Learn more about one of the winning studios for Trucks of Art!
Thought Matter is an independent New York City design and creative studio! The studio received the 2026 National Design Award for Communication Design from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, recognizing a decade of collaborative work shaped by imagination and public engagement. Thought Matter works across culture, commerce, and civic life, partnering with organizations such as the Times Square Alliance, Street Vendor Project, and 100 Gates Project to create work that influences how people experience and move through the city.
“Thought Matter designed CARE IN MOTION to honor the DSNY workforce by making their labor visible and reframing routine street encounters as moments of mutual respect and civic engagement,” the Thought Matter team said of their truck design. "Informed by New York City’s visual systems, where bold color, striping, and all-caps lettering signal action, the truck uses New Yorkers’ no-nonsense style of language to communicate directly with the public. Thought Matter’s design makes care visible and shared. Rather than offering symbolic praise, the design operates in real time by acknowledging sanitation workers’ presence while inviting patience, awareness, and shared responsibility from drivers, pedestrians, and onlookers.”
The truck Thought Matter painted will serve Manhattan Community District 12.