Whitney Hockman

The Risograph Kit is a collection of print material meant to educate people on the Risograph with a focus on activism. The Risograph printer is a digital duplicator machine that uses soybean ink and prints one color at a time. The kit includes an informational pamphlet and poster, a book with information on history and activism, and cards intended for people to create their own design. The kit is primarily Risograph printed, except for a section of the book that is laser printed to highlight the work of other artists.

Jo is a sans serif typeface inspired by type in Danish churches. It is named after my younger sister. Jo includes an alternate version that with cuts that make the letters fit together with a star.

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs provides healthcare and support to military veterans. This speculative rebrand focuses on elevating the current branding and championing veterans, ensuring that they feel empowered utilizing the services they earned. This was a highly collaborative project completed with Ian Bishop, Julian Dalat, and Brianna Powers. We began by asking two simple questions- What is the VA doing well? and What could the VA be doing better? We communicated with veterans, VA patients, and VA staff to understand how the VA was perceived, their strengths, and their weaknesses. This process of research and interviews made one thing clear to us: veterans earned this service, and all of them should feel welcome to utilize VA healthcare. The system we created champions veterans and ensures that the VA feels welcoming and approachable. We were also conscious of the scale of the brand, and made sure it was highly adaptable with free and open-source type for use across all VA hospitals. This project was done in a studio class at CCS led by Chad Reichert and Basia Rochon. Out of 7 student teams, our team was awarded as the top design system by a panel of VA staff, CCS faculty, and branding experts. We won a scholarship and had the opportunity to present to executives at the Detroit VA.

This is an explainer video about the cultural shift that led to Americans leaving our earth and heading to the stars. The style is inspired by the NASA computers during the Apollo missions. All animation is done in After Effects, and the script and voiceover were both done by me. I loved researching this topic and learning more about how culture played such a large impact on the Space Race. This project was heavily research based for both the script and visual direction. I began by researching the Space Race and trying to find an angle that was not just political or scientific. I chose the themes of pop culture and American identity because its an interesting take on the topic and people can relate to it today.

This is a fan made lyric video for Grouplove’s song Deleter. The concept for this video was focused on finding a community on social media, and using your community for good against larger forces. All animation is done in After Effects using simple techniques, typography, and imagery. I was inspired by old school computer imagery, and social media interfaces. Hannah Hooper, the lead singer of Grouplove, wrote \"Deleter\" after she had brain surgery. The song is a fight back against controlling institutions and doubt, with a sense of urgency. There is a strong message that despite the fact that one individual cannot make a lot of change today, it is still possible to have a strong sense of community and connect with other people that have shared values. I wanted to contrast the feeling of being trapped or controlled with a happier feeling that comes with connection. I used black and white for the \"control\" parts, and a bright limited color palette for \"connection\". For visuals, I referenced a retro internet vibe to connect to how community can be found online.