Visual & Interaction Design

20+ years of exploration

Since the ’90s, I have been designing and art directing for print and multimedia, in agencies and as a consultant. Wild variety! Pre-press at a Jersey print shop; interaction design for fashion brands at a studio in Soho; UI development for Flash games and websites. My early career was a season of broad design experimentation and stepwise growth as a business owner.

oblivion.cafe

Robin Hemley launched his novel Oblivion with a web experience set in an irreal afterlife inspired by Kafka’s Prague.

The site is itself a game — at launch, visitors were invited to chat with the characters in the café, exploring the fictional world and discovering clues to a mystery. Winners who provided the correct solution had a chance to win a prize.

I acted as designer and creative/art director for the site.

Illustrations: Ryanne Levin.
Development: Jeremy Wilford.

a narrative marketing website, 2022

Visit the Café

Illustrated portrait of a smiling blonde woman with ’90s fashion, holding a business card.

Illustrated portrait of a scowling dark-haired woman with a black shirt and a simple gold chain necklace. Unlike most other characters, she glares to her left.

Illustrated portrait of a red-haired man with a beard, wearing a brown suit and red vest and glasses. He has a soft, friendly smile.

Illustrated portrait of a man with ’70s fashion and a huge head of curly hair. He wears orange-tinted sunglasses and has a calm, cool expression.

Illustrated portrait of a balding man with a mustache, wearing a formal suit with a purple tie. He has one eyebrow raised quizzically, and is glancing to his left.

Process

As the sole designer and creative director I was free to iterate quickly, with client approval at each step. These documents provided guidance about the site’s responsive layout and visual design.

Hi-fi wireframe for responsive development

Jeremy Wilford
Oblivion developer

“I’m so glad I had the opportunity to work on two projects with Jason. Not only is he a good leader, but he has the unique ability to communicate in a way that everyone can understand… ”

A smiling young man wearing a backpack, in front of a weathered tree.

One Shot

One Shot publishes beautiful books to extend the worlds of its stories and connect more deeply with its fans.

James D’Amato and the cast of One Shot Network produce incredible (and beloved) improvisational theater.

I’ve been honored to design and produce several books for One Shot Kickstarter projects.

books for print & digital, 2017–2019

A scattered spread of colorful printed books.

Campaign: Skyjacks

Skyjacks is equal parts swashbuckling adventure and heartfelt drama, with a sprinkling of mysticism and magic throughout. It’s both raucous and tender in moments.

The Setting Zine, volume 1 (28pp) leans into the “sky pirate” aesthetic, while the Lyric Book (16pp, accompanying a vinyl soundtrack album) explores the world’s haunting and melancholy undertones. I art directed and designed both projects.

Zine lead artist: Liz Novaski. Book illustrations: Justin Lanjil

Title page and back cover, "Campaign Skyjacks Lyric Book." A steampunk ship crests art-nouveau waves on the front cover; the back cover features song titles and reveals the waves to be the hair of a surreal goddess rising from the water.

A two-page lyrics spread for a song called "Skyjacks". On the left page, a full-bleed image of a white bird with the sun in its beak, flames and wind trailing behind. On the right page, a flying ship sails through the air in the bird’s wake. Smaller

A two-page lyrics spread for songs called "Way Hey Ho," "Toast the Axel," and “Ring the Bell”. An illustration spanning the pages shows two sailors in a sunny sky pulling on ropes.

Cover page for “Captain Skyjacks Setting Zine". Three flags attached to ropes criss-cross a stylized bright blue sky. The flags bear crests: a red feather on white, a heart in a hurricane on blue, a gold shield with a deer and cannons. The typography

Two-page spread titled “Featherweave". A flying mythical ship with 3 sets of literal wings sails against a sunny sky. Trailing behind it, a white and red swirl of fabric with what look like ominous bloody handprints. Callouts with script on parchment

Two-page spread including a parchment callout labeled “A Look at Privateer Fleets". The spread is set on a dark background. An illustration of a book with a quill feather rests at left. The handwritten pages are titled with the names Olivia and Remmi

Two-page spread against a dark, starry sky. Hand-drawn full-body portraits punctuate the page: Gabel, A giant but kind-looking angel with an enormous sword, and Drew Wormwood, a small, hunched man with glasses and layers of pocketed clothing.

A Woman with Hollow Eyes

Seasons 1 and 2 follow the adventures of characters who suddenly find themselves in a world of swirling surreal magic — these are stories about identity and introspection in the face of terrible truths, but also stories about wonder and growth.

Backer Book volumes 1 and 2 (24 and 32pp) publish fan-submitted fictional elements, some of which were included in the live broadcasts. I art directed volume 2 and designed both books.

Volume 1 lead artist: Sara Kipin. Volume 2 illustrations: Kendra Hinojosa.

A cover reading "A Woman with Hollow Eyes, vol. 1". Looks like an antiquarian book with a red leather cover and art nouveau embossing. Drawn characters inset are coming to life and breaking frame, including a man in a trench coat with an arcane symbo

The title page for "A Woman with Hollow Eyes, volume 1." The title is treated in gold inlay with art nouveau typography, and the spread looks like a photograph of pages in an old book.

A two-page spread. The left-hand page is labeled "Summonable Entities." The right page features a photorealistic illustration of a demon named "Imago": a beautiful woman in a ’20s-style flapper dress standing in a cocktail bar. She has iridescent ins

A cover reading "A Woman with Hollow Eyes, vol. 2". Looks like an antiquarian book with a blue leather cover and art nouveau embossing. A drawn character is coming to life and breaking frame: she is a determined-looking woman, drenched in water, bear

A two-page spread with pages labeled “Incantations" and "Ephemera Objects". Hand-drawn illustrations fill the margins of what looks like an old book: a scared man wearing a pink blindfold; ghostly hands reaching for the flame of a candle.

A two-page spread labeled “Summonable Entities." An illustration of a viny, thorny dragon curls across the bottom of the left page.

James D’Amato
Founder of One Shot

“Simply put, once a project is in Jason’s hands, I don’t have to worry about it until it’s done for me to sign off on final approval… Jason is one of the most skilled and reliable people I work with … a talented graphic designer, communicator, and he really understands games.”

Photo of James D’Amato, a smiling young man with dark hair, square glasses, and a ringed t-shirt. He holds a large teal 20-sided-die to the camera.

Sooth Deck app

As a personal project, I imagined an iOS app to support my favorite tabletop RPG.

Monte Cook Games had announced the release of an app to support their lavish tabletop RPG Invisible Sun — but details about the web implementation were sparse.

To quench my anticipation, I designed a prototype. This demonstrates my sensibilities for native app interaction design.

Invisible Sun: Monte Cook Games

an iOS app concept, 2017

iPhone screenshot featuring a spread of physical-looking circular cards with arcane drawings. A control at right reads "Shuffle". A text callout is titled "Intuitive Design."

iPhone screenshot featuring a card labeled "Unknowable Truth," with artwork of a raven perched on a book. A text callout is titled "Detail View."

iPhone screenshot featuring just a few cards and a filter called "Power" applied. A software keyboard appears. A text callout is titled "Search."

A screenshot of an iPhone app featuring a text conversation. A text callout is titled "Noösphere Chat."

iPhone screenshot featuring full-screen artwork of a woman mixing something in a glowing cauldron. A text callout is titled "Gallery Mode."

iPhone screenshot featuring a round card with artwork of a cat, being shared. A text callout is titled "System Share Sheet."

Mustard Seed School

A beloved private school needed a fresh identity with visual connections to its storied heritage in the community.

The refreshed color palette was based on the school’s rich community heritage; marks included interlocking logos for the school and its sub-branded preschool; print materials were designed with a school’s budget in mind, as many parts of the stationery kit could be printed in one ink on colored copy paper.

Development: Aaron Ganschow

a complete branding package, 2009

BrownTowns

BrownTowns wanted to launch their business with a memorable introduction to their irreverent clothing line.

This early client project had it all: web design, interaction design, Flash development, creative direction. Client deliverables included branding, a stationery kit, and an e-commerce site. Nayt’s character design is still delightful, nearly 20 years on.

Illustration & animation: Nayt Keane

an immersive merchandising site, 2004

Process & Communication

I’m not an illustrator or an animator — but my favorite part of collaboration is working with talented folks who excel in their craft and can make things exist that I never could on my own.

Communication and vision-casting are essential to this process. These sketches and animatics provided the artist with a clear sense of layout and pacing, but allowed him to fill in the gaps with his expertise.

Cartoon-styled homepage. A brown "poo" character stands next to a wooden directional site which acts as site navigation. A cobbled-together welcome sign labeled "BrownTowns" sways in the wind.

Cartoon-styled "Browse" page. A store interface allows visitors to customize different designs of clothing and goods. A tee shirt with red sleeves and a character labeled "Kung Poo" (a poo doing a karate kick) is displayed.

Cartoon-styled interstitial animation. The poo character is zooming across a desert landscape with a jet pack while a bird flies in the background. A label reads "Click to skip animation".

Cartoon-styled business system featuring a letterhead, envelope, and business cards.

Cartoon-styled e-commerce page featuring Poo merchandise for purchase.