Joanne Lam

Joanne Lam

Projects

2024

A project exploring my affinity for the colour green—and how it relates to a character on The Bear—through writing, music, art, and design.

2023

An anthology of medical humanities created by Emily F. Peters, featuring commissioned pieces, stories, and conversations with collaborators working at the intersection of art and healthcare.

The book's design concept cites instances where health and personal expression overlap, from prescription notepads for doctors' handwriting to ochre pigments used throughout history as both paint and medicament.

Hardcover, 6 x 8.5 in, 232 pages

Creative Producer: Joanne Lam
Book Production Design Assistant: Elaine Chen
Project Manager: Amber Cooley
Operations Manager: Claudia Gutierrez-Smith

2023
Brand Identity & Microsite at Anatomy Financial

Anatomy's platform helps streamline and automate healthcare financial operations. While in stealth mode, I worked with co-founders Sasha and Callum King to develop a preliminary visual identity around illustrations from Anatomia humani corporis, highlighting the engraving technique that early medical art and banknotes share in common.

Anatomy raised $7.6M in seed funding in 2024.

Creative/Art Direction & Design: Joanne Lam
Communications: Ashley Greer
Brand Strategy: Emily F. Peters

2023
Brand Refresh at Intrepid Ascent

Intrepid Ascent is an IT consulting partner for community health improvement. This suite of brand artwork represents the emergent "collaborative ecosystem" approach to co-creation between Intrepid, their clients, and stakeholders across healthcare, government, social services, housing, and schools.

Art Direction: Joanne Lam
Artist: Elaine Chen

2022
Brand Refresh & Website at DexCare

Conveying DexCare's intelligent decisioning technology through modular visuals inspired by the maxim "form follows function". References to subway maps, Swiss railway clocks, and DexCare's product dashboard encapsulate the theme of helping health systems to find time for the best care.

DexCare raised $75M in Series C funding after the brand refresh.

Creative/Art Direction & Design: Joanne Lam
Artist: Karolina Ficek
Communications: Kaitlin Rebella
Brand Strategy: Emily F. Peters

2021

Part of Otherly, a co-production of 7 short documentaries—all originally designed for the Instagram Stories vertical format—between the National Film Board of Canada and American Documentary's interactive division, POV Spark. This marked the first collaboration between the two internationally renowned institutions.

Writer & Director: Joanne Lam (Canada)
Art Director & Illustrator: James Lee Chiahan (Canada)
Animation Lead: Una Di Gallo (Canada)
Sound Designer & Sound Editor: Jonathan Webb (Scotland)
Composer: Vassilis Philippou (Cyprus)

2021
Brand Identity & Website at Kindred at Home

A rapid 1-month launch for the Center for Nursing Excellence and Advancement brand and website viewed exclusively on small Samsung tablets. Artwork scenes depict home health nurses in preparatory stages of their work, showcasing the dedication, skills, and heart of the profession.

Humana acquired Kindred at Home which now operates as CenterWell Home Health.

Creative/Art Direction & Design: Joanne Lam
Artist: Christy Lundy
Editorial: John Fox, David McLain
Communications: KT McGraw, Emily F. Peters

2021

Uncommon Bold is a brand strategy agency supporting health tech companies and organizations across the US. The artwork portrays community spaces built around medical cues as architectural structures, with jewel tones serving as the foundation of the palette.

Creative/Art Direction & Design: Joanne Lam
Artist: Una Di Gallo

2021
Brand Identity & Website at Civitas Networks For Health

Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) and Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC) merged to become Civitas Networks for Health, a nationwide platform helping local nonprofit health collaboratives and HIEs to grow and thrive together. Modular brand visuals depict the diverse American architectural landscape as interconnected and data-driven.

Winner of the 2022 Medigy HITMC Award for Non-Profit Website of the Year.

Creative/Art Direction & Design: Joanne Lam
Artist: Una Di Gallo
Naming & Communications: Ashley Greer
Brand Strategy: Emily F. Peters

2021
Brand Refresh & Website at FJA

A global leader for 30 years, FJA offers technical solutions that automate critical activities in the insurance purchasing process. Simple shapes in Hockney-inspired blues and greens form modular patterns—a nod to FJA's adaptability and breadth of expertise.

Creative Direction & Design: Joanne Lam
Communications: Jessica Cassady
Brand Strategy: Emily F. Peters

2020

"Flatten The Curve" was a graph (adapted from CDC's 2017 community mitigation guidelines report, and based on work by professor Carl T. Bergstrom, Esther Kim, Dr. Drew Harris, and Rosamund Pearce) used at the start of the pandemic to help the general public understand the capacity limits of our healthcare systems.

Given the urgency of the situation, I designed a series of social media-ready, easy-to-follow graphics and coordinated a grassroots public health campaign through Twitter. Volunteers from around the world helped translate the text into 13 languages - with a special contribution from Sharon Choi, director Bong Joon-ho's interpreter during his awards campaign for Parasite.

2019

Launched in tandem with cover designs for the MIPS Manual 7-booklet box set and a "Design Your Own Cover" booth at FemInEM Idea Exchange in New York. Doctors in emergency medicine shared stories they'd like to write; titles were then placed into each participant's chosen book cover template and mailed to them in a postcard format post-conference.

2015

A multi-sensory collaboration between six artists in five countries. Comprised of an illustrated storybook, a soundtrack of songs and soundscapes, and a trio of custom scents, all works share a common narrative about the journey of a roving cardboard box. Created in 2013, released in 2015. Edition of 500.

Listen to the project mixtape here.

Co-Creator, Creative Producer, Writer: Joanne Lam (Canada)
Co-Creator, Illustrator: Kyu Hwang (South Korea)
Sound Designer: Robin Rådenman (Sweden)
Perfumer: Jacqueline Steele (United States)
Singer/Songwriter: Lindsay Olsen (United States)
Graphic Designer: Nazara Lázaro (Spain)

Side Projects

Ongoing

A record shop and music spot based in New York. I've been making mixtapes for the site since 2009, and curated the 4-year anniversary contributor lineup.

2024

Shuffle through a selection of tunes inspired by the Chungking Express soundtrack.

2018
Desire/Expectation

Poster triptych concept for three of Edward Yang's films.

2017

A print-it-yourself series based on the traditional lunisolar calendar. Each month featured a notable woman of Chinese heritage, with accompanying audio of me interviewing my grandpa in Cantonese about the solar terms.

2015

A winter mixtape commissioned by the Warsaw-based design studio and magazine.

2014

Developed the multimedia curriculum and led the 12-week personal storytelling workshop for teens facing barriers to equal access, opportunities, and resources. This inaugural program was funded by Mozilla Foundation's Hive Toronto Learning Network.

2014

Wind chimes sound logo and soundscape submitted to the festival's Urban Soundscape Competition, judged by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Produced in collaboration with Robin Rådenman.

2013
Secrets at Soundry

Produced a series of short-form audio pieces using binaural microphones for Soundry, a now-defunct listening laboratory and magazine. Anonymous secrets were gathered both online and in person, then read by anonymous strangers.

2012

Short audio documentary about cultural estrangement and its effects on language, identity, and the meaning of home. Used as teaching material for an undergrad course called "The Global Ear" at Endicott College (thanks Todd!).

2012
Workshop Facilitator at COMMON

Participated in an all-hands workshop to re-articulate the mission and values of Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, resulting in a marketing and communications strategy that helped the clinic create relationships with 76,000 new patients and an estimated $200M in new revenue in six months.

2012

Impromptu audio interview with Michael Metzler - bellmaker, musician, and owner of Der Glockenladen in Berlin, Germany.

2010

Ten of my photos were published in the zine's first issue by UK-based artist and archivist Craig Atkinson. Edition of 250.

2010
Delegate at Global Initiatives Symposium

5-day forum in Taipei organized by National Taiwan University. Scholars, industry leaders, and student delegates from around the world gathered to exchange ideas and academic knowledge on the topic of globalization.

2010
Ten Minutes

Back-and-forth email collaboration of ten-minute mixtapes, illustrated by Kyu Hwang and curated by yours truly. Featured on The Fox Is Black, The Strange Attractor, and art4d.

Writing

2024

A project exploring my affinity for the colour green—and how it relates to a character on The Bear—through writing, music, art, and design.

2024

On nature and art as both inspiration and catalyst for regenerative problem solving.

2024

An essay about The Work (2017), the heartbeat it documents by accident, and how being heard is a necessary salve for the wounds we all carry within us. Commissioned by Are.na Editorial for the Are.na Annual 2025 anthology.

2024
In Pursuit of Clarity

A short piece about Orin standing bells and the ancient casting method still used to produce them. Featuring Nanjo Kobo, a family-owned foundry established in 1839 in Kyoto, Japan. Commissioned by Heartbeat, an upcoming sound and music magazine published by Broccoli.

2024

Reflecting on the process behind an experimental short doc I wrote and directed for the National Film Board of Canada and POV Spark.

2016

Contributor from 2013 to 2016, writing about contemporary classical music for the award-winning site powered by the American Composers Forum.

2011

A paper for an undergrad course called "Sound Culture", weaving together major topics covered throughout the semester.

Exhibitions

2024
Salamiou, Cyprus

APOT was shortlisted for the international non-narrative shorts competition as part of Animafest's 23rd edition programming.

2023
London, United Kingdom

APOT and the Otherly films were on display at BFI Southbank from February 6-12 as part of British Film Institute's exhibition programming.

2022
Montreal, Canada

APOT and the Otherly films made their festival premiere as part of Festival du Nouveau Cinéma's 50th edition programming.

2019
Certain Affinities at Winter Lights Festival
Reykjavík, Iceland

Audiovisual piece created for Tiny/Massive. The entire facade of Harpa Concert Hall became a canvas of light upon which conceptual and interactive works by international artists were displayed over the course of four days.

2018
In My Lifetime... at The Book Was Better Film Festival
New York & Oakland, United States

Found footage short film for the second edition of the festival hosted by BOOK/SHOP. Screenings were held at VSCO New York on October 15 and VSCO HQ in Oakland on October 22.

2017
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Featuring 60 exhibiting artists from around the world, Fully Booked was a satellite event to the 11th edition of Art Dubai and the 13th Sharjah Biennial.

2016
Outer Space

As part of the "We The Explorers" open call, our project's audiobook was sent into space aboard NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft while on its journey toward asteroid Bennu.

2015
Shelter at Piece of Mind
Vancouver, Canada

BC Psychological Association and the Vancouver Public Library curated a group exhibition on the theme of psychological health and resilience. My photo was one of the selected pieces.

2014
In The Silence Between Us at The Book Was Better Film Festival
Monte Rio, United States

Short film (based on My Face for the World to See by Alfred Hayes) for the inaugural event hosted by BOOK/SHOP at Rio Theater on October 25. Produced in collaboration with Danielle Holmes.

2012
Darmstadt, Germany

A meditation on the practice of soundscape composition, rendering the waning echoes of a cello into an oceanic torrent. Recorded in Högalid Church in Stockholm, Sweden. Produced in collaboration with Robin Rådenman.

2011
Stockholm, Sweden

An interactive installation conceptualized and built in five weeks by six digital media students.

Work Experience

2014 — Now
Design & Creative Consultant at Freelance
Remote

Clients: ArisGlobal, Bricault Design, Chegg, CCS Medical, Consortium for State and Regional Interoperability, COTA Healthcare, Do Right Music, Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, GRID Impact, Lidstone & Company, Pepper (Pomegranate Technologies), Primer&Co., Studio Linear, Wheel

2020 — 2023
Creative Lead at Uncommon Bold
San Francisco, United States (Remote)

Clients: Anatomy Financial, Blue Shield of California, Civitas Networks for Health, DexCare, Elation Health, FJA, Intrepid Ascent, Kindred at Home (CenterWell Home Health), Leap Orbit, Lyra Health, Manifest MedEx, Osmind

2019 — 2023
Creative Producer at Procedure Press
San Francisco, United States (Remote)
2019 — 2020
Brand Designer at Uncommon Bold
San Francisco, United States (Remote)
2013 — 2014
Graphic & Web Designer at Do Right Music
Toronto, Canada

Awards

2022
Digital Dozen from Columbia University School of the Arts Digital Storytelling Lab

A Portrait of Tracy, as part of Otherly

2022
Arts & Culture, Social - Nominee from Webby Awards

A Portrait of Tracy, as part of Otherly

2022
Non-Profit Website of the Year from Medigy HITMC

Client: Civitas Networks for Health

2011
Dean's Honour List from McGill University

Top 10% in the Faculty of Arts

2009
Charles E. Freme Memorial Scholarship from McGill University

Recommended by the Department of English

2008
J.W. McConnell Award from McGill University

Recommended by the Faculty of Arts

2008
MacLean Murray Scholarship from McGill University

Recommended by the Faculty of Arts

2007
National Book Award from University of Toronto

Education

2011 — 2012
Digital Media Creative at Hyper Island
Stockholm, Sweden
2007 — 2011
Bachelor of Arts, Cultural Studies at McGill University
Montreal, Canada

Minor in Communication Studies

2009 — 2010
ERASMUS Study Abroad at Lunds Universitet
Lund, Sweden

Contact

Website