Big History Project

Motion-led storytelling for a global educational platform

The Big History Project is a free, interdisciplinary online social studies course co‑founded by Bill Gates and historian David Christian that tells the story of the universe from the Big Bang through human civilization in a way designed for high school learners. The project combines curriculum, interactive timelines, videos, and multimedia content to help students see connections across disciplines and understand complex ideas from a “big picture” perspective. Since its launch, the course has been adopted widely — reaching thousands of students in hundreds of schools and continuing to expand its global reach.

While I was a motion designer at Intentional Futures, I worked closely with the Big History team to help bring the curriculum to life through animation, motion, and video production. My contributions included producing half of the threshold videos that visualize key conceptual transitions, creating motion for interactive elements of the course, editing video and sound content to support educational clarity, and developing marketing materials to help communicate the course’s value and scope.

The work involved translating dense, interdisciplinary subject matter into engaging, accessible visual and motion experiences that support learning and retention. Course participation continues to grow to this day. In recent years, over 1800 schools delivered a Big History program to its students and I am proud to have played a role in helping improve the research and writing skills of students who have taken the course.