Step Up To It - a joy reactive sculpture made out of sugar

Step Up To It

Our role in the The Happy Show by Sagmeister & Walsh Inc. was to project animations onto typography that was created out of sugarcubes. While Sagmeister’s designers and a team of volunteers tirelessly glued sugarcubes into the phrase “Step Up to It,” we began working with Christopher Fung and the folks at Ladies and Gentlemen on the projections.
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We thought about the show as a whole, and kept coming back to the idea that there are some things in life that only happy people see. Naturally, we suggested that the "Step Up to It" projections would only reveal certain animations to happy viewers. In doing so we imagined a way to actually create happiness in the process. It’s hard to be unhappy when you’re smiling.

A sculpture crafted from 80,000 sugar cubes comes to life with generative graphics, activated by the smiles of onlookers.Step Up To It - smiles make it workStep Up To It - a joy reactive sculpture made out of sugarStep Up To It - a joy reactive sculpture made out of sugarStep Up To It - a joy reactive sculpture made out of sugarStep Up To It - a joy reactive sculpture made out of sugarStep Up To It - a joy reactive sculpture made out of sugarStep Up To It - a joy reactive sculpture made out of sugarStep Up To It - a joy reactive sculpture made out of sugar

“Step Up to It” animates in pure simple black and white until a viewer smiles, causing the sugar to light up with bright colors.

Step Up To It - unmapped sugar type
Step Up To It - projection mapped sugar typography
Step Up To It - detail of the sugar cubes

Team

  • Zander Brimijoin - Art Director
  • Daniel Scheibel - Technology Director

In Collaboration with Sagmeister & Walsh

  • Creative Direction
  • Typography
  • Sugar Cube Construction


Thanks to all the volunteer sugarcube gluers.

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