Recent and Not-So-Recent Work
Brand Development | Go-To-Market Strategy | UX/UI
LaunchPad is a new tech startup aimed specifically at easing breakpoints in many of the workflows of the outdoor service professional. While it is s highly technical SaaS it also needed to feel at home amongst many small business owners and operators. The simplified icon harkens back to the heyday of space excitement on the East Coast of Florida, while a clean custom typography rounds everything out to meet the user where they’re at.
As the creative director for this Sod Solutions property, I was also tasked with creating a full library of usable images without relying on photo crews and seasonal troubles that often accompany outdoor service location-based shoots. I was able to leverage my career experience in the professional photography space to use Mid Journey to supplement our need for a massive photo library, keeping costs (and headaches low) while delivering stylized assets that matched the Tone & Voice document I created to launch a cohesive visual and written language.
The launch of West Elm Handcrafted was West Elm's first attempt at a true 'advertorial' user experience, I was lucky enough to have been brought on for Art Direction and Design due to my editorial background. The Goal was to immerse the user in the story of the makers, allow for a non-intrusive purchase avenue, and also to engage them with exciting visual content, like on location photos & video. Click through for the entire Handcrafted micro-site
Typography, Design, Branding
After an initial design phase in 2020 to begin sourcing investor capitol, TIET revisited this project with me to develop and design a full brand system and move beyond their initial “T” logo. With creative direction and collaboration with David Alvarez (Nike, Studio Alvarez, et. al.) we created the system seen below to usher in the next iteration of branding and direction for the company’s premier launch of cut & sew hemp goods.
Brand Development | Product Design & Sourcing | Staffing
Nearing the end of 2022, I partnered with parent company, Sod Solutions, to realize a desire of the company to add a garden-facing brand to their stable of agriculture adjacent assets. Through Q4, R&D for user demographics was performed as well as market analysis for product offerings. Following this, I built a simple design system for which we could bring together products that supported our customers desire to have the best backyard they could. From grass to garden, we could give you what you needed, and provide you with helpful information along the way.
Early phases, had me working in a silo but in late 2023 I was able to build a team of designers, photographers and ecom professionals to continue on building the brand.
Branding & Creative Direction
Cahuenga Valley Citrus Exchange approached the agency I was working at, as Treehouse Tavern, and after some vetting and research we highly recommended they consider dropping the naming convention due to the ambiguous nature of the name and competitors with similar names in the same market. After a research phase based on location and demographic we proposed the CVCE name convention based on the historic significance of the building they were situated in. From there I partnered with lead designer Kitty Mitchell and a small team of designers to created the custom citrus illustration you see below that blends both modern, geometric type with a more free-flowing illustration that borrows from woodcut stylings one might have found on citrus crates at the turn of the century.
Creative Direction, Web & UX Design
Website & UX design for The Starlight Motor Inn, Charleston’s newest/oldest motor inn.
Creative Direction, Branding,
Web & UX Design
The United States of Coffee began as a bit of a passion project and then launched as a Startup in early 2019. quickly amassing a following in the specialty coffee industry the brand is set up well to become what some have call the “Yelp For Great Coffee”
Additional support in the form of brand branch offs for podcasts as well as sound design, recording, and production.
NRDC Website Layout + Design
When NRDC approached me to recreate their magazine onEarth in the digital space, I was more than excited. Not only did I have the chance to make a playground for great content I believed in, but it was also one of those projects that had a lot of problems but not yet many solutions. Ultimately I landed on a duel space that would house the digital magazine and its archives as well as daily content
Illustration + Brand Support
Partnering with one of NOLA’s hottest spots was a dream come true. To be able to assess The Elysian Bar brand, see the space, brainstorm with leadership and create new and unique illustrations that represent them, and who they are was one of my favorite projects from 2022.
Creative Direction + Branding
When Brandon Grimlia of Promises Kept reached out early in the startup phase I was beyond excited to get to work with him and his team. The goal was to make a branding system that captured their fun, bold style but could also cleanly work to establish professionalism on the web, social, and on menus, matchbooks and to-go containers. Offsetting the illustration content with a clean single-line weight style was helpful as was the choice to employ Brandon Grotesque for the base type.
Blog Creative Direction
Front + Main solved a long running problem at West Elm: 'Where do we put all this amazing content, without it being overwhelming?' Art Directing this project was a delight as we got to discuss and ultimately solve questions like: 'What content should be paired together?' And, 'How can color serve to create our grid?' Working with designer Dominic Fortunato on this project made directing the easiest part of the process.
Creative Direction + Branding
In early 2020 and Inc 500 brand Christian Planner was coming off their blockbuster kickoff year with over 8 million in sales but they had done this on the back of a product and a dedicated following, not a brand. This project involved 3 months of consulting with the Founder, CFO and CMO to help Christian Planner realized not only what their logo should look like, but who they were as a team in beliefs, look + feel, and voice.
