VISTAPRINT PRODUCT DESIGN

 

BACKGROUND

Before becoming the Creative Director on the Global Marketing team, I was hired to help manage, develop and direct a Global Product Design team of over 25 talented designers, responsible for executing design strategies for printed and online products. 

Working with Creative Directors Megan Morahan and Dave Ball, we cultivated a culture of excellence, shaping the creative talent into a high performing, award-winning, globally aligned team, responsible for overhauling content breadth, style and customization capabilities across all product lines.

The result was dramatic improvements to design style, depth and selection for the business identity line, adding 4,000+ designs for Vistaprint’s small business customers. We also supported the design production of 15+ new product launches, across multiple categories including business identity, marketing, signage, promotional, textiles, consumer events and holiday, totaling product conversion rate increases of between 14-30% and adding over $7MM in incremental gross margin annually. 

 

FY2012-13 BUSINESS IDENTITY STRATEGY

In 2012, there was an opportunity to utilize the conceptual strengths of our design team to deliver unique business identities to our customers. It was a very different approach than the more decorative mass-appeal designs the team had been accustomed to creating, giving small businesses the ability to have ad agency quality, logo-based identity systems, at a fraction of the cost. 

Industry: Food Truck Serivce, Designed by Joanna Alves

Industry: Architect, Designed by Elly Brady

Industry: Organic Bakery, Designed by Jon Decelles

Industry: Handyman, Designed by Alex Rocklein

LOGO LOUNGE

The more conceptually strong the work became, the more opportunities there were to promote Vistaprint as an industry leader in design. In 2011, several of our business identity logos were selected for Logo Lounge, a website with over 200,000 logos and an indispensable tool for logo designers around the world, one of which was chosen to represent the cover of the 2011 Tend report. 

Designs by Matt MacArthur, Jen Movitz, Jeff Langevin, Alec Rocklein and Nick David

PANDORA COLLECTION

Vistaprint's acquisition team identified an opportunity to promote targeted content using Pandora’s genre targeting. Our team was tasked with creating 100+ custom pieces of content, including t-shirts, tote bags, mouse pads, hats and mugs, that would appeal to country and rock audiences on Pandora. The result was over $60k in new bookings/year, an increase in AOV by $3 and some of the most creative work in the Vistaprint portfolio to date. 

Designs by Dave Blank, Elly Brady, Jeff Langevin, Kirsten Dickerson and Phil Davis

Designed by Elly Brady and Dave Blank

Designed by Jeff Langevin and Elly Brandy

POSTER PROJECT

Upon my arrival, one of the first projects I brought to the team was an internal poster campaign. It required more collaboration, brainstorming and conceptual thinking than the team was used to. And that was the point. It blurred the lines between product design and marketing, demonstrating that Vistaprint offers much more than cheap products, and that we all play a role in elevating our brand image.  

It some ways, this was just a creative exercise. But in others, it was a project that highlighted our team capabilities, opened the door to creating award-winning work (campaign was recognized in HOW Design), positioned the team for the Pandora Collection Project and laid the foundation for the FY2012-2013 Business Identity Strategy. 

Designed by Jeff Langevin, Greg David, Nick David and Jon Decelles

Designed by Elizabeth McCormack, Ryan Montgomery, Mary Ellen Campisi and Dave Blank

Designed by Mark LaRosa, Matt McArthur, Ed Steigerwald and Elly Brady