reminder of the esoteric aspects of the Ismaili faith.

Additional logo variations. The system works in full color on white backgrounds, or in white on red or green backgrounds.


Brand pattern. Designed by deconstructing the motif to an individual diamond and tiling them infinitely. These forms create an interesting 2.5D illusion.


The geometry of 86 didn’t resolve so nicely as 85. The following year I got a call after the global team realized they couldn’t simply “add another diamond” for that year’s identity.


Ultimately we realized the geometry of 86+ would be problematic, and chose to pivot and build the identity around 49 (as the Aga Khan is the 49th hereditary spiritual leader in this role). We settled on a new 7 ring motif (4 visible, 3 in negative space).

Secondary lockups for years 86-89. I wanted these elements to live separately from the primary 7 ring motif as these next 4 years were “non-milestone” years. I look forward to revisiting this identity for a refresh for the Aga Khan’s 90th Salgirah!




After delivering all brand assets, social media teams in the Ismaili community launched global, national, and regional digital marketing campaigns. These assets (social media content, videos, website) were created by many talented people around the world in multiple languages. I have included them here to show the context and impact of the brand identity.


Photo backdrop in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Designed by the local team.




Wow. I didn’t even know they had access to large scale printing in the mountainous region of Hunza, Pakistan. Designed by the local team.


I never expected a logo I designed to be on a cake! (Or sherbet bottle, a milk-based drink made for special occasions). Houston, Texas, USA. Designed by the local team.


Dubai World Trade Centre. The Ismaili community in Dubai, UAE held their first in-person celebration since the COVID-19 pandemic at the Dubai WTC. Unfortunately I was not able to attend for multiple reasons, but received some photos from the local team. All assets were designed by the local team in Dubai.


Exterior signage.


Branding displayed on stage during musical performances. Designed by the local team.


Signage for Golden Members (elders in the community, 65+), and wristbands to enter the venue. Designed by the local team.


The local team in Seattle told me about their ambitious design plans for the celebration, and that I had to be there to see my design come to life at the venue. Returning to Seattle the weekend before finals in my first term... we had a lovely hometown celebration with cultural dance performances, dinner, and a live band.


Despite my intense workload for the last few days of the semester, I made a last-minute decision to take a 36-hour trip back home in secrecy. It was the first time I could physically see anything I’d designed at this scale. In my hometown no less.


The stage in Seattle, with the live band’s equipment. Beautifully assembled by the local team.


The local team surprised me with this floating sculpture of the 7 ring motif, suspended over the dance floor!


Group photo with the photo/video team.


Kitchen volunteers with branded aprons.


Family portraits in Seattle for the 87th Salgirah (December 2023).

When: 2021–2023 (annually)
Organization: The Ismaili Community (globally)
Media: Branding, Motion
Tools: Illustrator, InDesign, AfterEffects, Photoshop 

Goal: Design a unified festival identity for the global Ismaili Muslim community in 21 countries.

Salgirah is a religious festival observed by Ismaili Muslims every December. It marks the birthday of His Highness the Aga Khan, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, the spiritual leader of 15 million Ismailis worldwide. December 13, 2021, marked his 85th birthday, or Salgirah.

The brief given to me by the Ismaili global communications team was to embrace the theme of shukr (gratitude in Arabic) while conveying 85 through (Islamic) geometry. This brand identity would be used worldwide by the Ismaili community to promote a sense of unity.

This was by far the largest project I’ve worked on in terms of scale and one I will remember forever. The team only had two brief Zoom meetings over the six weeks of the project. I was impressed with our ability to collaborate across timezones through a Whatsapp group. Since this is a faith-based organization, all team members involved shared a common belief system about the festival.

One year later I was invited to refresh the identity for the Aga Khan’s 86th Salgirah festival. This became a flexible system to be used for the next three years.

The identity system was my first serious venture into Islamic design and the forms of Arabic typography. This area has become a great interest of mine since then.

Special thanks to: the dozens of volunteers who applied the identity system across many media types around the world.

I imagine the poster series could be displayed as a set or individually.


Two posters from the series were installed at the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) Billboards at ArtCenter College of Design.


The full poster series.


Posters 2, 4, 6, and 8 tell the story of Simran, a young girl from Pakistan, in the smaller type available upon closer inspection.


Selected type as image explorations, done in positive and negative. 


Plan view of the pop-up exhibition, inspired by the forms of infinity and a watch dial.


A very rough fly through of the pop-up exhibition, designed in Blender. This was the biggest 3D project I’ve worked on, and want to keep exploring this area further.

When: 2024 (in progress)
Media: posters, messaging, spatial, 3D modeling
Tools: InDesign, Illustrator, p5.js, AfterEffects, Blender, Midjourney, Photoshop

Goal: reinterpret the message of a non-profit organization through the perspective of a lifestyle brand for a new audience.

Recognition: ArtCenter Student Gallery, Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) Billboards

Tasked with imagining a collaboration between a lifestyle brand and non-profit organization, I chose Malala Fund and Timex. Malala Fund is an advocacy non-profit for girls’ education in middle-income and low-income counties (which they prefer to use instead of “third-world”) founded by Malala Yousafzai. Timex is one of the most ubiquitous watch brands. Together, this exhibition is targeting young professionals in SoCal with a key unifying factor of empowerment and time.

I chose to use Midjourney generated images to demonstrate how as visual communicators we can convey a message without putting someone in harm’s way. In particular, Sharbat Gula (the “Afghan Girl” from National Geographic) was put in danger after her photograph became so broadly known.

A key finding emerged through research: both organizations are united by the idea of 12.
– Malala Fund: “Twelve years of education”
– Timex: 12 hours per AM and PM

Though very much in progress, this notion of 12 will inform the rest of the physical exhibition layout and perhaps two more posters.

Future work includes: 
– Improved content sequence and environmental design in the exhibit
– Placing the exhibit in space, I am considering venues around Washington D.C.
– A polished fly through video, there are several rough points
– More complete generative design integrations, and standalone gendesign experiences
– Custom watch dial design, I already have a base 3D model to work from. This 3D model can then be placed at the perimeter of the exhibit

Special thanks to: Tyrone Drake.

I began designing the Arabic character set which has a different set of complexities. In this first draft I remained rigid to the same grid as the Latin character set (7x7 without letter-spacing since Arabic is a connected script). In doing so, I found some forms do not reduce down as nicely as I would like. The next revision I will try is on a 14x14 grid, subdividing the current grid in half.

When: 2023
Media: type design
Tools: Glyphs, Illustrator, InDesign, Figma

Goal: design a modular typeface, infused with personal meaning.

Recognition: Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) Newsletter 2023 holiday greetings (featured typeface).

Referential Mono is built on a 5x5 grid, inspired by early computing and Islamic History. As a developer and Muslim, this project was an opportunity to combine many aspects of my identity in one.

HMCT graciously featured the typeface in their December 2023 holiday greeting email newsletter.

Ongoing work includes: an Arabic version, motion design, and generative typography.

Special thanks to: Simon Johnston, Lavinia Lascaris, Noah Cousineau, with additional feedback from Milka Broukhim, Greg Lindy of Lux Typo, and Wael Morcos.