IGxMTA – Pedro Lavin (Studio)

Role: Creative direction
Client: Instagram
Production: Hornet

This OOH subway takeover for the MTA and Instagram celebrated the quirky, raw creativity of New York City, featuring content from a variety of NY based creators, including @subwaytakes, @whatnywears, @subwayhands; and local icons like @greenladyofbrooklyn and @newyorknico. The campaign blanketed 12 stations and covered every available ad space within them: from turnstiles, to tunnels, to digital displays.

The Experience

The primary challenge was designing a system flexible enough to account for hundreds of unique formats across multiple stations, all while maintaining a cohesive visual identity. We aimed to balance variety and unity so commuters could encounter consistent delight and surprise on their journey; while always maintaining a strong creative voice.

Ultimately, our goal was to celebrate the creativity that pulses under NY’s feet—its art, music, and culture—while reflecting Instagram’s mission: to support and champion creativity in all ways, shapes and forms.

Print Campaign

The MTA card proved to be the ideal vehicle to house the content featured in the campaign.

As an iconic and nostalgic element of the MTA experience, it succinctly symbolized our campaign. It was also a multifunctional graphic element and, at the right ratio to call back to a phone screen’s 9×16, provided the perfect framing device for our content. A window into the creativity that comes alive in the subway.

As a complete subway takeover, the campaign also extended to animated assets, which meant that the visual language also had to be versatile enough to work in a moving medium. To achieve the right balance of variety and visual cohesion, we devised a modular system of interchangeable, loopable animated pieces that could be mixed and matched depending on screen configuration per station.

Motion Campaign

Motion Campaign In-Situ

Production: Hornet

Creative Director: Pedro Lavin

Executive Producer: Cathy Kwan

Producer: Nico Benenati

Art Directors: Fran Roca, Kelsey Robinson

Design: Bernardo Charadía, Megan Chong, Claire Kho, Alberto Miranda, Kyuri Kim, Rachael Park, Érico Santana, Chris Sayres, Lucas Marinm, Stéphane Gibert, Eunsun Park, Julia Pitta

Motion Design: Wooyoung Kim, Gur Margalit, Mathieu Dellabe, Jon Smith

Print Lead: Joseph Totten

Print Design: Kim Doria, Mike Zizza

Photographer: Poupay Jutharat

Location Scouts: Amália Lage, Kyuri Kim, Timothy Khul

Photo Retouchers: Aldo Bizzarri, Wooyoung Kim, Pedro Lavin, Joe Totten

Compositor: Matthew Defranco

Conform Editors: Cole Bannick, Matthew Sandager

Photoshoot Producer: Annalee Walton

Production Coordinator: Kayce Lacson

Associate Producer: Arlon Tanzer

Talent Lead: Deanna Rivera

The Experience

Print Campaign

Motion Campaign

Motion Campaign In-Situ

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