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Gaiety-launch-issue-covers

The Gaiety Theatre Reopening – Launch program

After the £2M refurbishment everyone in Ayr was curious about what the Gaiety Theatre was like inside and what was “behind the curtain” so to speak. We fueled this curiosity by not giving anything away on the covers of the inaugural program — you just had to look inside.

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If you think Maas Creatives might be able to help you with your project, please get in touch. Katja would love to discuss your project with you.

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Tekserve Catalog cover

Tekserve Holiday Gifts Campaign Catalog

Tekserve Catalog cover

Design Thinking applied to catalog design

Inspired by a comment from one of the guys on marketing team who had said: “I love to give gifts but I never know what to get.”  I decided that to help him was the way to solve this. So unlike everyone else targeting “WHO” in a generic marketingy way… I chose to focus on WHAT – the distinguishing traits and unique characteristics that were not dependent on a gender or a role.

So, not “the perfect gift for mom” – rather, the perfect gift for the person who sings in the shower or can never find a taxi or has big ideas and a small apartment… could be a friend, a lover, a dad or a mom. These ideas were not restrictive or limiting and they were open to interpretation by the gift giver. How well you know and recognize what is special and unique about the person you were giving a gift to.

Every single item in the catalog was presented this way. The campaign emphasized empathy and thoughtfulness and the things that make us relate to eachother as New Yorkers.

This changed the catalog experience for the giver and it made it fun and entertaining.

The entire catalog was a dialog. (Top of page) The cover of the catalog featured all the questions (white text bubbles) and the inside had all the answers (green text bubble)

Tekserve catalog

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Tekserve holiday campaign

Tekserve Holiday Campaign

Tekserve was a very famous Apple reseller store in New York on 23rd Street. Anyone in New York City with an Apple Mac went there if they needed tech support. They had a quirky ticket system and random artifacts like old radios and a coke machine collected by one of the two owners to decorate the store.

The holiday campaign was a series of five subway posters, and a direct mail campaign and a catalog all around specific tech gift ideas for true New Yorkers. If you lived in New York you could relate.

The ads were designed to highlight the experience of the store as much as the items that were advertised. Those who knew the store would relate to the unique props and be amused by the subtle inside jokes and those who were new would inexplicably feel familiar when they visited. The products had you covered – from wearable tech to the brand new “giant iPhone” the iPad.

The postcard campaign’s success was measured by an increase in sales of just over 60%.

 

Tekserve holiday campaign
Tekserve holiday campaign
Tekserve holiday campaign
Tekserve holiday campaign
Tekserve holiday campaign

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Fair Game logo

Fair Game Logo

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This logo, designed for my good friend Pete Tannen. He is an American writer. But that is not the reason I used the font called American Typewriter. I used it because it because I wanted to make the clown face without manipulating the font. It had to come from simple observation. It had to have existed but gone unnoticed until the magnifying glass isolated it and draws this detail to your attention. Just like observational comedians and humor writers like Pete notice things in our everyday lives and by drawing your attention to them show how funny they are.
 
Pete Tannen is a humor writer who has won multiple awards from the National Press Club (Washington, D.C.), the Press Club of Long Island and the Florida Press Association. His columns can also be heard on select Public Radio stations across the U.S.
 
Read this piece called “The Oddball Tax Awards” from the Long Island Press.
 
 

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gaiety covers

The Gaiety Theatre – cover design

The most innovative idea for the Gaiety programs was to have two front covers. I recognized that with a diverse audience and a diverse program, as is typical for community theaters, it was advantageous to have to take advantage of both opportunities – front and back cover and offer two different propositions equally.

The newly reopened Gaiety was an unknown and to mitigate pigeonholing, this approach spoke to the diversity of their program. The program could be displayed both ways. Depending on your preference you would reach for the program featuring the show you were drawn to. So rather than dismissing the offering because it didn’t interest you they doubled their chances of connecting and engaging with you by presenting two very different options.

On the “back” front cover I could get away with a more avant garde or more niche appeal shows while the front satisfied the theater’s need for something with a broader appeal. A perfect balance that reflected their offering.

One noticeable design change happened when the refurbishment was totally completed. I replaced the black background of the masthead with bright flat colors to signal this important and final stage.

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cab-calloway-poster

Poster Design for Cab Calloway

A jazz poster design for Cab Calloway performing at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival. Photograph below with his daughter, holding our poster. This poster was a team effort with two of my classmates, Thomas and Clare.

Wikipedia

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MM&H-WE-ARE-HERE-FOR-U

Day (7) – We are here for you!

40 Days and 40 Nights of COVID19

Day minus seven – Miami, where my client is based, is already in lock down. My task is to come up with an engaging and differentiated way to use a Zoom meeting image. I asked the client to take a screen shot of their weekly meeting and ask everyone to hold up a piece of paper. Anyone who has tried to control the order people appear on screen knows how hard it is to achieve this image and for those who don’t it still conveys the message. It conveys that despite being in separated and locked down at home, Mark Migdal can still work cohesively as a team.

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I-really-like-slop-stories-for-Jadyn-read-by-madison

Day 8 – Youtube Channel Stories for Jadyn: Slop!

40 Days and 40 Nights of COVID19

Day 8  A story read for Madison’s old nursery school class in New York city. Merricat’s Castle School, Sunshine Room.

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Cherries-and-cherry-pits read by Mila

Day (4) – Youtube Channel Stories for Jadyn: Milastory

40 Days and 40 Nights of COVID19

Day minus four… New York was already in lock down for some time. Greensboro we had four more days before we began. Mila is an amazingly talented young actor growing up in New York. Her parents both super talented too. Toni Menage, a dear friend of mine going a way back. Madison and Mila met at Birdland, during our last visit to New York.

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International Power – Management Meeting Game

(Formerly) International Power would hold a three day management meeting and each year we designed a themed activity to open the meeting with an engaging challenge. This game was themed “Team” and was a pastiche on the popular game Trivial Pursuit. All the questions were about International Power and Energy including a fun trivia section.

International Power has been acquired by GDF Suez.

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Wild Milk Book Party Poster

Wild Milk and Cookies Book Party Poster

I am a huge fan of this extraordinarily brilliant writer/poet. I find her writing magical. It is vividly sureal and deeply moving and I sincerely hope everyone gets to read her work. I ‘m crossing my fingers that reading her makes you a better writer – how can it not? But if you really want to write well take her courses/workshops. I know I will be.

In the meantime, I’d recommend reading her monthly column Happily for the Paris Review. Everything she writes is about fairy tales and motherhood.

Paris Review

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Chris Bren as the moster

Nervous Breakdown – Behind the Scenes

In Greensboro, those familiar with the Rock 92 morning radio show, Two Guys Named Chris, will know Chirs Demm and Chris Kelly. You may not know that Chris Demm (looks like this before he has his coffee) but is an absolute delight despite his furrowed brow. Nervous Breakdown by 4 Leagues Media was directed by Dan Robinette and starred Chris Demm as the monster alongside Chris Kelly as the sheriff.

See more behind the scenes of Nervous Breakdown stills photography here. See New York Fashion week here and also You’re Invited, directed by Andrew Kaplan here.

Rock92

Below is a short teaser (my cut) of some video I captured…

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Art is Work by Milton Glaseer book cover shot

Art is Work by Milton Glaser, Book

This is the follow up book to every graphic designer’s bible, Milton Glaser’s first book Graphic Design, published in 1972. This book catalogues his work from 1972 through 2000. It include his I (heart) NY logo response to 9/11.

Purchase a copy.

Art is Work

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white-poster

White Poster

This production is exquisite. Designed for 2-4 year olds but ideal for anyone with imagination and a heart for diversity.

Catherine Wheels

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milton glaser exhibition poster

Milton Glaser – Talk Poster

I created this poster with Milton for a talk and book signing he was giving. The poster became significant because the typography inspired Milton’s last update of his company logo in the mid 2000s.

When I first visited the firm as an intern in 89 he was using this design. The concept was based on a Dada principle where you take the least important thing and make it the most important thing…  As you can see on the envelope below, the street number which is normally the smallest, least important element of the brand (the name being the most important) is made the most dominant element.

Inspired by the poster, but using a lighter weight of Gill Sans, the 2005 red logo with his name in four lines of equal length was a visual play on the pronunciation of his name. Poetically perfect in three lines of three letters, each line a perfect syllable. :-)

milton_glaser_logo
Milton Glaser website

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Fridge, a film by Peter Mullan, film poster

Fridge Film Poster Design for Peter Mullan

A film poster design for Peter Mullan.

What can I say. This was an honor. I’m such a fan of Peter Mullan’s work. The film starred Gary Lewis and Frances Higson was the producer.

The short film won many awards: Best Short Film 1995 – also winner of 12 international awards, including BAFTA Scotland, Best Short Film Award 1995; Cork International Film Festival Best European Short Film (joint award) 1995; Atlantic Film Festival Best Short Film Award 1995; Grand Prize of the Bilbao International Film Festival 1995.

Katja on IMDb

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Pascal Lacroix – Brand Voice

Personality and voice. I knew from the first moment I spoke with Pascal that I had to have his voice on the website. He has a french accent and when he speaks his voice relaxes you.

The outcome was this very personal, brand-building  narrative video. It immediately deepens the connection with visitors. It helps visitors relate to his work in a more meaningful way than just browsing through still images.

The audio was directed remotely. The video content was captured by Pascal himself and a friend of his. I edited the final piece to tell the story about how he works and designs at his studio in the mountains.

Below is another short video, this time speaking about a specific piece created for the Flight theme of the American Design Council, Living Collection.

Design, direction, editing and production, by Katja Maas

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Culture Sparks – Make IT Happen Animation

Created for Scotland’s national agency for the arts, Culture Sparks in collaboration with the Rudman Agency. Campaign GetAmb:IT:ion. Make IT Happen was a National initiative funded by the lottery to help Arts and Culture organisations get more from IT.

Design, scriptwriting, storyboarding, animation.

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Culture Republic Access All Areas Animation

Created for Scotland’s national agency for the arts, Culture Republic. Their ACCESS ALL AREAS national conference focused on equality and diversity. Following the conference, we integrated the “equals” (=) symbol into their brand mark to emphasize their core value of equality.

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Florida-International-arbitration animation

MM&H International Arbitration Animation

FLORIDA is a growing hub for International Arbitration. This animation is a visual metaphor showing FLORIDA as integral to rest of the world by connecting the letters and highlights that International Arbitration is a natural fit.

A further illustration for International Arbitration was this one. A metaphor for how skillful the practice is because you need a foot in each country, an understanding of multiple cultures, while at the same time, balancing the case at hand. One of MM&H’s founding partners, Don Hayden is an expert in the field, a Notre Dame alum and loyal supporter of the Fightin’ Irish team…

international arbitration twister multi tasking
Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast
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Squarespace-and-pinterest

Pinterest functionality for a Squarespace website

2020 Tips, Hacks and Workarounds #1

In creating a portfolio website on Squarespace we found that there was no option for users to gather their favorite works (like a wish list function on an e-commerce website). We decided to utilize the popular social media platform Pinterest to provide this feature. The bonus for the artist is that their work gets additional visibility on a social platform.

We created our first How to tutorial video for this purpose. Below is the initial draft for the video which is being beta tested.

Visit website

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Hotwire Brochure

[3d-flip-book mode="fullscreen" urlparam="fb3d-page" id="1284" title="false"]

Ten and a half things you might not know about prescription drug side effects

A public information video designed to be engaging and memorable. The video summarizes prescription drug side effects and what you need to do to protect yourself and your family. Created for Sense About Science and Liverpool University, home to the UK’s drug side effects research center. Companion guide pdf.

 

Sense about Science is an independent charity that champions the public interest in sound science and ensures evidence is recognized in public life and policy making.

Sense About Science

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Logo for Mark Migdal & Hayden

Mark Migdal & Hayden – Logo and custom illustration

Etan approached me with their plan to redefine what law practice is. A find that a strong and simple logo is best when a new company plans to grow and wants to present as authoritative or as a leader. Custom illustration is normally reserved for corporations with bottomless budgets like MetLife using Snoopy. That was the model I had in mind when I created this brand and the illustration vehicle for its voice.

Custom illustration sets a company apart. There is no one else like them. Their world is unique. Original ideas can be expressed in an original way. 

and winning or loosing

Litigator Alligator. The wordplay that inspired the expression of the brand for this Miami-based litigation firm. Click on the button to visit their website.

MM&H

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