Kia ora,
My name is Rush Morice Fay and I’m a graphic designer from Auckland, New Zealand (Tuwhakairiora ki Wharekahika, Ngati Porou), specializing in print and publication design. I spent the past 11 years with two of Seattle’s primary art museums, the Seattle Art Museum and the Frye Art Museum. I am currently living in San Francisco and open to a full-time role in the museum or non-profit space.
Get in touch.
Live On: Mr.’s Japanese Neo-Pop
Seattle Asian Art Museum, 2014
As a member of the otaku subculture, Mr.’s work ties closely with otaku lifestyle, which is often marked by obsessive interests in anime and manga, confining oneself to one’s room with limited social contact, and choosing fantasy or virtual experiences over real-world interactions.
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For the exhibition’s title, I chose to mirror Mr.’s kawaii (cute) Japanese pop art style with Underware’s playful Bello Script. I employed a bold outline to punch up the title above the visually dense compositions. The bold outline is reminiscent of both graffiti and cartoon-style lettering, which is also thematic in the work. The color palette was inspired by Mr.’s portrait of Pharrell Williams, done in a mini-kyara or “mini character” style of anime.
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Xiaojin Wu, Curator
Chris Manojlovic, Director of Exhibition Design
Cindy McKinley, Lead Project Manager
Nina Mettler, Design Manager -
Mr., (Born Masakatsu Iwamoto). We're off to the outskirts of hope, 2014, Japanese, b. 1969. Acrylic, watercolor and pen on paper, 15.94 x 12.28 in., Courtesy Lehmann Maupin, New York, © 2014 Mr./Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., All rights reserved.
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Typeset in Bello Script by Underware and Gotham by Hoefler&Co.
Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion
Seattle Art Museum, 2013
Over three decades of tremendous innovation by Japanese fashion designers, who revolutionized the way we think of fashion today, were shown for the first time in Seattle.
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The title treatment I chose for this exhibition was Hoefler&Co.’s Gotham Condensed, which included a custom made katakana character translation above it. The title lockup was inspired by Japanese versions of Western movie posters of the 1950s and 60s, matching the larger-than-life tone of the exhibition. The garments were also set against a bright, radial gradient of color and appeared to outwardly glow. This treatment created a cinematic layering effect between the background, garment, and title, while also highlighting the garment as the otherworldy star of the show.
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Catharina Manchanda, Curator
Chris Manojlovic, Director of Exhibition Design
Cindy McKinley, Lead Project Manager
Kevin Schroer, Creative Director -
Kosuke Tsumura. Final Home Coat, 1994, Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute, Gift of Mr. Kosuke Tsumura. Photo by Takashi Hatakeyama.
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Awards
1st Prize, Poster
1st Prize, Supplementary Material
2nd Prize, Press Kits, Marketing, and Public Relations Materials -
Typeset in Gotham Condensed and Gotham by Hoefler&Co
Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London
Seattle Art Museum, 2013
On the outskirts of London, within the neoclassical Kenwood House at Hampstead Heath, resides a magnificent painting collection known as the Iveagh Bequest. Kenwood is home to an exceptional collection of Old Master paintings, including Rembrandt’s late period Portrait of the Artist (ca. 1665).
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I paired the title of “European Masters” with the elegantly informal script of P22‘s Cezanne Pro, intended to convey the calligraphic style of the period and provide a quick read to balance the exhibition’s extended title. The color palette was inspired by Portrait of the Artist with the warm golden hue of the background and burgundy of the garment. Touches of Pantone 874 metallic gold in the printed materials reflected the richness of the time period as well as the ornate gold frames of the exhibition.
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Chiyo Ishikawa, Curator
Chris Manojlovic, Director of Exhibition Design
Cindy McKinley, Lead Project Manager
Kevin Schroer, Creative Director -
Portrait of the Artist (detail), ca. 1665, Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606-1669, oil on canvas, 45 3/4 x 38 1/4 in., Kenwood House, English Heritage; Iveagh Bequest (88028836), Photo courtesy American Federation of Arts.
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Honorable Mention, Supplementary Material
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Typeset in P22 Cezanne and Gotham by Hoefler&Co