Experiential Design / Art Direction / Strategy / Motion / Print
MoMA Exhibition Campaign: Art Direction and Strategy Design
Campaign Purpose
The campaign invites people to step into the world of Tim Burton beyond the walls of MoMA, collecting cards throughout the city. In return, they can redeem their collectible set for a discounted admission completing the loop between citywide exploration and the museum experience. By blending experiential design, illustration, and narrative storytelling, this campaign creates an immersive, playful journey through Burton’s worlds of outsiders, dreamers, and misfits.
Strategy
The Misfits Campaign was created which is a citywide collectible experience. Each film’s protagonist was condensed into a misfit archetype such as The Outsider, The Dreamer, The Loyal, The Strange, The Curious, The Gentle, and The Outcast.
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Collectibles are hidden throughout public New York City spaces, transforming the city into a playground of discovery, while clues and teasers are shared through The Misfits Instagram account to generate curiosity and a sense of secret invitation.
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The archetypes guided the collectible designs, featuring either the main character or a key symbolic element creating iconic, narrative-driven visuals that allow audiences to engage with Burton’s worlds even before entering the exhibition.
Visual Identity Design
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Bass often translated complex film narratives into a single visual metaphor. This approach connects well with the worlds created by Tim Burton, whose films also rely on strong silhouettes, exaggerated forms, and memorable visual motifs. Using this influence, the illustrations reduce each film to iconic symbols, allowing the characters and themes to be communicated through simple visuals.
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The In Between Worlds with Tim Burton exhibition showcases seven films such as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Frankenweenie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo and Batman Returns.
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Each card features a symbolic illustration inspired by one of Burton’s films and represents a different misfit archetype. As people encounter the cards across the city, they gradually uncover the characters and themes behind Burton’s worlds. The seven archetypes are The Outsider, The Dreamer, The Loyal, The Strange, The Curious, The Gentle and The Outcast.
The visual language of the campaign and illustrations were inspired by Saul Bass, known for his bold, simplified shapes and symbolic approach to storytelling.
MoMA CampaignVisually and conceptually, the campaign combines MoMA’s minimal, clean design style with Burton’s dark, whimsical aesthetic.
The promotional video for In Between Worlds with Tim Burton constructs a visual map composed of seven animated title sequences derived from the campaign illustrations. Each sequence represents one of the films featured in the exhibition and incorporates the original film poster along with a short 2–4 second clip from the movie.
Together, these elements connect the illustrated campaign visuals with Burton’s cinematic worlds, guiding viewers through the films highlighted in the exhibition.
Exhibition Motion Ad
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Original film posters and movie clips are owned by their respective copyright holders and are used here strictly for educational and non-commercial purposes as part of a student project.
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Introduction Titles composed by Danny Elfman
From the motion picture Edward Scissorhands
Included for educational and non-commercial purposes in this student project.