To promote the first-ever Mission Hill Neighborhood Celebration in Boston I was invited to design promotional materials, including silkscreen posters, tee shirts, email banners, and fliers. I also created a Mission Hill “MH” monogram to be used for subsequent community events, concerts, and fundraisers.

Bold, sans-serif typography and the way the typography was positioned to align from line to line give the poster a feeling of unity. The spacing (or “tracking”) between the letters of the last word (together) is reduced, with the characters kerned nice and snug. These posters were then hand-printed and silkscreened by Lucky Bunny Visual Communications.

For a period of time in the late 20th century, Mission Hill was incorrectly viewed as one of the most dangerous areas of Boston. This was largely because of the 1989 staged murder committed by Charles Stuart—in which Stuart drove into the Mission Hill neighborhood and then staged the killing of his own wife while then telling police that a black man shot her. The story made national headlines.

Today, Mission Hill is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city of Boston and is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Today, the community is comprised of students, long-time residents, the elderly and professionals, mostly from the nearby Longwood Medical and Academic Area.

This community event was made possible through the generous support of local businesses, community groups and a seed grant from the Mission Hill/Fenway Neighborhood Trust.

Dan Vlahos and—

Rich DeSimone, Lucky Bunny, Silkscreen Printing

Case Studies—

Arts Engagement for Healing and Transformation in Mission Hill, 2009–2023.

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