LAVINIA LASCARIS


Selected projects

︎︎︎ Quasi
︎︎︎ Do you have a platypus?
︎︎︎ Thumbs up to the thugs
︎︎︎ Polski Projekt
︎︎︎ Redact, Rewrite, Reframe
︎︎︎ Mujeres Hispanas y Tipografía
︎︎︎ Captcha this
︎︎︎ Baby ink twice
︎︎︎ Mike/Sierra/Tango
︎︎︎ Plan B: Spirit of the Bauhaus
︎︎︎ Idiot (grad thesis)
︎︎︎ Nice (fellowship)

Info
Graphic designer from Greece, based in Los Angeles, specializing in spatial and publication design with a focus on typography. Currently the exhibition designer and curator at Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT), and faculty at ArtCenter College of Design.


Talks
Typographics 2023
Letrastica 2022
AirTalk
Command Z Podcast
ArtCenter, Lecture series (spring 22)
Book Club of California


Awards/Recognition
PPN Book Show 2023: Best in Show: Mujeres Hispanas y Tipografía
IDA Design Awards 2022: Baby Ink Twice
Commarts 2020: Mike/Sierra/Tango
TDC Communication Design 2020: Plan B
TDC Communication Design 2020: Idiot
GDUSA Graphic Design 2019: Plan B
HMCT Typography Fellowship 2018


Press
Hyperallergic
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
The Daily Heller (10/13/23)
The Daily Heller (09/29/23)
The Daily Heller (01/18/23)
Shoutout LA
Voyage LA
Eye on Design
Justified: HMCT Profile


Contact
hello@lavinialascaris.com
Instagram
LinkedIn




LAVINIA LASCARIS
Graphic design, Exhibition design, Research









Idiot (grad thesis)
MFA Graphic Design, ArtCenter College of Design, 2018


A study on contemporary privacy and camouflage, Idiot approaches the notion of concealment and protection through ubiquity. I blurred the boundaries of my own identity by creating a plurality of simulated and simultaneous presences, surrendering my privacy in order to reinstate it.

“I’m losing my idiot state steadily, I’d much rather be an idiot,” stated Marshal McLuhan. He refers to the original meaning of the word idiot which derives from the Greek idiōtēs, meaning a very private individual or citizen. The project embraces the word as an ironic reference to its original meaning.

TDC Communication Design Winner 2020


Advisors: Carolina Trigo, Simon Johnston
Special thanks: Matt Adams, Sean Adams, Roy R. Behrens, Mable Chen, Clint Disharoon, Samantha Fleming, Nik Hafermaas, Jessica Helfhand, Eric Heiman, Hsuan Hsu, Annie Huang, Rachel Julius, Michelle Katz, Steve Kim, Kostas Nikellis, Jenny Rodenhouse, Fazel Saye, Alex Seth, Ziyi Xu, Derek Yang










Gesture/Action
The core of the project lies in creating virtual copies of myself and distributing them. For this purpose, I created a 3D model of myself and uploaded it to several online databases where users are able to download and use it for free. Each download serves as another copy—the more downloads the more successful the camouflage. I studied the outcomes of this gesture by documenting the model as manipulated by other users.

Model available at: Sketchfab / Cults 3D




















kostas nikellis, digital artist


mike alger, vr designer, google inc


fazel sayeh, graphic designer







mable chen, entertainment designer






Wallpaper
Using rendered images of the model that was uploaded, I created a series of wallpapers. I have used the subject (model) as an element that is multiplied to create patterns, thus blurring the boundary between foreground and background.











Visual language
The images below were created through experimentation with photogrammetry. The relationship of realistic and artificial qualities in these images refer to the uncanny valley theory which suggests that humanoid objects appearing almost like real human beings, elicit uncanny or strangely familiar feelings of eeriness in observers. These feelings mirror how the invasion of privacy dehumanizes people and translates their appearance and actions into information and data.











Other studies
These serve as supportive material to the final delivery of the project concept. There is a photomontage set in my apartment, a CCTV-type video montage, and a pattern inspired by envelope security patterns—an early example of how people employed methods of camouflage for privacy.










Process book
Documents final deliveralbles, research, and formal studies.















Spatial
The spatial component of this project is an installation which covers part of a corridor at the ArtCenter College of Design south campus. Its size is meant to represent the scale of privacy invasion. A monitor forms part of the installation, completing the design pasted on the wall and playing a looped video with an animation that reflects components of the project.