Revolutionizing Retail: Tegu's Multi-Channel Approach and Block Genius Strategy

Tegu is a sustainable toy company that gained global recognition in 2009 for its innovative take on traditional wooden building blocks. Their unique selling point is the patent-pending blocks that feature magnets inside sustainably harvested wood. These magnets allow for gravity-defying construction with no visible points of connectivity, providing a multi-dimensional building experience for children and enthusiasts.

Tegu Live's Block Genius launched just before the holiday season. This initiative was a game-changer, as it enabled real-time responses to customer queries and provided an interactive Tegu block play experience, making traditional instruction manuals obsolete.

One of the initiatives that helped launch their new line of colored blocks, was the Block Genius. A playful way to showcase the blocks' capabilities and engage with the audience in a new and exciting manner at the time. The Block Genius was actually consisted of a team of people in the back end. One at the front of the camera, wearing a white coat with the Tegu logo embroidered on the chest. His hands would tinker with the blocks to create different builds ranging from baboons to seasonal and playful items, like the princess' engagement ring. These requests were received through the Block Genius' Twitter account.

Celebrities and influencers were challenged to request intricate builds, and a team behind the scenes helped design these structures. The entire process was captured via livestream, with no sound other than the satisfying clicks as the blocks magnetically connected.

Our efforts successfully adapted Tegu to the changing retail landscape, offering a more diversified shopping experience. By integrating e-commerce, real-time customer interaction, and innovative marketing strategies, we played a key role in Tegu's growth and continued success. Importantly, this multi-faceted strategy also upheld Tegu's commitment to sustainability and social responsibility, including support for local communities and environmental initiatives in Honduras.

Designing a Vision for Inclusive Education: McGraw Hill's Visual Direction Transformation

As the education industry continues to evolve with an abundance of content and technology tailored to individual needs, McGraw Hill recognizes the importance of celebrating individuality and promoting equity in education.

My role in this project was to lead the design team to explore and define a new visual direction that reflects the evolving definition of education and embodies inclusivity and individuality. The project involved evaluating the usability of their current brand guidelines and gaining insights into how McGraw Hill is perceived both internally and worldwide. 

The new visual direction wants to convey McGraw Hill's mission to provide innovative and inclusive educational solutions that empower learners on their unique paths to success. This involved understanding and addressing the challenges faced by educators, learners, and professionals in today's dynamic educational landscape, and developing a visual identity that resonates with them.  

Given that this occurred during the pandemic, we developed a tailored workshop for the global marketing team. The aim was to gather insights  in how the team was utilizing their current brand guidelines and the team’s perception of the brand. The workshop comprised of three main parts: Visual elements analysis, Competitive Analysis and Ideation.

Prior to the workshop. A questionnaire was sent out to gather usability insights and pain points of their current branded design elements. During the workshop, we had an open discussion in regards to these summarized points and shared our own research and analysis of the current visual brand. This allowed us to have an open discussion with the larger team. The workshop facilitators took notes in real time, using sticky notes to capture participants' observations. Furthermore, participants were encouraged to independently add their own thoughts and explore freely.

In our competitive analysis we studied visual snapshots of our competitors to see what they are doing good and what we should avoid doing. 

A notable example is Simple Social Sample, which involved capturing snapshots of the competitors and disruptors’ social media channels simultaneously to understand their communication styles and strategy across different social platforms.

As the last section, we explored other brands outside our category that have effectively established design systems capable of conveying their core values while maintaining a distinct and memorable identity. The workshop yielded remarkable success, culminating in a concise task list that was seamlessly integrated into our project scope.

To learn more about the design phase of this project please visit my McGraw Hill Education case study page.

Navigating Authenticity in Photography: A Solution for McGraw Hill's Rebranding

During the process of rebranding for McGraw Hill, a significant challenge emerged: "There are times when we need a quick photo that generally embodies our new brand message of authenticity and inclusivity. Stock images often appear overused, overly staged, and impersonal. How can we better discern the small details that make a stock photo feel less staged and more authentic?" While we worked on redefining McGraw Hill's photography style and overall art direction, we also had the opportunity to create a decision tree specifically addressing this issue.

We conducted a reverse search on stock images to understand what was available and how we could identify more authentic shots. Gradually, we were able to pinpoint three key factors: first, having a photograph with natural colors and lighting, as opposed to overly retouched images; second, ensuring a clear focal point and composition; and finally, capturing authentic facial expressions.

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This framework significantly aided in instructing and guiding McGraw Hill's extensive marketing team in choosing better photography and acquiring basic photography principles that could be applied to various situations.

With this in mind, we were able to develop a more comprehensive set of guidelines, which you can explore below.

To learn more about the design phase of this project please visit my McGraw Hill Education case study page.

Unwrapping 2020: Insights from 1-800 Flowers' Holiday Trends Report

For their 2020 holiday campaign, 1-800 Flowers aimed to create a year-end trends report, leveraging their unique consumer data due to the surge in online gift-giving that year. This data included details like message content, types of personalized gifts, recipients (friends, family, or community), delivery distances, and more. Collaborating with a data analyst, we distilled this information into key insights, which were then presented in three meticulously designed mini-sites. Each site featured highly customized mini-infographics, all distinctly branded for 1-800 Flowers. This project was an enjoyable fusion of data analysis, sentiment-driven insights, behavioral patterns, and creative art direction.

A snippet of data showing the most frequently used group wordings in 2019 and 2020 grouped in each occasion and ranked by YOY usage increase, enabling us to generate hypotheses rooted in sentiments.

The project's second phase focused on creating memorable visual representations of these insights. Our aim was to depict the distinctive situations in which the pandemic had disrupted our daily routines. Here are a few of those illustrations.

Gifts and Flowers Ramping Up on Travel Miles

Given the travel restrictions during the pandemic and quarantine, we visualized planes that were filled with gifts, replacing the many travelers who wouldn't be able to travel. It was a bit grim, but it perfectly illustrated the sentiment we all felt during that year.

A Surge in Personal and Supportive Messages

Cards took on a more personal and heartfelt tone, with an abundance of words of encouragement and support being shared, surpassing previous levels.

Virtual Unwrapping Parties

During the pandemic, people had to use FaceTime to connect with others, and this continued during the holidays, with more virtual unwrapping parties happening on Zoom than ever before.

The Rise of Personalized Gifts

This year saw a significant rise in the popularity and prevalence of personalized gifts, indicating a growing trend towards thoughtful and individualized gestures in gift-giving.

Honoring Essential Workers

The act of gift giving extends beyond our loved ones, as people have also shown their support by gifting essential workers within their communities.

Hopeful Beginnings: Welcoming 2021 with Anticipation of Togetherness

In the 2021 New Year's celebrations, people were hopeful for a brighter year ahead, longing for the return of togetherness after the challenges of the pandemic in the preceding year.

2020 Christmas Wishes: Safety, Reflection, and Hope for 2021

Christmas wishes in 2020 emphasized staying safe, acknowledged the unusual year, and hoped for a better 2021, reflecting the desire for a return to normalcy.

You can check out the 1-800 Flowers published Trends Report Gift Guide here.

The Evolution of Gift-Giving – Trends and Insights in a Post-Pandemic Era

As the pandemic drastically changed the way we, as a society, value and perceive gifts, it became clear that 1-800 Flowers needed to swiftly adapt to evolving customer behavior. Leading a research project, I delved into the diverse gift trends, spanning physical, virtual, and emotional gifts, which gained particular significance during this transformative period. Our goal extended beyond grasping current popularity; we sought to identify behaviors that had permanently reshaped the art of gift-giving. This shift wasn't confined to those close to us; it extended to communities at large.

By unearthing these insights, our aim was to equip 1-800 Flowers with valuable knowledge to stay at the forefront of an industry adjusting to this profound societal shift in how we perceive and engage in gift-giving.

CHALLENGE - Identify key long-term gifting trends from the post-pandemic and propose actionable strategies for 1-800 Flowers to capitalize on these trends, ensuring they remain competitive in the evolving landscape of customer behavior.

SOLUTION - This resulted in a comprehensive exploration of the various choices available for sending thoughtful gesture or gift to someone, allowing us to categorize them into understandable macro and micro consumer behavior trends.

Revitalizing Visitor Experiences: MoMA's Transformation from Handwritten to Digital Art Narratives

When the Museum of Modern Art asked us to build an interactive experience for their 'I went to MoMA and...", we thought about making the experience of drawing, scanning and seeing it upload to the web seem effortless. After many prototypes of both the physical space and website, the most minimal and elegant one came through.

CHALLENGE - We created an automated scanning station that was easy for the visitors to comprehend and operate. My design challenge was to connect those scanned cards to the virtual social space in an elegant way. The automated CMS had to also include a system to be reviewed and potentially be manually flagged before they were published on the site. As the cards grew every day, we needed to implement a simple method to have users easily navigate and skim through the cards based on interests, emotions, or activities.

SOLUTION - The solution was a bit ahead of its' time. It was 2012 and there weren't many sites catering to mobile . The cards were displayed in long feed, and could be filtered at the very top. Different tags describing the drawing could be added both from the uploader and through the CMS.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Using Bootstrap’s grid system to design

• Integrating digital experiences into physical spaces

• Spatial design

Museum Visitors would be invited to draw and scan their cards through the scanning station. Cards were shown somewhat in real time

Awards and Press:

• Webby 'People's Voice' Award: Mobile & Experience Marketing

• American Association of Museums (AAM) Gold Muse Award

• Featured in “Participatory Design” in Design 360°– Concept and Design Magazine

• Featured in "Sensation–Theme Promo & Campaign" published by Sandu Publishing

• Featured in Identity of Cultural Institutions 2013, Gestalten Publishers

• Featured in The World's Best Graphics—Choi Gallery Vol. 21, 2013, Choi's Publishing

Please visit the MoMA website for more details about this project.

Passion Project: The Lost Duck

New York City, summer of 2010, the year after the famous economic crash. I was fresh out of college and was looking to land a job as a digital designer.

I convinced my creative partner at the time (and bestest friend!), Carlos, to venture out in the middle of the night posting thousands of yellow xeroxed papers of a rubber duck that I had picked up from the dollar store, also known as the art kid’s most resourceful material library. Along with the words “LOST DUCK” in bolded type. No number to call.

As we intended for it to be revealed in the mail of all of my aspiring company’s recruiters and creative directors to look at our online portfolio.

We then went ahead and mailed in the rubber duck with the url of our website sharpied at the bottom, with a message that said. “You might be wondering about the lost duck, here it is.”

The LOST DUCK Project genuinely shows the essence of a young creative eager to create and take on challenges...and maybe a not so good way to make friends with graffiti artists while you are caught in the middle of the night glueing yellow stuff over their art!

Below are some of the tweets, graffiti interpretations, and media attention that buzzed over that summer. Among which a couple of write-ups in the Village Voice. Weeks passed since our first batch of homemade flour glue and late nights xerox sessions at the 24 hrs Staple store, people still wondering the motive behind this act. It was late one night where we were stopped by a reporter in disguise, we told the truth, and the mystery was revealed in the papers the next morning.

The LOST DUCK project turned out to be a great success as a way to catch the advertising world’s attention, and as a chance to create something for the community. Seeing people’s responses made us realize how we had managed to grab their interest without being invasive. What began as an offline project quickly took an online life of its own. We were excited and happy by the responses we elicited from people, both from the street and in agencies.

We want to continue doing things that make people interact with one another, and hopefully change the way people live their lives. Everyone who tweeted and blogged about it helped make it what it is now. We feel we no longer own this project, it is a part of the community and remains in New York as a piece of street art. Our wheat paste turned out to be super strong, and there are some posters that are still up, a reminder of what we did and what we can do.