Ian William Griffin Communications Design


Branding & Systems
Typefaces & Lettering
Graphic & Apparel
Interactive & Front-End

b. Pennsylvania
Now in Brooklyn, NYC
Working internationally & collaboratively

BFA Pratt Institute
Primary Foundry, Smile Train, MF9 World, Agency LOVE, Wieden+Kennedy & more.

© info@ianwg.com

Wallsocket by underscores
Custom typeface
(8 images)

Limited Typography LTD: 26 Typefaces
Designed 26 typefaces over the course of a semester at Pratt Institute as 1/4 of my senior thesis.
(46 images)

Limited Typography LTD: 26 Typefaces
Designed 26 typefaces over the course of a semester at Pratt Institute as 1/4 of my senior thesis.
(27 images)

Sara Lovering Films, typography & titles
Work in progress.

Reanimation Library, branding
Worked with Matthew Ramirez in researching the Reanimation Library, then made my own posters for the library/archive.

From their website: “The Reanimation Library is an independent presence library. The books in the collection–simultaneously prosaic and peculiar–are relics of the rapidly receding 20th century. Chosen primarily for the images that they contain, they have been culled from thrift stores, rummage sales, flea markets, municipal dumps, library sales, give-away piles, and used bookstores across the country. *Presence library is a mistranslation of the German word for reference library, Präsenzbibliothek. In addition to being a non-circulating collection, the library encourages IRL encounters with actual books and actual humans.”

(3 images)

THANKS FOR COMING: Posters for a series of lonely parties.
(8 images)

How To Baggu: The holidays can be confusing
Postcards on learning how to wrap a gift with a Baggu tote bag. Initiated at Typography Summer School NYC 2016.

Cooper Creative, animated logo

!?, running, talking, transcriptions, posters, and font
1/4 of my senior project with Kyu Ho Lee.

From the webiste: "We may regret everything that we say. And some things we already regret. But we still say them. We figure it's good to see where we were to see how we got to where we are today. !? This is a record of our time. During our years at Pratt we've developed a sort of comradery. We met during our sophomore year and quickly developed a relationship based on a mutual admiration of each other’s work and a shared feeling of being out of place. Since then we shared our time together as if we were two travelers on a train that happened to chance on a good conversation. We shared with each other our thoughts and ideas and we’d like to think that both of us have grown through this process. But as with all things we find ourselves now at the end of our journey. And with that we’ve begun to wonder whether there is any way we could keep the time we had as a record both for us and others like us who find themselves in similar situations with similar thoughts. These thoughts and ideas are neither profound nor unique in anyway, but still they are our own and we cherish them as a part of our own spirit."

The Village Vanguard, branding
An iconic and historic jazz venue in New York City, I created a dynamic branding system just as lively and playful as the musicians who play there.
(6 images)

Stella Alpina Fragrances, custom typography and packaging
Designed and typeset labels for a line of essential oil fragrances. Each fragrance is named after an Italian town or city. The mixtures are bottled with crystals of different varieties and associations, which also help to keep the oils mixed. The logotype is a delicate floral serif. The finer details are set in a more simpler yet aromatic serif. The labels are printed on business cards with gold foil on the front, and hole punched individually to fit on the bottles and produce an elevated appearance while still being cost effective.
(2 images)

Pratt Material Lab, branding (with Hua Chen)
Hua Chen and I collaborated on creating an identity for Pratt Institute’s Material Lab. The material lab is a place where students can investigate different samples for their projects. We devised a dynamic logo that changes each time it appears, showcasing the vast array of material options the lab has available. The logo also expands into a system of containers and rules for larger layouts. We also concepted wayfinding and other collateral, such as a tote bag.
(3 images)

“Every Day After” branding
From the website: “The older sister of a neglected adolescent boy faces her own fears so her brother can heal and experience the everyday joys and struggles of growing up.”

Smile Train Holiday Card 2022, lettering.

Smile Train, social media graphics, handbooks, flyers, posters.
(9 images)

Torus, poster & poem
I have recently been inspired by theories on the universe, how it was formed, and potentially how it will end. One speculation among some scientists is that the universe has a donut-shaped topology, which would entail that it will implode on itself in what is called “the big crunch,” only to explode in a “big bang”” again. This poster imagines what life is like in a topologically torus shaped universe. If you extended your arm in one direction, it would return right behind you to tap you on the shoulder. I devised a mirror room in Blender to demonstrate this concept, and wrote a poem to demonstrate the conundrum of existence within our universe.

growing up, tshirt lettering.

Plonk, variable font manufacturing (with Henry Merker)
Helped create a functioning variable typeface for a symbolic language.

Happy Karrik, variable font hack (Primary Foundry)
Created a variable typeface from two typefaces by Lucas Le Bihan: “Happy Times at the IKOB” and “Karrik”. It is open source and available through Primary Foundry. and Library Stack

Monoweight No. 3, variable typeface.
Designed as an independent project at Wieden+Kennedy, intended to be used for wayfinding graphics around the office.

Internet Art Book Fair: A Post-Artifact Library
Created a website to showcase the work of my classmates from our “Post-Artifact Book” class at Pratt Institute. The design is a riff off of the Pratt Library, which has Tiffany glass floors that allow light to pass through them. It was temporarily featured through the Internet Art Book Fair.

Delta: Pilot Talk Sweepstakes
Worked on various collateral to promote an Instagram sweepstake for Delta Airlines.
(3 images)

Delta: Visiting Your Mom is Easy
Posters featuring handwritten notes from mothers to their children to promote flights through Delta Airlines.
(3 images)

l'absinthe by degas
Fictional branding and advertising for a fragrance.
(2 images)

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love/Beginners by Raymond Carver
Fictional illustration