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As Senior Designer with USA TODAY, I had the opportunity to shape the visual direction and design strategy for one of the country’s most recognized media brands. My work has ranged from national campaigns to single market projects, and everything in-between. I helped develop brand guides and templates, lead large educational sessions, and worked on huge sets of creative for the launch of USA TODAY PLAY, a new hub for gaming, horoscopes, puzzles and comics.
A large part of my role centered on designing extensive onboarding journeys. These projects were sent to hundreds of thousands of users and played a key role in how readers first connected with our brand. There is a lot of collaboration involved with these types of projects, as well as a good bit of compromise; journeys need to be not only functional and efficient, but also thoughtful and on-brand. Balancing these needs can be a challenge, and my team worked hard to push the best possible creative.
Media is a challenging environment to work in. Six months after I started, my team had grown to around 20 people; a year later we had been reduced down to 6. Navigating new workflows, keeping up a steady output of creative, and maintaining a high standard for work can be difficult under normal conditions, and was made more so with by our teams reductions. I am proud of the work my colleagues and I were able to produce in the midst of rapid change, both within our team and in the larger industry.
