MTV x KAWS • 2013 VMAs

Designing a Live Cultural Experience Across Every Screen

During my time at MTV, I designed and art directed many of the network’s digital experiences across tentpole events, shows and cultural moments. The 2013 VMAs is one example I’ve chosen to highlight because it brought together so many of the things that defined that work: design, content, technology, live culture and multi screen storytelling.

For the 2013 VMAs, I helped shape the digital creative experience around one of MTV’s biggest cultural moments of the year. Working across design, content, technology and marketing, I helped translate the KAWS x MTV visual world into a connected system spanning television, web, mobile, social and out of home. The goal was not simply to create a destination for the show. It was to build an experience that could evolve in real time as culture unfolded around it.

My Role

Art Direction
Digital Creative Direction
Experience Design
Cross Platform Design
Content Creation
Integrated Marketing

KAWS x MTV

Launching a New Icon for the VMAs

For the first VMAs held in Brooklyn, MTV collaborated with KAWS to reimagine the iconic Moonman and create a visual identity rooted in the city.

I created the announcement video introducing the collaboration and helped translate that visual language into the digital experience, working closely with MTV’s on air and off air teams so the identity felt connected everywhere audiences encountered the show.

ONE SYSTEM. EVERY SCREEN.

The VMAs did not have one static look. The experience evolved throughout the weeks leading up to the show, from announcement and promotion through voting, performance coverage and the live event itself.

I helped create a flexible design system that could shift across desktop, mobile and social while still feeling like one cohesive VMA world.

DESIGNING IN REAL TIME.

When the show went live, so did we.

On VMA night, the digital experience became a live publishing system. Our team reacted to performances, winners and cultural moments in real time, updating digital destinations, surfacing social conversation and creating content designed to move as quickly as the audience did.

The work was no longer simply about designing a website. It was about creating an ecosystem capable of reacting to culture while it was happening.

IMPACT.

4M+ Digital visitors on show day
15M+ Total streams
120 National + worldwide trending topics
#1 Social TV event of the night

BRANDS WITHOUT BREAKING THE EXPERIENCE.

I also worked closely with MTV’s integrated marketing and ad sales teams to build sponsor participation into the digital ecosystem without disrupting the audience experience.

The challenge was the same one I still think about today: how do you bring a brand into culture in a way that feels additive rather than intrusive?

BEFORE “PLATFORM NATIVE” HAD A NAME.

Looking back, this project captures a lot of the ideas that still shape how I work today: build for the behavior of the medium, create systems instead of isolated assets, leave room for culture to move in real time and make every touchpoint feel connected.

The platforms have changed. The creative challenge has not.