SMLXL Makes Typography Dance for MoMA PS1’s Warm Up 2026

For the 28th edition of Warm Up, SMLXL created an identity driven by a simple idea: make the type dance to the music. Developed during MoMA PS1’s 50th anniversary year, the campaign gives visual form to the movement and collective energy that have defined the New York summer event for nearly three decades.

Rather than treating typography as a fixed element, SMLXL made it the identity’s main performer. Letters stretch, bend, twist, and shift, drawing on the language of dance: rhythm, tension, balance, extension, and release. The result is a visual system that feels as though it is moving with the crowd.

To create the campaign, the studio developed an interactive tool that made type react to music. Each artist’s sound became the starting point for a distinct typographic choreography, allowing the digital assets to reflect the energy and character of the lineup. Together, those individual movements form a cohesive identity that celebrates the artists and the people who gather to hear them.

The system carries that sense of motion across formats. Digital assets respond to the music, while static posters capture the type in an instant of movement. Seen throughout New York, the campaign brings Warm Up’s spirit of experimentation and expression into the streets beyond MoMA PS1.