Feature Stories

Joe Tavares

Feature Stories

Joe Tavares '15: Designer and Photographer

Now on the west coast working at an artist management and creative intelligence agency in California.

Joe Tavares is a designer and photographer currently living and working in Los Angeles, California. His approach to design is centered on clear and effective visual communication using a minimalist aesthetic. This is influenced by exploration of unfamiliar areas of study and through creating new forms, meanings, and ideas by applying a process of translation through design. Joe is extremely passionate about his work and finds great worth in strategy and collaboration. His specialties lie in web, print, typography, iconography, and photography.

Catalog for the Sagmeister//Scher Recklessly Bold exhibition at CVPA’s University Gallery at the Star Store campus in New Bedford, MA.

Joe began experimenting with graphic design as a teenager, teaching himself how to use design software to create graphics for his social media accounts, event posters, experimental collages, and photographic zines. He continued this practice through college, where he decided to pursue graphic design professionally. Joe received a BFA in Visual Design with a concentration in Graphic Design and a minor in Art History from the College of Visual and Performing Arts at UMass Dartmouth in 2015.

Incase site redesign.

After graduating, Joe began work at Drizly, a tech startup based in Boston. During his time there, Joe expanded on his design knowledge through a deep dive in branding and web design. Working at a technology company informed his considerations for how design affects daily interactions between people and the built environment around them.

His following work at Incase gave Joe the opportunity to work on refreshing a brand with a long design-driven history. Joe spearheaded many projects, including a website redesign, establishing an iconographic system that was utilized on packaging and digital media, user interface design for an app, and art direction for studio and lifestyle photography.

Spread for Beyond the Break.

Joe aims to deliver thoughtful and challenging concepts through a process of research, development, and refinement. He is currently working at ICNCLST/, an artist management and creative intelligence agency, which allows him to work in tandem with culturally leading photographers, designers, painters, and illustrators on a variety of commercial collaborations. His multidisciplinary design language has been realized through his collaborative work with Apple, Google, Nike, Zipcar, and Levi’s, among others.