The Future is Bright - Hudson Yards
When I first connected with Culture Corps, a New York-based art consultancy, I was tasked with creating window cling graphics for 10 Hudson Yards—a highly visible commercial tower housing major corporate offices and influential visitors. This was the building’s inaugural holiday season, and everyone wanted to make an unforgettable impression on New York’s bustling art scene. My initial role seemed straightforward: translate artist Bovey Lee’s intricately hand-cut paper snowflakes into digital vectors while preserving the delicate, handmade feel of her work.
Almost immediately, I discovered that preserving authenticity in a large-scale, vinyl window display isn’t just a matter of scanning and tracing. Bovey’s artwork featured dozens of tiny negative spaces, precise lines, and subtle flourishes—all of which could easily vanish if vectorized incorrectly. Using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I tackled each snowflake section by section, working at high zoom levels to retain every flourish and exporting test prints to confirm the cling opacity and detail alignment. Despite hectic New York timelines, I embraced an efficient workflow: saving often, splitting my screen to view both broad composition and microscopic details simultaneously, and testing materials to achieve the perfect blend of handmade aura and professional finish.
Then came an unexpected twist. Mid-project, budget changes cut the number of Bovey’s commissioned snowflakes from four to two, leaving the overall layout visually unbalanced. Rather than let the installation fall flat, I proposed designing a third snowflake—an entirely new piece that would harmonize with Bovey’s style yet remain distinct from her hand-cut originals. Early on, I realized the importance of inclusivity for viewers on both sides of the glass, so I incorporated “The Future Is Bright” in a symmetrical, radial layout, mirroring the text so half faced inward and half outward. This approach not only solved the two-way legibility issue but also gave the entire installation a distinct graphic identity.
On installation day, the 60-foot glass panels posed yet another challenge—I had to trust architectural drawings rather than rely on physical measurements. Through close collaboration with Culture Corps and the installers, we ensured everything aligned seamlessly with the lobby’s floor-to-ceiling windows. The final result? Visitors were greeted by a peaceful swirl of snowflakes—two designed by Bovey Lee and one by me—floating among fragrant Norfolk pines. Culture Corps applauded the extra mile I went to maintain visual harmony and conceptual depth, and Hudson Yards continued the tradition of holiday art installations in subsequent years.
Ultimately, working on “The Future Is Bright” taught me the value of flexibility and creative problem-solving when confronted with shifting budgets, multiple stakeholders, and compressed timelines. I learned to balance fidelity to an original artist’s style with the need for fresh design solutions—an experience that will undoubtedly inform my future work in large-scale, public-facing design projects.