As Creative Director for AOL's System Mechanic subscription redesign, I led a team of designers, copywriters, and brand strategists to develop a comprehensive set of marketing assets under a new visual identity. The challenge was that the client’s updated brand guidelines were still evolving throughout the project, requiring our team to be flexible and adaptive as we worked to create a cohesive and impactful yet relatable visual experience for the client’s target audience.

Key Responsibilities:

Creative Direction: Guided the creative vision to translate AOL's evolving brand guidelines into a modern, cohesive visual identity for System Mechanic. This involved designing digital ads, landing pages, product interfaces, and email templates.

Team Leadership: Managed a diverse team of designers, animators, and copywriters, ensuring clear communication and alignment despite the shifting brand parameters.

Brand Alignment: Worked closely with AOL’s internal branding and strategy teams to interpret and adapt to the fluid brand guidelines while maintaining consistency across all assets.

Asset Development: Delivered multiple creative assets tailored to various touchpoints, including digital advertising, direct-to-consumer media, email marketing, and video, ensuring each was aligned with the brand's updated look and feel.

Challenges: The most significant hurdle was the brand guidelines being in progress as we worked. This required our team to constantly iterate on design concepts and messaging, balancing between the new visual identity's direction and the limitations of incomplete guidelines.

Outcome:
Despite the challenges, the project resulted in a successful rollout of System Mechanic’s new visual identity across channels. The assets received positive feedback from AOL’s marketing team and consumers, with improved brand recognition and engagement. The final creative delivered a visually cohesive and modern brand experience that was adaptable to future updates of AOL’s guidelines.

Takeaway:
This project reinforced my ability to lead creative teams through ambiguity and change while staying focused on delivering high-quality, cohesive work. It highlighted the importance of flexibility, strong communication, and iterative design in navigating a brand transition.