Context
My work focuses on shaping the visual experience of our products. I create and direct experiences for kids through thoughtfully designed products and packaging, from collectible enamel pins to our yearly advent calendar. I'm interested in how kids interact with a product in real life – how it feels to hold, unwrap, and discover. My role is to ensure every visual element supports a cohesive, joyful experience that resonates with kids.
Design Approach
Product experience for kids has to work on two levels: it has to make business sense – practical, affordable, on-brand, right for the market – and it has to be fun! I'm usually the person balancing those, weighing an illustrator's idea or a favorite direction against what will realistically hold up in manufacturing and on shelf.
Challenges
Product experience often starts with a rough idea that still needs definition, but some of the best solutions come under time pressure. When our team realized a crate's theme (cars – classic) didn't actually fit the product behavior, we pivoted to a different theme (space – another easy win) with only a few days to spare, working closely with an illustrator to land new concepts fast.
Cost constraints are often in play as well. For our advent calendar, I designed the packaging to look like the mini crates from our actual product line — simple to produce, and it ended up being one of our best-received releases.