Graphic Design & Art Direction
I designed a set of wayfinding signage concepts for MoMath’s new facility at 19th Street and Sixth Avenue. Although the space ultimately opened without using these designs, the project was an engaging exploration of spatial communication, and I’ve included the work here as part of my portfolio.
Over the years I was graphic designer at the National Museum of Mathematics one of the recurring projects I worked on was the creation of promotional and informational graphics of for the museum’s art gallery: Composite. Below are a handful of the promotional sign graphics from a select group of shows.
For years, I’ve been contracted by The Art of Problem Solving to create the t-shirt designs that the participants of a mathematical competition receive. It’s a fun creative exercise to do something different with each successive year. The illustrations in the 2025 t-shirt were created by my brother, Cary Polkovitz.
A logo design for the National Museum of Mathematics’ junior high and high school social evenings.
A promotional piece for an interactive talk at MoMath.
MoMath moved down the block and required some new signs for those who needed to go. Here are a couple concepts.
In 2023 a new tessellating tile was discovered that opened the door to several others that disproved long-standing geometry theories about tiling patterns. “The Hat” was the first of at least three new tiles that created aperiodic patterns (non-repeating).
In celebration of this, MoMath and the UK Maths Trust ran a celebration and contest to create art with this new tile. I was tasked with creating a logo for this event.
One of my duties as Graphic Designer for the National Museum of Mathematics in New York is to create graphics for the annual gala. This was one from 2015 honoring Santiago Calatrava, whose Occulus building down in the Financial District had just been completed. The design was informed by his style and the Occulus specifically.
The National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) went online-only during the COVID19 pandemic of 2020. In order to continue the mission of education – in this case specifically for very young children – the educators employed by the MoMath created lessons to be taught via ZOOM. These are some of the illustrations that were created to be used on the worksheets that were designed for use in MoMath’s MathPlay program.
As an on-staff graphic designer (or, rather, THE on-staff graphic designer) of a museum, the repetitive nature of the work can start to grind you down. I had seen a job offer online and decided to mess with the concept, even though I wasn’t going to get the freelance gig… you know, to keep those creative juices flowing. The job was for a baby food company in one of the antipodal nations who needed a logo. I found the idea of it intriguing so I took a shot at it.
Jason Polkovitz 