Create a design and graphic language that updates the historic Morgan Stanley ticker into something modern and dynamic. In doing so, the idea was to translate live market data, something that is traditionally mundane, into a unique and cinematic experience in order to stand up against the competing noise of Times Square.

The design system was created to be typographic, infographic and cinematic, with the flexibility to react to real-time animation. Important and practical design guidelines were established that define the layout, speed and scale of the visuals. Legibility was also a huge consideration throughout the process and influenced a number of design and execution decisions.

Morgan Stanley’s digital signage generates over 2,000 distinct pieces of content each day, informed by over 4 billion kilobytes of live data, reaching an audience of 460,000 people each day and 167 million people each year.

14 different exchanges and hundreds of live news headlines, paired with Morgan Stanley brand content, generate a well-balanced cadence of engaging content tuned to each day that presents the Morgan Stanley story.

Beyond the numbers, the signage serves as a modern and active outlet for Morgan Stanley – a way for the brand to connect with the world as a leading financial institution on the pulse of technology and innovation. This design and data-driven solution has allowed Morgan Stanley to build and reinforce its brand equity in one of the most public squares in the world.

The approach was to create a system that blends data and design in a way that is engaging, useful and visually compelling.

In order to captivate the diverse and fluctuating audience of Times Square, the visual system was created to inform content that is relevant and immediately understandable to the average consumer, while also interesting and practical for Morgan Stanley's very own clients and employees.

As Morgan Stanley planned to refresh the iconic screens at their world headquarters, they saw the update as an opportunity to reinforce their presence in Times Square. They invested in 13,000 square feet of (7) high-resolution screens and were in need of a unique creative partner to help them create, design and produce fresh content for those screens.

The project represents a new and unusual undertaking for the teams involved, though it stems from a collaborator specialty: data.