NYFA commissioned Level Group to develop a unique brand identity for the foundation. Working closely with key staff, we helped identify the core message of the foundation — the support and nurturing of the individual artist — and developed a visual strategy across multiple platforms that brought this idea to the forefront of all of their visual communications. The outcome is over thirty print pieces, a website, and motion graphics that all express a coherent set of ideas and visuals that represent the organization.

I’ve never before encountered designers who care so deeply about the products they design. From a thorough discovery phase through managing production, Level is totally dedicated to your project. Add to this their ability to express the essence of your organization through design and you have a unique team that provides unequalled service. Oh yes, and their work is beautiful too.

— Waddy Thompson
Director of External Affiars, NYFA

INspiration award

strategy, concept, design, print and fabrication management

annual Reports

strategy, concept, design, print management

NYFA Biennial Fold-out published in:
Samara, Timothy, Making And Breaking The Grid, Second Edition, 2017, Rockport Publishers, and imprint of The Quarto Group.

Annual Reports over several years aimed at telling the story of NYFA as an organization: their commitment to the individual artist and their impact on artist's lives. For example, in the 2005-06 Report, we juxtaposed artists early in their career (such as Spike Lee and Meredith Monk) alongside artist's working in the same medium who had just been awarded NYFA grants.

In another report, financial information about NYFA's grants that year are paired with art works singed by the artist and presented in a catalog-like setting. These pieces include specific visual gestures that we defined for NYFA, such as always representing an artist and/or their work along with their handwritten signature.

PHILANTHROPIC BROCHURE

strategy, concept, design, print management

Published in: Samara, Timothy, Making And Breaking The Grid, Second Edition, 2017, Rockport Publishers, and imprint of The Quarto Group.

NYFA's Philanthropic Brochure was created to speak to current and potential future donors. Level's goal was to create a piece that expressed how donor support directly impacts individual artists. To accomplish this, we selected four NYFA from different disciplines to feature. 

Each artist is represented through an example of their work in combination with a description of how NYFA has affected them in their own words. These two elements are presented through a combination of pages printed on semi-transparent vellum and opaque paper.

NYFA QUARTERly

strategy, concept, design, print management

Published in: Samara, Timothy, Making And Breaking The Grid, Second Edition, 2017, Rockport Publishers, and imprint of The Quarto Group.

Identity and visual system for NYFA Quarterly Magazine. The publication was geared toward working artists and the art-curious, and focused on a featured artist in each issue. Content ranges from articles concerning issues relevant for working artists, to Featured NYFA Fellow’s, and ongoing columns such as NYFA Classifieds and grant and fellowship deadlines.

Level created a Template for the magazine and a modular structure that allowed NYFA staff to produce the Magazine in-house once the prototype issue had been completed. A seasonal color palette both reflected the quarterly nature of the magazine, and tied into NYFA’s larger overall identity system.

TEDFEST

strategy, concept, design, print management

In 2003, longtime director Ted Berger decided to retire, and a NYFA threw him a special tribute called Tedfest. We developed multiple pieces for the event, including Invitation package, and Program.