In collaboration with Elijah Bault, we chose to heavily incorporate historical imagery and research into our design, primarily through the use of and content within the newspapers/headlines throughout. I incorporated these into my portion of the design, the backdrops, by adding text from articles about the real life Newsboy Strike of 1899 and the Trolley Strike that came just before. 

The composition of the three buildings in the foreground were based on images of 19th century tenements. The skyline is an imagined combination of random nonexistent buildings, the New York World Building, and the Brooklyn Bridge, with the latter two and aforementioned text serving as subtle details for an observant audience. My use of deeply saturated colors is in service of reflecting Jack’s idealization. 

Pulitzer’s Office features a silhouetted window from which the Brooklyn Bridge as drawn in the skyline can be seen. I chose to compose these scenes in this way both to enhance the scenery but also to create the illusion of his office “looking down” on the newsies and their lives. All of these elements are original illustrations and animations, which further work to visualize Jack’s yearning for a brighter future as representations of things that are just outside of our reality yet just in reach for someone bold enough to try.