How do you inspire New Yorkers to demand a new way of life?

New York City streets make up its largest public space, but more than 75% of that space is devoted to the private automobile—despite the vast majority of New Yorkers not owning a car or driving to work. In early 2021, the nonprofit Transportation Alternatives and urban design firm WXY launched their 25x25 campaign, aimed at convincing NYC mayoral candidates and voters to push for permanently converting 25% of the city’s streets to pedestrian-dominant uses by 2025.

In preparation for the launch, TA and WXY approached me about creating an animation that could inspire New Yorkers to see their existing, car-dominated streetscapes with new eyes. They had written a set of narratives that could be adapted into short animations, but didn’t have much of a sense of what would be possible in a short amount of time.

I helped them to explore narrative and animation ideas through thumbnails, script outlines, and moodboards, and pushed them to deliver a single, strong message that would quickly immerse New Yorkers into a new world and help them believe that what they’re seeing is real.

WXY and TA were blown away by my concept explorations, and my approach helped them to develop a vision that was ultimately realized with director Ege Soyuer and his team of designers/animators.

Role: Concept Development
For: Transportation Alternatives + WXY Architecture & Urban Design
Date: 2021
Type: narrative strategy, urban design, media campaign

Directed by Ege Soyuer
Campaign website: https://nyc25x25.org/