215 McCann
Production/Graphic Design
As part of the prominent advertising network, McCann Worldwide, I am lucky to have a hand in various types of client work, from New York Lottery to Xbox. Most of my work is production design related (e.g. creating logos for campaign concepts, deck building, image comps, and ads), but there are some occasions where my art direction aptitude is provided an opportunity to shine.
Below, I am highlighting two projects where I wore more of an Art Director + Graphic Designer hat:
• Xbox Diablo IV mnemonic—I co-art directed/storyboarded with another AD, while working with the studio (Blizzard) for inspiration and assets, and the final video production vendor (King & Country) for final execution.
• 215 McCann's social media design template—I led the design/development of this to streamline brand consistency and designer efficiency.
And two more showing some digital and OOH production work for:
• New York Lottery
• Converse
Xbox | Diablo IV Mnemonic
THE ASK
Design/storyboard a mnemonic that would run either before or after an Xbox spot advertising the release of Diablo IV (an Xbox game) bundled together with an Xbox Series X|S.
INSPIRATION
Initially, the game studio (Blizzard) provided us with a Diablo IV cinematic trailer where we were able to extract key themes (shown on right side), as well as other key art elements from the game (such as WIP animations and environments) along the development process.
We went through many rounds with Xbox presenting our concepts, working with Blizzard along the way to iterate and refine frames per Xbox's feedback (i.e. the ultimate exercise in photoshop compositing). The three concepts above were the main variations that progressed, until Xbox and Blizzard agreed the "hellfire" theme would be best to move forward with.
After further weeks of refining aesthetic details (e.g. "how about flames after the biz offer instead of black smoke, not enough embers flying around, the lighting on the console needs to have more of the red reflecting from the flames, the Xbox logo on fire has flames obscuring the right side of the orb too much"... and many more!), all parties found a happy place in the final production below (...amazing job by King & Country putting it all together, staying patient with us designers to the end)!
Social Media
Design System
THE ASK
Design a template/system for the agency's ongoing social media posts (e.g. highlighting tentpole events, industry awards we've won, and other relevant topics we want to share with our followers) because right now, it's a mixed bag of styles (see images on right).
Since it was relatively open-ended from the get-go, the potential parameters I considered were:
1. Following existing 'brand' elements vs creating something fresh (...this actually became an arguable topic after R1/R2)
2. Goal of a template, and how do we ensure it still allows for some creative flexibility moving forward
WHERE DO WE START?
If the brief is open-ended or doesn't prescribe a specific design direction, my first marker for direction typically begins with 'brand guidelines.' And if that does not exist, extract key elements such as color, typography, etc. and see how that can be carried into the project at hand.
In this case, it was the latter. Along side familiar brand elements, I then also benchmarked what other companies have done in terms of layout and content with their social posts.
Above are some examples from the first iteration/round, based on 215 McCann brand elements. After review with the Chief Creative Officer, it was realized that a direction beyond the agency's current brand elements would be best to explore.
The proceeding rounds (as shown below) reflect a new direction, based on three design classifications—essentially, three ways to layout or manipulate focus on the headline/key theme: "Art in Copy", "Art Meets Copy", and "Editorial". With the guidance of my Art Director to classify the types of design formats, we've streamlined how the agency's social posts look and get executed, while also maintaining visual flexibility dependent on the topic/theme being showcased.
New York Lottery:
Animated Ads
Converse:
Web Assets and OOH
