PORTFOLIO
PORTFOLIO
I started out life drawing pictures based on what I observed, and I love being invited to put that observation to use in different realms of creative industry. Something wants OUT, something wants EXPRESSED. The terms, the craft, and the technicalities may vary…but the basic principles of creating anything don’t change much.
case summaryA system built to reduce bottlenecks
Klaviyo placed big bets on thought leadership content as a marketing strategy in 2023.
My team was tasked to design a visual system for the content hub that streamlined review cycles, reduced design oversight, met high speed with a low risk of quality reduction, and presented a visual departure from core branding in the social sphere. As a Director, my role was to guide the process from start to finish, amplify opportunities our design lead spotted, and make sure the team was focused on the right things, from conceptual presentation to development to launch.
Design lead: Kev 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 millions from the company (the project never went beyond a test and a win)… but let’s stay on topic. The hypothesis: if Root’s homepage is updated, engagement will increase. 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 energy is best spent and what could be built.
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.
Our goal was to convey the contradicting qualities of strong and soft, masculine and feminine, spice and delicacy... in a harmonious way.
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.
It took brainstorming outside my area of discipline, a willingness to throw unrefined ideas into the ring, and tapping into poetic insights.
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. What did we learn, and what’s next?”
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
Instagram story is my favorite design tool. It’s fast, ok-to-be-sloppy, and gets the point across.
A perspective shaped by many teachers
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Illustration
I began my career in retail catalog production as an assembly line illustrator, eventually growing into conceptual and layout designer for cookbooks and calendars.
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Workflow
I grew naturally into workflow management, but wasn’t great at all aspects of the role. I took that as a sign it wasn’t right for me, because I hadn’t yet learned that every natural gift comes with super wobbly spots and room for growth.
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Manufacturing
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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Graphic design
Next up: traditional graphic design. I fell into this, too, cutting my teeth on 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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People management
I landed back into a managing role. Turns out I wasn’t uniquely bad at it…I just needed to practice. 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.
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Team leadership
Shifting from a managing director to an IC director has been amazing—allowing me to once again relate as a peer and lead casually by example. I believe in the efficacy of both managing and IC directors (especially when paired together).