Cell Operations. A fictional underground collective organizing against collapse.

Cell Operations is a self-initiated project: a fictional underground collective set in a near-future shaped by environmental collapse and corporate consolidation. I designed the organization the way I'd design a real one: identity system, visual language, communication strategy, recruitment tools. Then I built as much of it as I could across print, 3D, motion, fabrication, and narrative.

The branding reflects the world it exists in, stark and minimal. At its core though, Cell Operations is the thing that breaks through. Accent lights, cherry blossoms, hidden philosophy in the margins. The visual language is designed to stand out against bleakness, something that keeps the human spirit visible when everything else is trying to flatten it.

Mural concept with NFC tags embedded in the brushwork. Tap the right spot with your phone, receive coordinates, AR objects, encrypted messages. Public art as hidden infrastructure. This version is the proof of concept, designed to show how the system works with visible prompts and scan points. In practice, the guerrilla version would strip out the indicators.

Pictured Cell Ops banner 12ft. Still from a short film exploring how operatives survive in the Cell Operations world. 

Contact Points

Every brand, even those in dystopia, needs touchpoints. For Cell Operations, traditional channels aren't an option. So the contact points had to be built into the environment. Stickers on brick walls, hijacked gas station screens, messages embedded in infrastructure. Things designed to be found, not delivered.

Environmental Context

At the center of this world is a substance no one fully understands. Both sides study it. Corporations see something to extract and discard. Cell Operations sees something to understand. That difference shaped everything, the tools, the techniques, the philosophy.

MONOLITH

A 7-foot monolith I designed as a Cell Operations waypoint. In-world, operatives use landmarks like these to send and receive encoded messages. To everyone else, it's just public art. Modular two-piece construction designed to fit in an SUV and be relocated. Controllable lighting, Astera Titans.

In The End..

Cell Operations started as a concept and became something people actually engaged with. The logo has been worn on patches and hats, stuck on walls in multiple cities, and featured in a collaboration with a local coffee shop. People bought into the world without needing it explained to them. The brand worked the way a brand is supposed to work, it made people want to be part of something.

As a design exercise, this project pushed me through every discipline I work in. Brand identity, typography, illustration, 3D visualization, motion, physical fabrication, narrative writing, print production. Not as separate skills but as parts of one system that had to hold together across all of them. Everything I learned building Cell Operations made me a sharper, more versatile designer.