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Vlahos, Dan. "Design as a Catalyst for Empowerment: Lessons From Youth Design, a Design-Led After School Program for High School Students in Boston." Dialectic, 4.1, AIGA DEC and University of Michigan, 2022.

Design-oriented, after-school enrichment programs for pre-college students (aged roughly 16 to 18 years), also known as out-of-school or after-school programs in the U.S., often address or attempt to address issues around justice and empowerment in underserved and urban communities. This case study examines Youth Design, a non-profit out-of-school program that, for fourteen years (2003–2017), served public high school students in urban settings in Boston, Massachusetts. More

On Design Pedagogy Poster

On Design Pedagogy, Poster, 31 x 42 in, 2023.

How do graphic designers visualize their teaching philosophies—their pedagogical beliefs that are in constant dialogue with other cultural, philosophical, and disciplinary values and practices? This poster was created in response to this question and was subsequently selected for this traveling juried exhibition of invigorating, thoughtful, and diverse posters.

Vlahos, Dan. “The Queen’s Gambit Project: Collaborative Motion Design Remixes as a Pedagogical Approach.” MODE 2023: Proceedings from the Motion Design Education Summit, 2023.

In October 2020, Netflix released the miniseries The Queen’s Gambit, which captivated audiences worldwide. The absence of an opening title sequence throughout the series made the surprise inclusion of a beautifully crafted closing title sequence even more impactful. Designed by Saskia Marka and accompanied by Carlos Rafael Rivera’s compelling score, the sequence inspired the author to use it as the basis for an undergraduate-level motion design assignment. This case study highlights effective tactics for collaborative motion design pedagogy. More

Industrial History Center

Graphic and Environmental Graphic Design for the Industrial History Center, Amesbury, MA, 2020.

How did a small New England town become a leading maker of carriages, car bodies, textiles, hats, shoes, and more? How can design help bring this unique story to life? How could such efforts foster identity, support, and place? As part of a multidisciplinary design team, my Merrimack College design students, Dan Vlahos Design, and many others helped shape answers to these questions as we helped bring a new industrial history center into existence.

Vlahos, Dan. “From Photojournalism to Critical Design: Two Interconnected Introductory Undergraduate Graphic Design Projects.” The Athens Institute for Education and Research, 5th Annual International Symposium on Culture and Civilization, 8-11 June 2020, Athens, Greece, Abstract Book, 59–60, 2020.

This paper examines the objectives, components, and outcomes of two interconnected undergraduate graphic design projects that use photography, writing, experiential learning and critical design to examine issues related to the environment, nature, aesthetics and sustainable design. More

Mission Hill Arts Festival Identity, 2022.

Building upon the successful launch of the 2021 Mission Hill Arts Festival in Boston—festival organizers again reached out to Dan Vlahos Design as they sought a visual branding toolkit for 2022.

Lean Flash Cards

Lean Tools, Card Set for Shepley Bulfinch, 2014.

How do you get architects, designers, and clients excited and interested in process improvement methodologies such as Lean? Together with a team of multidisciplinary team of experts I helped design these ten "flashcards."

Isabella: A Dramatized Digital Persona, 2015

Isabella was a site specific, speculative multimedia installation for the Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Isabella is comprised of a series of framed video screens that present a motion-and sound-activated likeness of Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924)—the founder of the museum. More

Vlahos, Dan. “Exploring the Audiovisuality of Neo-Post-Punk Music: Dynamic Media, Art Direction and Motion Design in Undergraduate Graphic Design Education.” MODE 2021: Proceedings from the 2021 Motion Design Education Summit, Routledge, 44–47, 2021.

This paper explores how concepts of audiovisuality and audiovisualization can be meaningfully integrated into undergraduate communication/graphic design education by providing a short-form case study of coursework and curricula along with examples from theory and practice. This research plants the seed for further investigation of these interdisciplinary terms in the context of design education and thus begins the process of defining and evaluating their use and situating them within these interdisciplinary domains. More

Mission Hill Arts Festival Identity, 2021.

In May of 2021, a Boston-based arts organizer/activist approached Dan Vlahos Design as she developed, promoted, and organized a newly formed Arts Festival in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood. Dan Vlahos Design was asked to create a logo/identity and comprehensive visual branding toolkit for this new Festival.

Sun and Moon Minimalist Clock

Sun and Moon Minimalist Clock, 2014

The Sun and Moon Minimalist Clock was a simple, limited edition yellow clock treated with photoluminescence—allowing it to shift color and glow softly as a room becomes dark at night. More

Rettig, Martha and Dan Vlahos. “The Designumentary: Communication Design Research and Practice through Short, Topic-Focused, Vox-Pop Style Multimedia Documentary Production.” MODE 2019: Proceedings from the 2019 Motion Design Education Summit, Routledge, 193–198, 2019.

A comprehensive presentation/paper from the 2019 MODE Summit in which the authors describe the pedagogical development and provide examples of a communication design project implemented across two institutions—examining the use of vox pop video as an ethnographic research tool. More

Volkswagen Steering Wheel Ad

Autoshow Ad for Volkswagen, 2005

This ad for Volkswagen was designed for the 2005 North American International Auto Show—it was placed on the reverse side of the exhibition center map provided to the autoshow attendees. More

The Color Piano Project, 2000.

The Color Piano Project was an experimental system of audiovisualizations developed as part of my senior degree project in Graphic Design at MassArt. The project culminated in a series of animated prototypes demonstrating the dynamic mapping of the color spectrum to musical octaves and individual notes. More