NYC Civic by Design Challenge
Logo, Naming, Motion and Sound Design
Logo, Naming, Motion and Sound Design
Viewing tip: make sure your sound is on!
In 2026, AIGA and Designpreneurs Hackathon hosted an online design challenge.
The brief: NYC is vibrant. NYC is loud.
New Yorkers file roughly 610,000 noise complaints a year, the single most common complaint in the city. Most people who file one never find out what happened. Design a creative noise complaint solution where New Yorkers actually get closure.
Solutions could be in the form of branding, UX/UI, or motion; I chose branding and motion.
Concept 1
I had a lot of ideas, so I ended up presenting three distinct campaign concepts.
The name of the first one, "Sound Off NYC," references something New Yorkers are uniquely good at: expressing their opinions (e.g. “sound off in the comments below”). The campaign, however, turns the phrase into a call to keep things quieter for a change.
Concept 2
This campaign, "Turn It Down," plays on the night life that makes the city famous — but can keep residents up all hours. It’s a reminder to take care of yourself, and each other, by taking your volume down a notch.
Concept 3
The final campaign, "Cut the Shh," talks like a New Yorker—that is, directly.
A couple of anthropomorphic ear-shaped characters portray the natural (if sometimes explosive) frustration residents feel when excessive noise won’t stop, and how everyone can be—and have—better neighbors with better sound habits.
A couple of anthropomorphic ear-shaped characters portray the natural (if sometimes explosive) frustration residents feel when excessive noise won’t stop, and how everyone can be—and have—better neighbors with better sound habits.
Official Entry
The contest required submissions to be in the form of a Figma presentation with an intro about the designer, accompanied by a 150-word statement about the project:
My planning for this project revolved around the three principles of the NYC Digital Design System (designsystem.nyc.gov): products should be “easy for everyone, trustworthy, and future-forward.”
The ideas I’m submitting use simple graphics to communicate clear concepts, and a straight-to-the-point voice to speak directly and colloquially to New Yorkers. The copy also leans on ideas of community and looking out for one another — something we could all use more of.
Because I couldn’t decide on just one concept (and had too much fun), I’m including three different solutions, each with a name, logo, and motion clip. The first concept (“Sound Off NYC”) visualizes sound with iconography; the second concept (“Turn It Down”) links the cityscape with volume and encourages New Yorkers to cut down on nighttime noise; and the third concept (“Cut the Shh”) embodies the frustration of living with noisy neighbors.