Amtrak
FIRST RIDE
Turning the first train trip into a rite of passage.
Role: Concept Development, Art Direction, Campaign Strategy, Visual Design
THE PROBLEM
Thousands of people are gushing over train travel via social media yet have never been on a train. They like, follow and share Amtrak on social. But they’re not actually booking their tickets. They don’t know where trains go or how long trips take. Amtrak has social fans but needs actual riders.
THE INSIGHT
There’s an entire way of traveling in America that most Americans have never tried. Not because it’s a secret but because we’re so independently isolated to our vehicles.
THE IDEA
Amtrak First Ride changes the perspective of the first train trip as a cultural milestone. Like a first concert or first road trip. The campaign curates 8 short, same-day return trips. Packages them as a distinct product called “First Ride.” You leave in the morning arrive before dinner and the whole thing costs less than a tank of gas.
The offer is digestible, to remove every barrier a first-timer faces. No one who’s ever taken a train trip is booking a 5-day, 10-day or 15-day train trip.
First Ride is here to plant that seed into the mind of non-train travelers and hopefully make them into first-time riders.
Billboard Ads
OOH ads are placed where daily commuters frequent: subways entrances, platforms, station exteriors (in First Ride Departure Cities).
The paper collage illustration clashes with the grit of the environment, turning each image into an escape.
Each ad pairs a route-specific scenic view with a single line of copy that hits on the uncommonality of Amtrak and traditional transportation.
“No one ever took a photo out of a subway window.”
“Beats staring at someone’s backpack.”
“This train has windows worth looking through.”
A simple concept called visual contrast. You see them as you’re waiting for your subway, bus, public transportation and emphasizes the steep contrast which in theory will do the selling.
Real first-time riders document their experience. Not influencers. No scripts.
The content captures the moments:
scenery outside the windows
cafe car
kids excitement
arriving at a station.
Making the experience genuine and sharable
Every First Ride booking comes with a collectible ticket. Thick stock, with route specific paper collage illustration, unique to each corridor. A branded lanyard makes the ticket wearable onboard, a signal that you’re a first-timer which of course invites conversation and community.
The ticket includes a QR code linking to a digital version and a “Share your First Ride #FirstRide
The design intent is that this should feel like a concert ticket. The type of thing that ends up pinned in a bedroom wall or a journal, not thrown away.
The First Ride ticket also is available in Apple Wallet & Google Wallet as an animated, route-specific pass with similar paper-collage artwork.
Tap to share as an Instagram story or iMessage. After the trip, the digital ticket is a badge that lives in your Amtrak wallet profile. First of many hopefully.
Visual System: The illustrated style (route map, tickets, OOH) uses a flat, collage/painterly style inspired by WPA-era National Parks posters but with a contemporary palette.
The social content is specifically raw and unpolished. The contrast is the point here. The dreamy illustrations next to raw documentation: aspiration and reality, together.
Paper-collage aesthetic: The illustration style uses torn-paper edges, layered textures and matte material qualities to give this handmade, tactile feeling. Showcased through the hero poster down to the Apple Watch screen, a consistent texture language across every medium.
Physicality: The ticket is designed on thick stock with a debossed textures and the lanyard is woven fabric. These objects are meant to become memory pieces, the kind of thing you keep and save.
Spec campaign, not produced by or affiliated with Amtrak.
All done by me.