In an unrelated move, the Seattle-based nonprofit Amplifier has projected messages of appreciation to the medical community on the sides of two hospitals, NYU Langone in New York and Highland Hospital in Oakland, Calif., featuring the work of artists including Shepard Fairey, who created the “Hope” poster for Barack Obama.

The artists involved said their participation was part altruism and part therapy.

“It’s a way for us to be able to safely connect and reach as many other people as we can,” said Ms. Millman, who hosts the Design Matters podcast. “It gives a sense of being heard and seen.”

A few Times Square billboard owners have donated ad space to make way for works like “Love in the Time of Corona” by the illustrator and author Maira Kalman — a depiction of two people separated by what she called “a big pink blob with rays coming out” representing the virus itself.

“Once you get past the terror, you have to get to the love part quickly,” said Ms. Kalman, whose image is shown at regular intervals, with others in the campaign, on the wraparound screen on the Edition Hotel, at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue.