From (Vivid) Zero to One Hundred
2/17/2023
CMSV Student Interns with California-Based Advertising Agency
At the Mount, you never know when opportunity is going to knock on your door—literally.
On a rather dreary day last spring, Assistant Professor of Studio Art Thomas Ray Willis was sitting in his office in Maryvale Hall when Michael Vamosy, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Vivid Zero—a brand and advertising agency that offers creative services across media, entertainment, and consumer products with a deep focus on innovative branding and campaign solutions—walked through the door.
Michael is the nephew of Mount alumna and current President of the Executive Board of the Alumnae/i Association, Peggy Steffann ’65. Michael was visiting NYC from his home in California and Peggy took the opportunity to show him around the campus of her alma mater while he was in town.
Michael and Professor Willis got to chatting, talking about Michael’s experience with Vivid Zero and Professor Willis’ work at the College.
And that’s when fate made itself known.
Michael mentioned that Vivid Zero was looking for a summer intern interested in graphic design. It just so happened that, earlier that day, Professor Willis had a meeting with Giovanni (Gio) Garufi ’23—a senior visual arts and experimental media (VAEM) major here at the College. Gio expressed that he was interested in finding an internship for the upcoming summer break, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Vivid Zero often sends out conglomerations of images like this one to clients and potential clients. Gio helped the team craft several of these pieces, including ones for abc7NY, “The Murders Behind The Marathon” Hulu special, and some early logo development for the branding project for Harbinger.
Professor Willis connected Gio to Michael, and Gio was overjoyed at the chance to get to work with Vivid Zero.
“Honestly, I was surprised when Michael brought me on as an intern,” noted Gio. “I was interested in learning more about graphic design, but I’ll admit that I didn’t have all that much experience. Reflecting back, it was probably better that I didn’t go into the internship with a ton of prior knowledge. I was able to open my mind to what the company does and expand my awareness.”
Gio hit on one of the best parts about getting involved in an internship while studying at the Mount: students get the opportunity to learn what they like (or what they don’t like) about a particular field before officially joining the workforce.
“I knew Gio would be the perfect candidate for this internship,” noted Professor Willis. “He has a very driven work ethic—often staying late in the studio or lab to perfect his projects. He is always experimenting with his creativity, and I knew that would be an asset at Vivid Zero.”
To top it off, Michael couldn’t have been happier to have Gio on the team.
“We really enjoyed having Gio with us this past summer at Vivid Zero,” Michael reflected. “We threw him into the deep right at the start and he flourished. It was nice to see his design skills and his ability to articulate his vision improve over the course of the summer.”
This was one of the initial design frames that Gio created for abc7. According to Michael, Gio’s photoshop skills elevated over the course of his internship and he was able to design and execute presentations to Vivid Zero’s clients at an extremely high level.
Gio transferred to the Mount from a college upstate in search of larger opportunities (at a smaller institution). With New York City as its backyard, the Mount was the perfect place for Gio to explore his interest in graphic design. And, with the individualized attention each professor in the Division of Communication, Art, and Media gives to their students, Gio knew he would have dedicated mentors to guide him every step the way.
Navigating his first few weeks as an intern wasn’t exactly easy. The internship was mostly virtual—since Vivid Zero is based in Los Angeles and Gio lives here in New York. He had to adjust his work hours and Zoom calls to accommodate the west coast time zone. But, the most important lesson he learned was to have the confidence to jump straight into the work and put aside the fear of making mistakes.
“Interning for Vivid Zero really opened my eyes to all of what graphic design could be,” said Gio. “It’s not just creating logos and making thumbnails for websites and social media—it’s so much more.”
Gio was part of the team that developed the key art for the Hulu special on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, “The Murders Before the Marathon.”
Vivid Zero creates anything from poster designs to rebrands for major news networks.
“I gained a greater understanding of Adobe programs—mainly Photoshop and Illustrator—and witnessed the design process from start to finish,” Gio added. “We conceptualized, worked with designers and animators, and followed the projects to completion.”
Of course, all of Gio’s hard work was not for naught. Not only did he gain invaluable experience in the field, he also worked on projects that were included in Vivid Zero’s professional portfolio.
Some of those projects included creating a promotional poster for the Hulu special “The Murders Before the Marathon;” a logo design for Kan News, an Israeli news network; and a logo design for Harbinger, a new electric vehicle company.
One of the most interesting projects Gio worked on was a storyboard for a commercial for Velocity Global, an innovative company that helps businesses grow their reach.
Some of Gio’s early image creations for Velocity Global.
Michael started off by tasking Gio to design frames for a Velocity Global’s logo animation.
“I saw something in his initial storyboards that was really appealing,” Michael recalled. “We worked together to explore this simple idea and expand on it. And while Velocity Global didn’t initially love the graphics for their logo animation, they were intrigued by the concept and wanted to turn it into a commercial.”
In fact, Velocity Global liked Gio’s idea so much, they decided to grow the original 10-to-12-second commercial into a full 60-second sizzle of an ad.
Want to check out that Velocity Global brand film? Click here!
“Gio’s work with Velocity Global was a great example of coming up with a simple idea, expanding upon it, and staying true to the concept while executing it flawlessly across design, edits, sound design, motion graphic animation, special effects, music, and voice over,” continued Michael.” So many people help to shape and develop concepts like this to get them to a final product, but they always start with a simple idea at the beginning—and that idea was Gio’s.”
More examples of Gio’s design work are sprinkled throughout this story. Each of the images represents a Vivid Zero project Gio had some hand in—whether it was in the design itself, the idea, or the production. Be sure to read each caption to learn more!
“Several of Gio’s designs and concepts made it into presentations to our clients,” said Michael. “He also was able to help us with a live action production shoot for abc7NY, where he was a production assistant and even an extra in a few scenes. He made himself extremely useful while we worked on the three-day shoot and everyone on set really enjoyed his energy—especially the news anchors.”
Working on that shoot was one of the highlight’s of Gio’s internship experience.
“It was my first delve into production,” said Gio. “I got to see nothing turn into something—and that was cool.”
Gio’s internship wrapped up just before the start of the fall 2022 semester here at the Mount, but he’s grateful for all he learned under Michael and his team.
“I feel very fortunate to have been able to intern with Vivid Zero and witness their work,” Gio reflected. “It was motivating to see a smaller company engaging with such big projects—and their success is entirely attributable to their work ethic. It was a great environment to work in and, even though I was a remote intern, everyone was constantly checking in and wanted to help me learn.”
What’s next for Gio after crossing the commencement stage this May?
“I’m still not set on any particular career path,” Gio admitted. “I have a lot of interests that I would still like to explore. After graduation, I may look for additional paid internships in different artistic or design fields to broaden my horizons.”
Gio would also like to continue pursuing his passions for art and music in his free time. And he can’t forget his love for soccer! He hopes to continue to play at some level—and might even look into coaching.
“Whatever path I go down, I know my degree in VAEM from the Mount—coupled with my experience working with Vivid Zero—will put me in a good spot for future career opportunities. I’m excited to see what’s to come.”
About the University of Mount Saint Vincent
Founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity, the University of Mount Saint Vincent offers nationally recognized liberal arts education and a select array of professional fields of study on a landmark campus overlooking the Hudson River. Committed to the education of the whole person, and enriched by the unparalleled cultural, educational and career opportunities of New York City, the College equips students with the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary for lives of achievement, professional accomplishment and leadership in the 21st century.