Joseph Karam

Graphic + Media Design

I’ve always found the work of artists and graphic designers to be fascinating. The fact people are able to create simple, succinct designs that perfectly communicates and encapsulates an idea, story, or message in such an ingenious way motivates me to make my own designs, a process that is both fun and rewarding. Outside of graphic design, the work of artists generally also stands out in my mind. The weird and wonderful ideas people have are so interesting, fun, and cool to think about that I can’t help but obsess over certain works of art. TV shows, movies, and especially video games are all major sources of inspiration for my art, and so are the works of other artists.

Regarding my creative process, I have a great attention to detail. I always try to make every little detail in a project fit together and make sense in the context of the given project. My design solutions are also well thought out and backed up with thorough research whenever relevant. Whenever appropriate, I also take inspiration from movies, TV shows, games, etc. like I said above, as well as putting in my sense of humor in them, which brings some personality into whatever I’m designing. While I do struggle with time management, I do have a good ability to pace myself and I always keep to deadlines.

At the end of the day, creating is always a fun and enjoyable process, and the satisfaction of having translated an imaginative idea into a real thing will always be rewarding to me.

Myappia Prototype

At current rates, it’s estimated that 52% of the entire global population will have some form of myopia by 2050. Myopia, better known as nearsightedness, is an eye disease that is affecting people at alarming rates. Smartphones (and screens in general) are the main culprits for the nearsightedness epidemic. Gen Z is particularly at risk of developing myopia, given that they spend 9 hours a day (2 hours more than both the US and global averages) staring at a phone screen. Myappia aims to get that projected percentage down by helping to prevent myopia from developing in Gen Z. Myappia is a game where players are given prompts like “fuzzy,” “orange,” or “pipe‚” every 20 minutes and are encouraged to get up from their screens for a little bit to find something that matches that prompt and take a picture of it. Throughout the day, these prompts and pictures gradually fill up a collage that players can share, acting as a daily visual blog or diary. More competitive players can share these collages and their daily scores and compete for the best score, where more frequent breaks mean a higher score. This gamified collage encourages players to frequently look up from their phones, helping to prevent them from developing (worsening) myopia. This also helps to create memories and experiences throughout their day-to-day lives.

Carton Barn Series
Milk Packaging

The milk, dairy, and meatpacking industries aren’t exactly well known for their ethical treatment of animals, and this package design project makes a point to exaggerate this by only kind of exaggerating it. This cartoonishly evil fictional dairy packaging company “The Carton Barn” treats cows exclusively as an inanimate commodity from which all parts that are technically edible on some level will be extracted to the fullest extent possible. Enjoy flavors such as Sirloin Smoothie, Eyeball Eggnog, Bone Buttermilk, and Shank Shake!

Light Pollution Poster
Inkjet Print

 There is a form of pollution that doesn’t get talk about nearly as much as atmospheric or garbage pollution despite being just as real as the others. Light pollution is what happens when poorly implemented lighting infrastructure creates a glowing haze around cities and other densely populated areas. In addition to blocking out a significant amount of the night sky’s beauty, it also has a number of negative health effects that aren't talked about much. This poster aims to educate people about light pollution and the health effects it causes.