IN-HOUSE DESIGN

For over 5 years, I have been working as an in-house designer for two different companies. Here is a bit of insight into what I do/have done:

SCHAWK CREATIVE STUDIO, IN-HOUSE AT KELLOGG’S CANADA

I began my career as an intern in university for Schawk Canada. This is an international company that specializes in pre-press services and food packaging. Conveniently, Schawk has a creative studio located right inside the Kellogg’s Canada head office—yes, the famous cereal makers! Schawk designs and prints the packaging for Kellogg’s.

I worked with a vibrant, fun team: an art director, production coordinator, and four other senior designers. Th team was extremely talented and produced a very high calibre of work. I was lucky of enough to get hired into this studio after graduation and work for three years after. The team took me under their wing from the start and taught me the ropes of the industry—and inspired me to no end!

My role was to work with packaging and current promotions, designing signage and other print collateral for the various brands of Kellogg’s. The cool thing about being right in the Kellogg’s head office, aside from the free cereal and amazing gym, was to be able work directly with our client. There were daily interactions with the various brand managers for Kellogg’s. Since Kellogg’s has tons of brands under its name, I got to know Snap Crackle and Pop, Toucan Sam and the Mini-Wheats characters really well! Every day was different; one day I could be working on kids or snack brands, another day I was knee deep in All-Bran or Special K! It was a great experience to work with multiple brands for such a high profile company.

BLUENOTES MARKETING

For the past two years, I have been designing in-house for Bluenotes; a retail brand well known across Canada for their denim, graphic tees, hoodies and fashion items. It’s predominantly a youth brand, which means I get to have lots of fun with the design!

A few recent print jobs:

I redesigned the Bluenotes gift cards, with a new colour palette, packaging and overall look. The card is cobalt blue with a choice of neon pink, neon orange or lime green backer for the card, with a white envelope.

Reusable bags for Fall, in coral, lime and navy.

I am part of the marketing team in head office. My team includes a Marketing Director, Marketing Coordinator, E-commerce manager, Warehouse Manager, and Web Product Photographer. I am currently the sole graphic designer. My days are very fast-paced, where I’m juggling things like:

• seasonal campaigns: concepts + design
• coordinating seasonal photoshoots
• promotions: concepts + design
• store signage
• email marketing
• web graphics and assets

Needless to say, the time flies! I work with tight deadlines, so I’ve definitely honed my ability to design quickly on the spot, but always deliver quality work. That sounds cheesy, but it’s the truth! It’s a very hand-on, entrepreneurial environment, so I get to wear lots of hats. I also work among super talented apparel and graphic tee designers, clothing buyers and more. I’m constantly inspired by the creativity and style that surrounds me!

BLUENOTES SPRING 2012 PHOTOSHOOT: PROPS + SET

A particular photoshoot that I had tons of fun on was our Spring 2012 Campaign. I, along with our lovely and talented e-commerce manager Jamie Franklin, planned out  the props and set. The campaign concept was a group of friends hanging out on March Break, listening to music, taking photos and pretending to be rock stars. It needed be playful and bright. We also wanted to add both analogue and digital elements, like cellphones vs. film cameras.

Lomography cameras were one of our key props. This shot has the Sprocket Rocket model. The Lomography Gallery Store in Toronto kindly lent us the prints stuck on the wall. So helpful!

To pull our sets together, we do a mix of shopping, renting and lending. We did the majority of the props sourcing in the Queen West area of  Toronto. Larger items like the couch and coffee table were outsourced. The marketing department also contributed some items. Here is where the above items are from:

1. Lomography poster:  Lomography Gallery Store (free)
2. silk screened poster by Doublenaut: Telegramme Prints
3. wrapping paper: The Paper Place
4. silk screened poster by Jeff Kleinsmith/Patent Pending: Telegramme Prints
5. guitar case: Marketing Director’s own
6. mini posters (from tearout poster book): Sonic Boom
7. wrapping paper: The Paper Place
8. rug: Urban Outfitters
9. records: marketing department mix
10. table: mine
11. record player: Sonic Boom
12. vintage chair: mine (Junction thrift store)
13. collapsible wire basket: CB2

CAMPAIGN PHOTOGRAPHY BY SANDY NICHOLSON

I’m on set today for our upcoming Holiday campaign. Can’t wait to share! //