Hi there! I’m John. Nice to meet you. Let’s get to it…

I’m an impassioned, customer-centric creative veteran with extensive experience leading internal groups and top agencies from strategy through execution of highly-successful campaigns for Fortune 100 brands. I bring a unique blend of expertise in strategic product development (UX/UI, Research), visual design and photo art direction.

Along the way, I've managed high-performing teams in designing innovative, painless, customer insight-driven experiences for some XL guys (Gap, Banana Republic, Walmart, Sotheby’s International Realty) and some XS ones (Serena & Lily, Anonymous Apparel, Lavin MMA).

What gets me up in the morning these days (besides the perfect cuppa joe) is thinking about how to employ empathetic and emotionally-intelligent design to create a deeply meaningful relationship with my customers.

Of course, when I’m not doing that I’m usually writing poetry or hiking with my dogs.

So, let’s chat and maybe you can help me find a word that rhymes with plutocratic.

Art Collection

Developed identity and digital presence for a new business within Serena & Lily. Digital channel was designed as an experiment for new, more-simplified UI/UX.

The challenge

Serena & Lily wanted to add value to their core business (bedding and home accessories) while also connecting more deeply with customers by adding a new channel: selling curated art. The desire was to gain trust and provide an emotional benefit to those who were interested in collecting and decorating with art as part of their lives.

Top user barriers

Picking or choosing art is a complicated and emotional decision-making process since it's related to personal aesthetics and self-expression.
Most people aren’t comfortable or confident in how to shop for the right piece of art for their space.
In a strictly digital experience, there’s no physical connection between customers and artists.

Top business concerns

How to become a “trusted advisor” in selling art.
Create a completely unique experience from the core site while maintaining brand cohesion.

The solution

My team and I started early-on with visual inspiration to guide the identity creation and determine a name for the channel. We then designed the logo and built a full-blown site to address the customer's needs. As part of the overall experience, we also created a space for artists to tell their story, so users could have that emotional connection to help them in the decision-making process.

Inspiration

Logo and brand exploration

Product page

Walmart Beauty

Developed a several micro-sites for a new beauty market by directing content strategy, visual creation and user experience.

The challenge

Walmart wanted to display beauty products in an innovative way to compete with brands like Ulta, Sephora and Bare Escentuals while keeping the value proposition that Walmart delivers.

Top user barriers

No trust in Walmart as an authority on beauty.
Price is not a top deciding factor when buying a beauty product.
No current content and not inspiring.

Top business concerns

Balance between inspiration and value.
Quickly and cost-effectively show differentiation from previous experience.

The solution

Pitching the idea to the Executive Leadership Team by creating a lifestyle around beauty and inspire customers to participate in the story. The particular execution was to eliminate the competition between disruptive pricing and product/lifestyle photography. Also, developed content strategy to provide relevance for the customers who were browsing.

Product page

Walmart ToGo

While interim Creative Director, lead all aspects of strategy, design and development of pilot grocery delivery platform: Walmart ToGo. Deliverables included identity, uniform and truck design, direct mail and website: www.grocery.walmart.com.

The challenge

In 2011, Walmart wanted to expand market share for the grocery business by offering an alternative to shopping in store. Shopping for grocery in store versus shopping for grocery online required a shift in a mental model for Walmart's customers.

Top user barriers

How do I know if it's fresh?
Have a very little time to do a grocery shopping
Do I need to be home? Can I select my time?

Top business concerns

Development of a new “sub-brand.”
Various deliverables with rapid turnarounds.

The solution

To address this new business model for Walmart, the team and I developed an identity that extended to different touch points. The new brand expressed the freshness of the product using clean imagery and added content to translate complex problems into seamless end-to-end user experience.