R&D
Currently working on a 3D environmental scanning and immersive media project that will enable viewers to navigate through my late artist grandmother’s home, which no longer exists as a physical space. This project explores preservation and memorialization through the lens of personal history.︎ MOBILE VERSION ︎UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Creative director and communications strategist specializing in visual storytelling, media, and technology.
simonesalvo@gmail.com
The Amazing Women's Club
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spatial, digital, interactive
Wata Na Life
Using Photoshop techniques, artist Ngadi Smart blends scenery, portraits, and objects to tell a more authentic story about Sierra Leone than any single photo can convey: fishing net surrounds a woman’s face with the strength and regality of a lion's mane; harvested palm kernels defy gravity in whimsical suspension; and a littered port gets shrouded in pink tin. Smart is intently countering the history of the Western gaze.
The accompanying experience follows suit, purposefully deconstructing the layers to reveal the stories embedded in each collage and breaking critical elements out of the frame and into the viewer’s own spatial reality.
The accompanying experience follows suit, purposefully deconstructing the layers to reveal the stories embedded in each collage and breaking critical elements out of the frame and into the viewer’s own spatial reality.
On Desktop?
Try it out.
︎ scan
︎ see
︎ share
Scan the QR Code to launch Instagram.
Point your camera towards an image below and center the frame on your phone screen to see the 3D imagery appear. You may have to move your phone away and refocus between images for the new AR to load.
Use the Wata Na Life icon in the circle at the bottom-center of the screen to take pictures or videos of your experience and share to Stories.
Tag @ngadismart and @parallellab.io
Point your camera towards an image below and center the frame on your phone screen to see the 3D imagery appear. You may have to move your phone away and refocus between images for the new AR to load.
Use the Wata Na Life icon in the circle at the bottom-center of the screen to take pictures or videos of your experience and share to Stories.
Tag @ngadismart and @parallellab.io
This Augmented Reality experience was developed by Simone Salvo and Lisa Jamhoury, co-founders of Parallel, for the 2022 Look Climate Lab at Open Eye gallery in Liverpool, UK. Inspired by artists, like Ngadi, pushing their societies forward, the work of Parallel probes today’s cutting edge communications technology as a means to invite embodied participation. We believe that activating new tools, alongside existing models of art- and change-making, can offer additional entry points to engage with critical issues and expand the potential impact of a story.
With so much of our social lives being sustained online, we wanted to build a bridge to those in our community left behind by technology. But it's also for anyone who misses impromptu exchanges or is burnt out from their screens.
2020, created in collaboration with Dawn Sinkowski and Terrell Ibanez
Launched in 2015 during the Paris Climate Conference, #Reframeclimate is an interactive public art campaign challenging stereotypical notions of climate change imagery and sparking conversation amongst passersby. It has since been shown across the Bay Area, CA, Charlottesville, VA, and New York City.
Each large-scale pasting contains an SMS prompt to engage further with the image. Users receive a phone call with audio of the photographer describing the story behind their image.
We also developed an immerisve web version of the project using photogrammetry to extend the campaign beyond physical space.
Magnum Foundation, Dysturb, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.
A public installation of seven billboards from the For Freedoms 50 State Initiative that showcase artist responses to issues of migration and the family separation crisis at the US-Mexico border. This project was included as a part of The Value of Sanctuary exhibition at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in NYC, and is still currently on view along the 110th Street perimeter.
Magnum Foundation, For Freedoms, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine
A visual revamp for the Eugene Smith Fund’s 2022 call for applications. I created a flexible system to work across various media ratios.
The Eugene Smith Fund is photo-centric, so I emphasized the imagery to be full bleed across each application of the design. I simplified the copy and utilized the four corners of the rectangle to anchor the information, creating a frame that guides the viewer to each piece of information. I made the templates in Canva to enable non-designer team members to confidently switch out images.
The Eugene Smith Fund is photo-centric, so I emphasized the imagery to be full bleed across each application of the design. I simplified the copy and utilized the four corners of the rectangle to anchor the information, creating a frame that guides the viewer to each piece of information. I made the templates in Canva to enable non-designer team members to confidently switch out images.
Created social media content and templates implementing a new brand identity for Souk, a contemporary New York yoga studio launching a brick & mortar studio.
Without a budget for producing new images, I relied on visual material from the architectural plans and mood boards for the space to build anticipation in the period leading up to the opening of the new space. In a two-week countdown, I created a coherent visual flow for Souk’s new Instagram feed without locking the studio into a stale content rhythm, we left plenty of room for flexibility and spontaneity––like a good yoga practice!
I got Souk ready to use their new identity and custom typeface by creating a workflow and content usecases that adhered to the guidenlines set out by Oder Design. I then made plug & play templates in Canva enabling non-designer team members to edit and update with condifence.
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Providing art direction and graphic design for The Library Band is a labor of love for my love. The Library Band is all heart, a musical passion project by my partner Matthew Migliori and his bandmate Joe Pierog. Website, tour and album art, show posters, stickers, bookmarks and other swag ︎ Check them out on Instagram, Spotify, and thelibraryband.com.
I curated and produced the first annual residents show at ITP’s new homebase at 360 Jay St, BK, designing a visual show identity to tie together the experimental works of 15 artists across screens, walls, sculptures, games, and interactive installations. The playful typeface was designed by my collaborator Lizzy Chiappini (you can buy it here!). This exhibition was a case study for using ITP’s entry way as an active and engaging gallery space, bringing people together in person for the program’s first live show in 2022.
Info
Creative director and visual communications designer exploring what’s next in storytelling.
simonesalvo@gmail.com
The Amazing Women's Club
On View
Wata Na Life is at Fotofestival Lenzburg, Aug 27–Oct 2