SMA is a progressive and rare genetic disease that affects the motor neuron cells in the spinal cord and impacts the muscles used for breathing, eating, crawling, and walking.

ZOLGENSMA is the only treatment that addresses the genetic cause of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) with just one dose, and is a type of medicine called gene therapy. It replaces the function of the missing or nonworking SMN1 gene with a new, working SMN gene. The new SMN gene helps the body’s cells—particularly the motor neuron cells—to keep producing SMN protein.

I assisted the ZOLGENSMA creative team for ~2 months while they needed extra resources. In that time, I led the creative on this video for NSM, which had little time to produce and an even littler budget. To work within these limitations, we leveraged existing patient/caregiver assets and leaned on some simple kinetic typography to generate some excitement amongst sales reps.

One of my roles as an extra art hand was to assist and lead the junior team in executing a concept that the client had fallen in love with. When I came in, they had shown the client 2 options to engage patients/caregivers at the booth: a series of cute photo frames for kids to capture on an ipad and print, and a interative Rube Goldberg machine. The client wanted to combine both (without changing the budget, of course).

Together, the team created an experience where the kids could take their picture, put it in a circular photo frame, send that image into an animated Rube Goldberg machine, watch it traverse obstacles, and print it out on the other side. The result was a fun, interactive booth that patients and clients alike were really pleased with.

Art and copy created a schematic visualizing a clear storyflow to track the many moving parts and obtain client and med/legal approvals.

We collaborated with UX, XD, and Creative Engineering teams to create the 2 screens (iPad on left, monitor on right).

May the quality of this video act as future rationale for always sending an art person to the convention.