Jake’s career has been a series of projects.

Some for fun. Some for money. Lucky for him, many for both.

Looking for my design work? →
 
 

The List Maps

The List Maps is a collection of Jake’s recommendations and reviews of cities around the world in a map form for wherever you’re traveling.

 

BettVR With Age

Director, Editor, Producer (2016-2017)
A series of Virtual Reality films aimed at enriching the lives of senior citizens. Featured in Wired and Vice.

Watch the documentary →

 
100 Albums Jake Kahana

100 Albums

100 3x3” watercolor paintings of some the greatest albums of all time. Done as part of the #100DayProject

 

People In My Life

A series of 150 illustrations of the coworkers, friends, and family members in Jake’s life. Based on the insight from Dunbar’s Number– the psychological limit to the number of relationships humans can keep (~150).

 

45 Villains

45 Watercolor paintings of Donald Trump as famous cinematic villains. Featured in NY Daily News and Huffington Post.

 
Youre Better Than Brunch

You’re Better Than Brunch

A weekend adventure club to build community around intentional living. Jake created it, designed monthly postcards for events he planned, and sent them out in the mail. As a community, they toured breweries, played capture the flag at the Met, went to parades, built snow castles in Central Park and more.

(The site was taken down in 2021. RIP.)

 

Children In Cages Mural

During the height of the Trump presidency, Jake had a short artist residency in Heraklio, Greece to paint a mural. He chose the topic of immigrants and refugees which was part of a global conversation which focused on Greece and the thousands of middle eastern and European refugees seeking asylum, many of whose first stop was Crete.

Read more about my process here →

 

The Creative Department

Management training for a community emerging creative leaders. Our first cohort included creative leaders from companies including Lego, charity:water, Liberty Mutual, PicsArt, Misen, and more. Collaborated with Andre Plaut.

(The site was taken down in 2022.)

 

The Power of Water

An unofficial collaboration with charity:water and their brand content lead Tyler Riewer, using watercolors to paint scene of the communities they serve. 24×36″.

 
TheLifeReader.jpg

The Life Reader

Every year, Jake compiles the best articles he read, capture his favorite images, and explore the year's themes and reflections.

Download past collections:
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

 
 
Once Upon a Pancake

Once Upon a Pancake

A book of story starters for creative writers to work collaboratively, launched and funded on Kickstarter. In Collaboration with Rick Benger.

Buy the book here →

 

Playstation

In his first advertising job, Jake art directed on the PlayStation account. He created some iconic and award-winning commercials and campaigns. In this one above, we actually launched cars, trucks, and motorcycles out of a plane to tell the story of an extreme racing game taking place on an island.

Gold and Silver Addy Awards

 

Samsung Mobile

Several ad campaigns and commercials poking fun at iPhones and Apple fanboys and showcasing Samsung phones. Jake was a senior designer on the brand for almost 2 years, making Superbowl commercials and 90 second ads that ran during primetime during the week of the iPhone launch.

Won AdAge Viral Brand of the Year (2012) an Effie, Jay Chiat Grand Prix award, and hit the Reddit top 10 as well as parodied on late-night TV.

 

Skylanders Launch

In 2015, Skylanders crossed $3B in sales, making it one of the top 20 highest-selling video game franchises of all time. It combines physical toys that come to life in a video game. Jake was an art director on the marketing team to launch the series in 2011. Working with director Jorma Taccone of The Lonely Island to create humorous and compelling content and imagery to launch the brand with a memorable bang. Here’s the launch video.