SNapchat, a milano, & a dream

9 months after my first foot-in-the-door gig in the ad world, I got an email from a recruiter asking if I’d be interested in a “big project.”

It turns out, that one message would lead to two months worth of banter with my Italian art director, late-night glitchy motion design sessions, too much coffee, and building complex media systems that could evolve as the show did.

OVERVIEW

Project: 2022 Snapchat Lens Fest Awards

Client: Snapchat

Date: Oct-Dec 2022

Team:

  • Stella Musi - Art Direction, Design

  • Michael Bakowski - Animation, Design, Post Production

Initial Design

My Art Director came to me with a beautiful visual system co-developed by herself, Snapchat, and a third-party studio. The challenge? Bringing it to life through motion.

I started with early experiments with animating background elements, glitchy transitions, and testing concepts until we locked in a feel that matched both the brand and the energy of the lens awards.

“A Look at Last Year” Segments

These segments featured last year’s winners, often via less-than-stellar quality phone or Zoom interviews. I designed and pitched a clean, bright visual treatment to contrast the darker, lower-key awards segments. My style frames were approved with minimal changes, and I edited the segments to find a cohesive narrative from… some very casual interview content.

Adaptable Media System

Winners weren’t confirmed until late in the process, and assets and placeholders were constantly shifting. I built a modular system of nested pre-comps using standardized layouts so we could quickly swap names, footage, and copy across over 200 linkable assets. This kept the project flexible while maintaining visual consistency, even through last-minute changes. Screenshot of comp system/timeline layers Post Production With a tight timeline, we received host footage and final interviews just over a week before delivery. I handled full post-production: video editing, color correction, audio cleanup, sound design, music mixing, and subtitles solo to keep us on schedule.

The footage came from multiple sources and needed major polish. Teeth were whitened. Footage color matched. Audio was cleaned up. Subtitles transcribed and timed. It was a week and a half of very little sleep... but a full, cohesive 20-minute show came out the other side.