NOELLE DARTS





Animations and videos to promote Cooper Hewitt collection and exhibitions.

TEAM
Xhosa Fray-Chinn (Director of Video Production)
Olivia Manno (Social Media Manager)
Pamela Horn (Cross-Platform Director)

GOAL
As the Peter A. Kreuger Digital Media Intern, I was tasked with spending the summer assisting the Cross Platform Publishing department create video content for social media.

CONTEXT
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum maintains an active Instagram account with almost 250K followers.

My role as Digital Media Intern was to help film and edit long-form video content for YouTube, such as artist interviews, and explore how new animations could diversify our Instagram feed and drive engagement.



1. Filming Artist Chris Payne at Pencil Factory

Chris Payne is an industrial photographer and the focus of our current exhibition, Made in America.

I contributed to documenting a visit with Chris Payne at General Pencil Company (where many of his photographs are staged). The resulting YouTube video interviewed and demonstrated his artistic process.

KEY INSIGHTS
    1. Collaboration enhances authenticity
    Working closely with the artist and visiting his photography locations created engaging content.

    1. Behind-the-scenes content resonates
    Audiences are drawn to process-focused, intimate storytelling, because it creates the feeling of exclusivity.



    2. Animating objects from the museum collection  

    I was tasked with creating an independent project that would help increase engagement on Instagram.

    At first, I experimented with animations of the Andrew Carnegie Mansion (where the museum is housed), and colorful drawings of figures associated with the museum history.

    However, after conducting a deep dive into their Instagram, I noticed their feed primarily includes:
    • High-quality photographs of objects from the museum collection
    • Exhibition previews and event promotions
    • Artist and studio interviews

    I observed that:
    • Posts featuring objects from the collection performed reliably
    • Posts with motion or storytelling (e.g. artist interviews) were more likely to go viral
    Carnegie mansion chandelier
    Mansion exterior
    Historical figures

    An artist interview
    An object from the permanent collection
    An object from the permanent collection
         This suggested an opportunity: animating static objects could add novelty and boost engagement while staying aligned with the museum’s voice.

    Another way I created a new energy while staying consistent with the brand identity was by creating a handwritten version of the standard Cooper Hewitt font, which I titled Margaret (after Andrew and Lousie Carnegie’s daughter).

    Since the Cooper Hewitt Instagram feed displays colorful objects, I used bright backgrounds in my animations to match, and     I picked relatively simple objects from the collection because they made more sense as drawings.
     KEY INSIGHTS
      1. Successful content balances experimentation & data-driven insights
      Creative exploration was most effective when grounded in observed engagement patterns from the museum’s existing Instagram content.

      2. Small shifts matter
      Introducing a handwritten version of the Cooper Hewitt font allowed for a fresh visual element that still aligned with the established design language.