Chris founded yazi in the summer of 2000, and is the studio's heart and soul. He brings over twenty-five years of award-winning local, national and international design experience to the firm. A love for art and creation has been a constant thread in his life and that passion is evident in his exceptional body of design work.
Born and raised in Lexington, Massachusetts he moved to Miami in 1985 after graduating with honors from Boston University with an SFA in graphic design. Chris served for many years as the Managing Creative Director at Tom Graboski Associates, Inc., where he designed and managed projects for the firm's largest clients.
Early in his career, Chris served as project manager and principal designer for more than eight of Royal Caribbean International's new cruise ship projects. Working with a team of international architects and designers, and shipyards in both France and Finland, Chris designed complete wayfinding systems onboard the ships to direct and orient passengers during their cruise vacation. Each project required several thousand man-hours of design and management per ship; regular presentations and board meetings with top executives; onsite design and product analysis at the shipyards; and close coordination with an international team of designers and fabricators scattered around the globe.
In 1996, Chris designed the award winning brand identity for the Miami City Ballet. In that same year he also won a competition to design the poster for the Miami Olympic Soccer venue, a part of the Centennial Summer Olympic games in Atlanta.
In later years, Chris served as studio Art Director for a themed environmental graphics project for Universal Studios Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando; designed and managed new entry site features and directional signage for Carnival Corporation's world headquarters in Miami; completed a new wayfinding system for Celebrity Cruise's Millennium; and designed a new wayfinding and signage program for the University of Miami School of Medicine.
In 2000 and 2001, Chris served as the Art Director for the Miami Film Festival and was a member of the festival's organizing committee. He also established the Festival's first web site in 1996, and remained its principal designer through 2001.
Most recently, Chris has designed and developed wayfinding programs for three of Turnberry's premiere retail environments including Aventura Mall, Destin Commons, and Town Square in Las Vegas. Other recent environmental graphic projects include the Miami River Greenway, Calder Casino & Race Course, City of Ft. Lauderdale Wayfinding Program, CityPlace and Cocowalk - as well as wayfinding masterplans for the Doral Design District, Historic Downtown Kissimmee, and Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.
A few more highlights of recent work include branding and print campaigns for the Archdiocese of Miami's ABCD drive; exhibition catalog design for the Lowe Art Museum; print, web and advertising for the Miami Science Museum; branding and publication design for Brickell Gallery Night; and branding, web, photography and print design for the University of Miami's Center for Humanities, Public Sculpture Program, and Green Building initiative.
Chris has photographed junior and professional tennis for over ten years. His photographs have been published in two tennis books The Bud Collins History of Tennis (2008), and Tennis Made Easy, Essential Strokes & Strategy for the Modern Game (2010). In addition, his architectural photos have been featured in The Brickellian magazine (2009, 2010) as well as several University of Miami publications.
Chris is a professional member of the Society of Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD). He has won numerous awards for his work, and his work has appeared in a variety of publications.