Summer at MoMa : Visualizing Color, Emotion & Season

“A season seen through light, color, and feeling.”

Campaign Concept

“Summer at MoMA” is a speculative graphic design campaign created to reimagine how The Museum of Modern Art might connect with the public through large-scale, outdoor visual storytelling. Drawing from MoMA’s Open Access Collection, the campaign explores the sensory and emotional qualities of summer—not just as a season, but as a moment to pause, feel, and reconnect with art.

The project features a series of poster mockups using works by Claude Monet, Agnes Pelton, Paul Signac, and other modernist painters whose use of light, color, and form speak directly to themes of reflection, rhythm, and emotional resonance. Each design pairs a carefully selected artwork with a poetic message or campaign phrase that encourages viewers to see summer as more than a time of activity—but as an invitation to observe, to slow down, and to experience meaning through art.

Designed for urban environments like NYC’s SoHo or industrial rooftops, these visual ads aim to blend MoMA’s institutional voice with an approachable, human tone—balancing clarity and curiosity in a contemporary way.

Final Poster Designs

Tagline: This summer, discover where light becomes meaning.”
Featured Artwork: The Foundations by Agnes Pelton, 1931
Credit: Public Domain. Courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Tagline: Point by point. Moment by moment.

Featured Artwork: Opus 217. Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints, Portrait of M. Félix Fénéon, Paul Signac, 1890
Credit: Public Domain. Courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Tagline: “A season to slow down. A space to feel.”
Featured Artwork: Abstraction Blue, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1927
Credit: Public Domain. Courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Tagline: “A season to slow down. A space to feel.”
Featured Artwork: Water Lilies by Claude Monet, 1914–26
Credit: Public Domain. Courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Public Display Mockups

This series of posters explores summer as a sensory experience through the lens of modern art. Each design pairs a carefully selected public domain artwork from MoMA’s collection with a poetic phrase that invites reflection, movement, or stillness. Together, they form a visual narrative that reimagines the city as a seasonal gallery — one where light, color, and rhythm guide the viewer inward. Designed to live in public spaces, these posters are not just advertisements, but invitations to pause, observe, and reconnect with the emotional language of art.

Reflection

This project allowed me to explore how visual storytelling can shift public perception of art from something confined within museum walls to something encountered in everyday life. By selecting public domain artworks that evoke the feeling of summer—through light, rhythm, and emotional tone—I aimed to create a campaign that invites people to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the sensory power of modern art.

Designing this campaign challenged me to balance visual elegance with accessibility. I learned to work with historical artwork in a way that respects its origin while recontextualizing it for contemporary audiences. Each poster required thoughtful integration of color, typography, and message—all guided by the overarching goal of making MoMA’s presence in the city feel human, poetic, and alive.

If this were a live campaign, I’d explore expanding it across digital and interactive formats, such as animated signage, public audio pairings, or an AR experience that lets viewers step inside the artworks. Ultimately, this project deepened my interest in designing for public engagement, where art and design can create moments of meaning in the most unexpected places.

Credits

Artwork Sources
All artworks featured in this campaign were sourced from the Museum of Modern Art’s Open Access Collection. Each work is in the public domain and was selected for its emotional, seasonal, and visual resonance with the campaign concept.

Abstraction Blue, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1927
The Foundations, Agnes Pelton, 1931
Opus 217. Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints, Portrait of M. Félix Fénéon, Paul Signac, 1890
Water Lilies, Claude Monet, 1914–26

Acknowledgment
Images courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Public Domain. Accessed via MoMA’s Open Access initiative.

Design Tools
Adobe Illustrator & Adobe Photoshop

Project by
Hector Rodriguez Aguilar, 2025
Speculative campaign project for portfolio use. Not affiliated with or commissioned by MoMA.