Movement
Overview
Heat in Motion is a motion and static piece a part of the 2025-2026 Movement Billboard Competition among CCS Juniors. As the presenter, researcher, and assistant designer, I focused on doing research and building moodboards for our different directions, making our presentation and presenting our ideas to Paxahau, also assisting with designing several different iterations for the motion of our billboard. To bring this to life, this was designed in After Effects, and the presentation was done in Figma.
HEAT IN MOTION
PROCESS
Throughout the process of coming to the winning Heat in Motion billboard, there were 2 different concepts that pitched to Paxahau. First, we developed the idea of heat in motion, playing with the idea that Movement is the ‘kickoff of the summer’ in Detroit. We tested a psychedelic approach and a beach approach. Our second direction was Inside the Pulse, exploring Movement’s 20 years of techno music technology, hardware, and design history. Ultimately after meeting with Paxahau, they wanted us to explore the Heat in Motion direction. After some revisions, we made a presentation that we pitched in front of the class and the client, putting all of our work head to head. Ultimately, Paxahau chose our billboard to develop and subsequently won the contest. After Paxahau asked for some final revisions, it was posted by the Russell Industrial Center.
GOALS
The goal was to create a motion billboard that was easily legible, following all the brand guidelines movement gave us, and speaking to the themes Movement was promoting this year. The project is for college students and adults, who are fans of festivals or techno music driving on the express way.
CHANLLENGE
The primary challenge of the project revolved around working with a client for the first time. Up until this point, the work had all been assigned or done in association with an academic institution, but working professionally with Paxahau was a fun new professional experience that gave us practical experience presenting and working alongside a client.
CONCLUSION
The final deck presents a comprehensive breakdown of our process and variations of our final design that demonstrates alignment with the brand guidelines, legibility from the road, and celebrates the themes which Movement was marketing the festival around for Summer 2026. This experience taught me the value of communication and how to best work on one creative project with a team of people, often needing to hand the files off from one person to the next. Additionally, the client experience was valuable to future creative projects I have worked on with other companies.
