The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History opened a new temporary exhibit called “Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky”. The new 4,340-square-foot exhibition is about how the night sky—and its disappearance due to light pollution—affects all life on Earth, from natural ecosystems to human cultures. The exhibition will remain on view through December 2025.

We were brought on to help illustrate both digital and physical pieces that would be used in the Reclaiming the Night Sky section of the exhibit.

We were challenged in creating a 15-foot wide, 9-foot tall printed mural. The purpose of this mural was to showcase examples of responsible outdoor lighting principles in a diverse neighborhood setting. The mural features both positive and negative examples of each principle, and visitors are encouraged to explore and identify them.

We also designed graphic pieces for a theater featuring a widescreen film displaying a timelapse of the night sky. The graphic piece was designed to complement the video, representing the landscape where the footage was shot.

Additionally, we were tasked with creating an illustration in an Ancient Greek style to enhance the storytelling of the Greek Mythology tale of the 7 Sisters. This illustration was animated and used in the film.

Collaboration with the NMNH team was crucial to get the mural correct. Our biggest challenge was that the mural needed to show various locations. From ocean water’s edge to busy cities, to rural communities, and suburban neighborhoods. We had to make sure each was included, but put together in a thoughtful way. The good and bad lighting examples needed to be hidden throughout in a way that would be fun and engaging for the visitor. We started off by laying out the mural plan with zones before diving in and adding more details and landing on a color palette.

The Greek Mythology 7 Sisters Illustration brought on a different set of challenges as it was going to be animated in a film. It needed to perfectly blend together that Ancient Greek art style with a starry sky constellation. Research was done with the team to make sure we had proper visual examples to pull from.