Massport:
Making a Public Agency Feel Human
The Challenge
Massport is a major public authority operating airports, shipping terminals, and cruise ports. Every piece of public-facing content had to pass through strict legal, safety, and executive approval chains before seeing the light of day.
During the pandemic, the job got much harder: How do you build trust and public confidence for an agency operating the very transit hubs people feared most?
My Approach
To make a massive infrastructure authority feel human during a global crisis, I focused on building reusable visual assets, streamlining stakeholder approvals, and keeping production steady:
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Build modular, reusable assets: Instead of shooting photos or videos for one-off social posts, I built a media library from scratch. Every shot was taken with multiple uses in mind—ready to be reused across social feeds, passenger newsletters, annual reports, and digital signage.
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Make assets easy for non-designers to use: Internal partners across Massport had varying levels of design training. I created clean, accessible visual templates so team members could grab assets and publish without breaking brand guidelines or needing constant design overhauls.
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Keep the ship steady under pressure: Working on a lean, two-person creative team during a pandemic budget freeze, I stepped up during team absences to manage timelines, copy edits, and stakeholder expectations on major public print releases like the Annual Report and Budget Book.
Strategic Focus Areas
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Humanizing Cold Infrastructure: Built a long-term media library focused on frontline workers, daily port operations, and safety protocols. The goal was to shift public perception from intimidating, high-risk transit hubs to empathetic public service—creating the core visual engine for our crisis communications and Massport’s eventual website redesign.
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Translating Operational Changes into Passenger Comfort: Designed customer-facing campaign content for new touchless programs like BOS2GO (airport gate food delivery). By making new safety and convenience initiatives feel approachable, we lowered traveler anxiety and made complex airport changes easy to navigate.
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Protecting Institutional Credibility: Maintained strict visual discipline and tone across regulated corporate publications (like the Annual Report and Budget Book) and fast-moving digital channels—ensuring Massport projected a steady, authoritative voice across every public touchpoint.
The Results and Impact
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Public Trust in a Crisis: Successfully drove positive public sentiment and humanized an agency operating on the frontlines of public health fears when anxiety was at its highest.
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Long-Term Asset Value: Built a foundational photo and video bank that powered 3+ years of storytelling and remains in active use by the agency today.
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Operational Reliability: Kept high-stakes print and digital publication cycles moving on schedule during a freeze on outside spending, maintaining strong trust with legal, operational, and executive teams.