PORTFOLIO
PORTFOLIO
case summaryA system built to reduce bottlenecks
Klaviyo placed big bets on thought leadership content as a marketing strategy in 2023.
My team designed an updated visual system for the content hub that streamlined review cycles, reduced oversight, and was built to adapt and meet quality at speed, while visually cutting through our core social branding. As director, I helped guide the process end-to-end, amplifying our design lead's conceptual instincts and ensuring we were focused on the right goals—from concept and development through launch.
Design lead: KW Nemelka
Marketing leader: Tracey Wallace
Web/UX partners: Tim Rabb, Robert Yu, Tim Dwyer
Senior leaders: Allison Mack (Creative Director), John Goodwin (Executive CD)
case summaryOne homepage, 18 ways
Root’s new CMO was looking to gain a quick win for the Marketing department within his first 60 days.
There’s a juicy story here about how this CMO was simultaneously embezzling money from the company… but let’s stay on topic. The hypothesis: update Root’s homepage, boost engagemen. The team pitched 18 unique options through 5 messaging lenses and moved from concept to development on an A/B test in 14 days. As Co-creative director, I helped guide a task force of 15+ creatives (Web, Social, CX, and Campaign teams) through rapid iteration to get it done.
Co-creative director: Rachel Scherer
Design leads: Trenton Brulport (UX Manager), Jes Martin, Rebecca McMillan, Kent Harris, Taylor Bohn, Aaron Anderson, Connor McDunn, Wes Kull
Copy leads: Dylan Meister, Kat Kuchle, Matthew Lovett, Cecil Cross
Senior leaders: Jill Neely (Executive CD), Kelly Ruoff (Chief Brand Officer)
case summaryReduced decisions, expanded capacity
Root.com was growing. Fast. We needed to stop custom-building every landing page and design a CMS with speed and scalability in mind.
This wasn’t my first involvement with a speedy CMS design and content migration. In 2011, I led moving EXPRESS’ blog from proposal to development in two weeks’ time as a solo contributor. But this was different—it was a well-documented, companywide investment with 8 weeks, and a group unaccustomed to thinking in systems.
This meant everyone was learning new methods and terms WHILE partnering closely with developers in the build and demo phase. As a design director, I was responsible for making sure we focused on the right priorities even when I didn’t have all the right answers. Pages that took weeks now take hours to publish. But this wasn’t just about speed—it expanded choice around where our resources were spent.
Co-creative director: Maria Minnelli
Design leads: Jordan Hetzer, Aaron Anderson, Rebecca McMillan
UX manager: Trenton Brulport
Senior leaders: Jill Neely (Executive CD), Kelly Ruoff (Chief Brand Officer)
Experience summaryA world in 3D
I spent four years moving fast, lean, and down-and-dirty in the world of overseas giftware manufacturing.
Designing for a company with an employee count in the thousands isn’t too far removed from this experience designing in a tiny garage studio—similar hurdles, smaller scale. I supported a very small team in tripling the product line and doubling down on sales. As a Design Director for a tiny operation, I was on the front lines of rapid concepting, vendor sourcing at trade shows in China, working white label deals, creating sales enablement materials, and overseeing production feedback.
VP: Paul Pearson
Admin: Mary Panayiotou
Sales: Becky Beebe, Cathi Hawkins
Overseas agent: Cathy Zhou
case summaryNaming the spirit
My studio at Ologie was hired to name Middle West Spirits’ inaugural gin. This project was all hands on deck, and a designer’s crash course in wordcraft.
Tastings.com describes the flavor as complex: delightfully savory grain notes mix with understated juniper and flourishes of spice and herbs to create a culinary-forward gin.
Our goal was to convey the contradicting qualities of strong and soft, masculine and feminine, spice and delicacy. Naming a product required brainstorming outside of my area of discipline and leaning into evocative, poetic thinking (in front of more seasoned creatives). Although my idea was chosen, I try to remember how vulnerable this process made me feel as a senior designer, and never take for granted when a contributor is willing TRY before gaining expertise.
Label design: Cole Londerée
Copy lead: Chris Pederson
Senior leaders: Kelly Ruoff (Creative Director), Adam Emery (ACD)
case summaryWe’ve never done this before…
DSW made a bold PR play by publishing a 200-page book targeted for the NYT Bestsellers list.
The objective was to move from “We’ve never done this…where do we even start?” to “We’ve got a working PR piece. Oh, and I was challenged to start leading design without a manuscript or outline in hand.
It took establishing direction and structure in an ambiguous scenario, moving forward on production without all the answers, learning to work with new limitations and specifications, plus deep listening, conversational mediation, and dot-connecting, where multiple executive-level stakeholders had a say. This project absolutely sucked, but I’d do it again! It fed an early interest in editorial and educational content that continues to this day.
Senior leaders: Heather Marr (Art Director), Bryan Dow (Creative Director)
Design contractor: Barb Eicke
Marketing leaders: Kelly Cook (Marketing VP), Derek Ungless (CMO)
From the archives
In the past, I designed assets ranging from emails to garment marketing to credit cards.
Personal work
Drawing in Instagram stories is my favorite design tool. In essence, it’s digital finger painting: fast, crude, and it gets the point across.
I’ve started over a lot.
Each new start builds on the last.
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I began my career in retail catalog production as an assembly line illustrator, eventually growing into concept, content, and layout design for cookbooks and calendars.
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I grew naturally into workflow management. Honestly? ADHD thrives here—Prioritizing a big goal while attuning to changing conditions is satisfying.
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I fell into 3D giftware design and found out starting over could be invigorating. I learned about: visualizing design specs from multiple pov’s, rapid iteration, white label manufacturing, selling at trade shows, and working with overseas vendors.
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My experience spans print and digital—from production to special projects. I DON’T love doing it all, but I sure know what it takes to switch gears.
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I feel most at home in a role that starts with the big picture, zooms down into the dots, then back out to connect them. Here, I lean on my broad experience to assess priorities and delegate to peoples’ strengths.
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I believe in the efficacy of both managing and IC directors (especially when paired together).