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BIG LOTS CORPORATE

SOAK UP THE SUN

My first round of concept work: I was assigned this 'no brand' "Art Pack" for a Seasonal Spring & Summer Trend. I had about 3 weeks for execution, from the date of assignment to the date of Creative Review. I executed & released this Brand Guide in July of 2022, so all packaging could make their ship dates & be launched in stores January of 2023.

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

Working as the Packaging Design Specialist on the Private Brands Packaging Design Team, this position comes with a variety of work: daily production work on current packaging design for existing brands & art packs, as well as concept work on new Trends for packaging that needs a new look.

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Our process for Concept work: First we're given a Trend Guide (executed by the Trend Team), which contains product inspiration for the Trend & the carefully selected color palette that we're required to use & design around. We start with concepts in the form of a Hang Tag, the most common packaging type, & present around 4-6 different looks to our Team during a Creative Review - when the presented designs are reviewed & voted on. Sometimes the team might want to see certain edits or different color options, in which a second round of Review will determine the final selected design. Then comes the re-creation of that final concept into multiple different packaging types that could be used for the products sold in the Trend, & organizing them together in the execution of a Brand Guide. The finished Brand Guide & live files are then released (along with Print Sample Sheets that we create & order) - being sent to all vendors & printers so they can follow & execute the production work of all packaging correctly.

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Due to confidentiality, I cannot share my current concepts until they launch in stores, so what you see here is everything that's already out there. Stay tuned for more!

WINTER WONDER LANE - ALL IS BRIGHT

My first Winter Wonder Lane Brand Guide: I was assigned my first Holiday Trend in January of 2023, where the Core Winter Wonder Lane logo had to be used. My largest Brand Guide ever with 25 packaging types, was executed & released in February of 2023. This Trend launched & set it stores the first week of September 2023.

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

My first time re-designing for the Short Seasons that happen every year: The original design for St. Patrick's Day was over 6 years old & in desperate need of a re-design. The unique challenge with this project was that it had no Trend Guide for us to follow, so it was a bit more open-ended. This time I was competing against one of the senior designers on this Trend & during our design review our concepts were narrowed down to our final edited designs, in which we put in a Survey for the whole team to vote on. My final concept was the winner & is now appearing in stores over the next few years, until we decide when a refresh needs to happen.

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

DAISY DAZE

This was a new & updated Seasonal Spring & Summer Trend that replaced my Soak Up The Sun design from last year. Brand Guide was done & released the first week of May 2023, so the product started appearing in stores by February 2024.

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

FLAMINGO FUN

This was a totally new thing where the Buying Teams got creative & wanted to put a full collection of Flamingo themed product on the shelf to surprise & delight the customer. The problem was that no current packaging we had really fit the product, & there wasn't time to have a Trend Guide put together to follow. Starting with pulling colors from the Daisy Daze palette, I took on the task with concepts done within 2 weeks, & my final Flamingo Fun design became the solution. Creating the packaging types & Brand Guide had a fast turnaround so I set a new record of completing everything in about 2.5 work days, because the vendors were in a pinch to make their ship date with production. Brand Guide was done & released the second week of August 2023, so the product could set in stores by January 2024. This product started flying off the shelves soon after!

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

PATRIOTIC

Another Short Season re-design - the original design was outdated like St. Patrick's Day. I competed against another designer on this Trend & my design won. We were given a small Trend Guide so we had a color palette to follow for direction. Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays so I used that as my motivation to come up with as many different options as I possibly could in the few weeks of time we were given. It was my idea to utilize the title "Stars & Stripes" for this trend because I found that more meaningful than just the word "Patriotic" & I was inspired by one of my most favorite patriotic songs of all time, "Stars & Stripes Forever"! This is now appearing in stores to excite the customer for Memorial Day & Independence Day over the next 3-5 years, until our Trend team decides when a refresh needs to happen.
Brand Guide was done & released the first week of August 2023, so the product started appearing in stores around March & April 2024.

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

BIG LOTS BRAND - BACK TO CLASS

The goal here was to re-design the Big Lots Branded Back To Class Stationary line with a better back to school feel: the Buying team was tired of seeing the old blue PDQs so, competing against another designer on our team, we created our own color palettes exploring more energetic options like school bus yellows. This one had a faster turnaround time where we had less than 2 weeks for concept work, which happened around October 18th, 2023. I presented many options & we narrowed down in our Review & put it to a survey - my concept that got the most votes became the final design, which will re-appear in stores for the season over the next 3-5 years.

Brand Guide was done (in 3 days) & released December 12th, 2023, so the product could begin setting in stores around May-June 2024.

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

HARVEST - AUTUMN COMFORTS

The goal here was to create a new packaging design that would fit a new Traditional Harvest trend for a full 20 foot run of product. I competed against another designer on our team & we had around 2 weeks for concept development, presenting final concepts in a Survey round around November 20th, 2023, & my design won.

Brand Guide was done & released December 5th, 2023, so the product could make its set date in stores on July 19th, 2024.

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

WINTER WONDER LANE - GLITZ & GLAM

For my second Winter Wonder Lane Brand Guide where the new Core Winter Wonder Lane logo was used, I worked on concepts in January 2024. This was my first time working with metallics so I played with snowflakes, sparkling stars, ornaments & reindeer & my concepts were narrowed down to 2 in the review. I had incorporated my own hand drawn pattern into the reindeer shape & hand drew his antlers to make them stylized. The unique blush pink Pantone in this trend ended up being just an accent, which is why I confined it to the broken outline & a few stars & flourishes in design elements. The metallic silver I use in the stars, ornaments, & snowflakes, as well as the metallic gold, because there's a sophisticated sparkle going on with the products in this trend.

Brand Guide was done & released February 29th, 2024, so the product could make its set date in stores on September 6th, 2024.

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

HALLOWEEN - DAY OF THE DEAD

Brand new Halloween Trend coming out in 2025, there was no time for a real Trend Guide to be completed & with a 1 week turnaround from conception to completion, this was my fastest round of concept work yet: with concepting about 6 designs in a little over 3 days. I made my own color palette focusing on a dark purple for the base to stand out instead of black which is already used for Core & other Halloween Trends. My designs were narrowed down to 2 & after final edits, both could have fit the trend well, but I went with the one that I felt would boldly translate the best across all packaging types, & this one is a tombstone shape - symbolizing the idea that you decorate the tombstones of your loved ones with sugar skulls, candles, & other gifts during this celebration. I was told this test trend totally sold out in stores! 

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

EASTER - BUNNY DAY

Re-designing Easter packaging was one of my Goals for the 2024 year. I competed against senior designer John & we followed the Trend Guide that was updated for the product coming out in stores this year. After putting together our concepts for Round 1 Review, there was conversation where the team felt Easter selection of product was so huge & vast that we should be separating it out into 2 looks for Easter instead of trying to fit everything under one. Some of my designs & some of John's designs stuck out as consistent favorites during our Round 2 Review where we began to think about how our designs could compliment each others. This project ended up being a win for both of us because the team liked my idea of naming one collection "Bunny Day" & so John's winning design was called "Happy Easter". These designs were totally different but the one turquoise color I used in my design as an accent was used in the background pattern of John's egg shaped hang tag design so they complimented each other very well while still standing alone as separate Trends. I love the Easter holiday & had fun working on this one. Unfortunately not all of this product was able to launch in stores in January 2025, after stores began to close, but at least some of it made it!

<<< Take a look at the Brand Guide!

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