Designers go digital on New York's Times Square

A Massey student and graduate with big design dreams have had at least one ambition realised – having their artwork showcased on billboards in New York’s Times Square.

Johnson Witehira and Elspeth Hoskin were in the Big Apple as their Kiwiana inspired designs went global - and were beamed back to Wellington via fibre connections live-streaming the event.

Staff and students crowded onto the forecourt at Massey’s Wellington campus today to see artwork by Mr Witehira, a Maori Fine Arts PhD candidate, and Ms Hoskin, a graphic design graduate, displayed at the New York landmark after winning a digital art competition. Images of the pair and their artwork were then live streamed back onto similar sized screens here, courtesy of telecommunications infrastructure company Chorus.

The company organised the competition to show how fibre optic cable can transport high-resolution digital work across the world. Only three of the 131 entrants, who were also awarded $5000 each, were then selected to personally see their work showcased among some of the most sought after advertising space in the heart of New York City.

Mr Witehira, formerly of Wellington, who is now based in Japan, designed an animated artwork celebrating New Zealanders’ love of the land, which was built to play on a continuous loop suitable for a 24-hour billboard – just like those found in New York.

Ms Hoskin’s piece of digital art was inspired by the surroundings of her family batch in the Coromandel. She also enjoys working with hand-drawn typography and the branding side of design and is now working for Auckland design agency Goodfolk.