Buick.com
Image selection, asset management, branding and animation for GM's quiet luxury brand.
Buick.com
Overview
Buick.com has been my day job ever since 2020 when I became the senior digital content artist on the MRM Buick site team. This team is dedicated to working with our Buick clients at General Motors (along with other agency partners) to create and curate all of the web content on Buick.com. Being a living, breathing website for a large automotive brand, it is often a 24/7 job that requires a full team effort every day.
My Role
My role on the Buick site team is that of both art director and production artist, meaning I'm responsible for choosing and creating the brand imagery and photography used on almost every web page our team creates. Image selection, asset management, branding and animation are the main tasks in this role, and over the years I've become a subject matter expert that my team can rely on for anything creative on the Buick brand.
What I Learned
This position has been a fantastic learning experience on top of being a rewarding one! It's given me first-hand knowledge of working on a fast-paced brand with a lot of pieces moving at once. In this role, I've worked with many different team members in different departments across the agency, and that's taught me about the nuances of communication with a larger team. I've also learned a lot about taking ownership over my work, as I'm often the only creative working on a particular project and need to really do my due diligence to make sure the work I'm doing is on-brand and well-executed.
GM Brand Sites
In addition to my main Buick role, I've also been a member of the GMC and Cadillac brand site teams.
GM Brand Sites
Overview
While my work on Buick.com is my main responsibilty at MRM, the department I belong to does the same creative and production work for the Cadillac and GMC brand sites as well. These teams are both dedicated to working with our clients at General Motors (along with other agency partners) to create and curate all of the web content on both Cadillac.com and GMC.com.
My Role
My role on Cadillac and GMC is mainly that of providing support. At MRM, each of these brands has a dedicated digital content artist to fulfill daily needs and client requests. I am the main content artist on Buick, and I have two counterparts who work on Cadillac and GMC respectively. However, given the similarities in the work that we do across all of the brands, we are often able to help each other out when needed. Whether it's covering for someone while they're on vacation or leaning in to help with bigger projects, this facet of our team has given me a lot of experience and expertise on the Cadillac and GMC brands.
What I Learned
The collaborative aspects of these three accounts has really helped me grow as a teammate and a professional. It's helped me to become a leader within our team, and taught me about taking the initiative to help others when I have the bandwidth to do so. It's also helped me when it comes to brand stewardship and brand management, as remembering the nuances of each brand's design has now become a part of my everyday knowledge pool.
GM Rewards Card
Once known as the BuyPower Card, the GM Rewards Card account was a huge piece of business that I worked on for years.
GM Rewards Card
Overview
The GM Rewards Card account, at the time I worked on it, was the largest account within the MRM Detroit office. It did full creative production for campaigns related to the many rewards cards that General Motors offers, the flagship of which being the BuyPower Card. From dealer-facing materials to retail offers to new cardmember kits and beyond; this account delivered on monthly print, email and site communications throughout each year.
My Role
My role on the GM Rewards Card team was that of a production artist and of creative support. I, along with another production artist, worked on every print and email campaign that the account produced over the five years that I was on the business. We built countless versions of emails (typically two to three touches per campaign) as well as direct mail pieces to accompany those email communications. We created books and signage that would be displayed in dealerships across the nation, and provided print-ready files to print producers and third-party vendors on incredibly tight deadlines.
The GM Rewards Card team was made up of a full creative, project management, and account executive group numbering anywhere between 30-50 people, and everything the team produced ended up on either my desk or my counterparts desk in order to be finalized and produced.
What I Learned
This account taught me a lot about how an ad agency works on a day-to-day basis. Handling deadlines, juggling meetings, the endless train of AE's and PM's hovering my desk to check on their projects... this account was a bear, but I'm glad I got to experience it. It taught me the value of buckling in and collaborating, doing whatever it takes to thrill our clients, and making sure the work we produce for them is of the highest quality we can achieve.
It also gave me the confidence to take ownership over the way I work and the processes our team had in place, and I'm pretty proud to say I helped pioneer a few different workflows that made our lives easier and helped us produce work more efficently. Whether it was building out email component templates that could be dragged and dropped into any new project, or streamlining the lines of communicaton between the many teams involved, I think I left a positive mark on the account before my promotion to the Buick site team.
#thisiswhy Campaign
This AAA digital campaign was all about focusing on the important things in peoples lives: their loved ones.
#thisiswhy Campaign
Overview
This AAA work was a fast and furious launch campaign that I worked on in 2019. It was the MRM Detroit office's first work with AAA, and involved reaching out to various audiences about AAA Life Insurance. It was a tiered multi-touch email, social, and OLA campaign that attempted to focus on the really important things in peoples lives: their loved ones.
My Role
My role on this project was that of a production artist. I was leaned on heavily during the production phase of the project, which was a period of about three weeks. In that time, I created upwards of 60 different email variations; about 20 or so different audiences with three touches per email.
What I Learned
The biggest lesson I learned during this fast-paced campaign was about creative diligence during a crunched deadline. I was juggling these email builds with my normal day-to-day work, so there ended up being more than a few late nights during the project. But through perserverence and staying focused on the details, our team met their deadline without issue and the campaign was able to launch. It wasn't a long project, but it certainly gave me a lot of experience!
Mastercard Priceless
The Mastercard Priceless site was meant to be a portal through which members would explore just how far their rewards could take them.
Mastercard Priceless
Overview
Mastercard Priceless was a hefty task that I worked on with a small team in 2016 at MRM Detroit. We were asked to create a robust social website where Priceless members could research their options when it came to cashing in on their rewards. It was designed to break down their rewards into "experiences", categorizing them by type and giving them a ton of data and social tools in order to choose the reward that was best suited for them.
My Role
My role on this project was that of both art director and production artist. It was my first time being selected for a new business team, and we had our work cut out for us trying to pitch the idea of this all-encompassing website to our clients at Mastercard. We had a lot of war room meetings, late nights, and conference room meals... but ultimately we were able to create a unique site prototype that showed off our big idea in an exciting way. I was leaned on as a bit of an "every-man" on this project, taking on a bulk of the production work when it came to building out the site pages (as well as the emails and social posts that went with them), but also helping with iconography, typography, layout, and any other design needs my creative directors had.
What I Learned
This project taught me a lot, but the biggest lesson I took away from it was about collaboration and how to work on a small, busy team. There were only about seven of us on the team for the six weeks that we worked on the project, and as you can imagine we became very close friends after trudging through the trenches on this one. Even with the smaller team size, we were still responsible for countless designs of site pages, emails, and social media content. I learned a lot about open and efficient communication amongst the team, as well as trying to be there for people and keeping morale high on some of those long nights.
I also learned a lot about humility, because after we successfully delivered our website and it was approved and adored by our clients, a few months went by and I learned that the project had more or less been scrapped due to budgets and timelines that were out of our control. It was tough not to think of all that effort going to waste, but I'm still very glad I got the experience I did!
Life. To the Fullest.
This Abbott site work was all about connecting with users on happy and healthy ways to get what they wanted out of life.
Life. To the Fullest.
Overview
This work was pitched to Abbott some time in 2015 for their "Life. To the Fullest" campaign. The concept revolved around a website/social hub that featured user-submitted stories and data to help paint the picture of what healthy life habits could do for a person's well-being. This pitch also included email, social and OLA content that would drive users to the site and give them a place to learn about healthy habits that they could factor into their own routine.
My Role
My role on this project was that of a production designer and of creative support. I was introduced to this project about halfway through its development, and my job was to break out the different versions of each main "hub" page and to build out components to be used on those pages. I worked within a small team for about four weeks, and in that time I helped build out around sixteen different layouts for the pitch presentation. I was also responsible for reworking the projects icons to be more consistent with the overall theme of the pages, and in doing so I also created some new icons to go along with the existing set.
What I Learned
This was the first new business pitch that I ever worked on at MRM, so it taught me a lot about the agency pitch process and how much work actually goes into what is sometimes only an hour long meeting. It was a great introduction to the work ethic required to really succeed in an agency setting: Working late nights, juggling pitch work with my day-to-day tasks, and most importantly taking direction from creative directors when deadlines are constricted and the workload is immense. To my knowledge we did not end up winning this pitch, but I still value the experience I got in helping to bring it to the finish line.
Half-Orc Half-Orchestra
This musical D&D podcast needed a logo that exemplified their two halves: fantasy role-playing and improvised songs.
Half-Orc Half-Orchestra
Overview
This project was all about creating a brand identity for a new show: A live-play Dungeons & Dragons podcast centered around creative storytelling through the use of music and improv comedy. The show follows a band of adventurers through a story of sillyness and mystery that provides ample opportunities for mayhem: all with the hook of having to make up songs on the spot. In order to launch the podcast, the creators needed a logo and some social post images to help set the tone of the show's brand and to give a visual identity that listeners could recognize.
My Role
This was a freelance design project, so my role was all-encompassing. I worked with the creators of the podcast to come up with different ideas for their brand identity and overall feel. After a few weeks of logo iterations, we landed on the logo you see here! After that, I created some social content that the cast members could post to help build excitement for their launch, and I even illustrated their character art.
What I Learned
This project was an excellent foray into the world of podcast marketing. I learned a lot about the different podcast platforms and how each of them handle artwork and assets, and also what makes for a good logo in these spaces in order to stand out from the rest. Plus, it was very rewarding working with such creative people on a project they were so clearly passionate about!
Set in Stone
This start-up pottery business reached out to me to design their logo and brand identity.
Set in Stone
Overview
This freelance opportunity was for Set in Stone: A start-up business that makes decorative pottery, jewelry and other products out of concrete. The owner was hitting the ground running at local craft fairs and pop-up events, and she was in need of a logo to start merchandising her creations under one brand.
My Role
Being a freelance project, I was responsible for everything creative on this work. From concepting early ideas to finalizing the logo and social media footprint, I worked closely with the owner to make sure she was happy with the direction as it went along. The process took about three weeks, after which the files and logo were delivered to a happy client for production!
What I Learned
This project taught me a lot about letting go of designs and not getting too attached to early ideas. In the beginning stages of the project, I presented the client with a handful of different directions, but I was personally sold on a particular direction that you'll see in the third image of the slideshow here. However, the client was interested in a different option that I had provided. I of course went forward with her choice, delivering a logo that really fit her brand that she was happy to move forward with. Ultimately, it was a great lesson to learn about delivering on client wants/needs and not getting too caught up in my own design preferences.
Ferox eSports
This amateur eSports team was looking for a new logo inspired by their fierce name.
Ferox eSports
Overview
This freelance project was brought to me by Ferox, an amateur eSports team that was searching for a brand new logo. They played in an organized Overwatch league that featured many different teams, and wanted their brand to stand out from the pack.
My Role
I was responsible for everything creative on this freelance gig. The base ask was a logo that could be used wherever the team saw fit; whether it be Twitch banners, online profiles, or custom jerseys. I worked with the team over a period of two weeks, sending concepts and discussing their feedback. Inspired by their name, we ultimately ended up with the logo and color scheme you'll see in the first slideshow image shown here. On top of the logo, I provided customized banners that each of the players could use for their streaming profiles.
What I Learned
This project was a ton of fun, and gave me a lot of experience in the world of eSports. I've always been a fan of traditional sports, so I originally came to this project with the intent of using those logos to inspire my designs. But, the more I studied eSports and the kinds of logos those teams employ, I could tell that eSports logos have a completely different feel to them that fits into gaming culture more then they might fit into any "sports logo" category. Once I made that discovery, the process was very freeing and fun to explore... ultimately leaving myself and the team with something they loved!
