OVERVIEW
Art Direction 2020-2022
ThankView is the leading software for donor communications and stewardship. I was responsible for guiding, directing, and delegating the aesthetic developments for all ThankView brands, products, and cross-team supportive material. This included content marketing material, marketing campaigns, and a complete external website redesign.
My Accomplishments.
I lead my team in researching and building a design system, and lead a breadth of projects from marketing campaigns to a full external website redesign.
Our Growth.
I grew with the company from 40 to 120+ employees. In 2021, I navigated my team through a merger and acquisition.
My Team.
Though I began as a Visual Designer, I eventually lead and managed a team of designers as an Art Director, regularly triaging between the design, engineering, marketing, and customer success teams to maintain our product's brand and design system.
DESIGN SYSTEM
Brand Style Guide
ThankView's whimsical tone is a key part of the brand identity. In a 2021 study, more than 70% of our clients said that the brand "felt like humans talking to us" and "wasn't overly sales-y." This feedback was highly valued, and we took it to heart when realigning our brand style. The tone helps us to connect with our customers on a deeper level and create a more memorable brand experience.
DESIGN SYSTEM
Design System
I established a comprehensive design system in Figma. The design system included reusable components, styles, and documentation which made it easy for designers and developers to collaborate and ensure a consistent look and feel across all products. Additionally, the design system helped us to improve accessibility by using high-contrast colors and clear labels. As a result, we were able to reduce the time it took to develop new features by roughly 20%.
EXTERNAL MARKETING WEBSITE
Website Design.
Beyond the product of ThankView, I directed the redesign of our external website, collaborating with our product and marketing teams. I utilized my cross functional background to triage between our different teams.
MOTION DESIGN
Hover States & More.
Using my experience with motion design, I created a range of hover states for buttons and cards. This pop-out effect was adopted into our overall visual style, informing graphic design material as well as in-product interactions.
Additionally, I created a library of custom lottie animations of characters and elements used throughout the website.
I worked with design, engineering, marketing, and customer success teams to determine how to organize our components, styles, and documentation. Through weekly meetings, we collaborated to create methods of consolidating information that could be used throughout the company to ensure consistency in our brand approach.
