I was brought into Prime at a very pivotal point in not only it’s own brand, but for Amazon and it’s tent-pole brands (AWS, Prime, Retail, and Alexa). This holistic alignment, now known as Fusion, was and continues to be a massive effort aligning cross-channel on all things brand. This gave myself the unique opportunity on the Prime Brand team to rethink how to approach things like color¹, experience², and photography³, in not only a way that was unique to Prime, but in some cases tenets that would end up being adopted by Amazon all-up.
At Prime I did research and development for exploring a more accessible Prime Blue as well as developing pitches for leadership buy off, co-owning what is now known as the new Prime Blue globally. Pushing accessibility and legibility for the new Prime Blue meant introducing both small text and the Prime logo into new contexts previously inaccessible. I also did extensive research and development for illustration color (which was given as guidance and adopted by our selected illustrator, Giacomo Bagnara) and explored and to built out a diverse skin-tone range that was eventually adopted by Amazon all-up.
Amazon had a distinct (and major) problem for it’s users: it was difficult for them to really understand (and where to find) what benefits they had, how they were utilizing them, and what new ones they were getting. “What if we combined the benefits page, and the news page, and tailored it to be fun, engaging, and possibly even uniquely their own?” I worked with fellow Senior Designer to explore end-to-end concepts that will be featured in an Amazon PRFAQ and globally A-B tested.
Finally, Prime photography got some simple new tenets: Casting is inclusive, moments are candid, environments are lived-in, composition is imperfect, and lighting is natural. We aimed to showcase those all-too-familiar (and sometimes messy) everyday experiences, regardless of where—or to whom—they happen. We wanted anyone to be like “YES, I see myself in this image, I can relate to this story” in at least one of our shoots. Whether it’s reflected in our casting or our lived-in sets, our photography gives customers something real to feel and relate to, no matter where they’re coming from.
Working with fellow Senior Designer and Senior Copywriter, I developing wide-ranging stories to showcase our benefits in unique, cheeky, and undeniably relatable scenarios, pitching 9 scenes that (insanely) all got buy off on and green-lit a 7 figure budget for 2022. Below are a few of the aforementioned.
Overview.
While working at Microsoft, I worked as a Comms and Visual Design Lead on the Enterprise Commercial CTO team (ECCTO). Here I was responsible for sending out major comms for one of Microsoft's CTO, Lorraine Bardeen, as well as all other comms work internally for presenting to client . Here I was given the opportunity to explore a brand logo and brand
ANATOMY.
We like to believe we’re soft yet firm, so we’ve rounded out to corners a bit throughout the logo’s apex. 2. The top of the t is reduced and chopped to create a “signal”, following the natural 18° angles in the font Segoe.
EXTENDED.
The ECCTO logo should be used primarily with a color signal in the yellow color specified. A solid black or white version can be used in a secondary context.
Expressive.
In special circumstances, you can use icon imagery to replace the signal. This is best done sparingly, with clear intent and purpose to celebrate an occasion, value, or achievement meaningful to ECCTO.
Color.
ECCTO’s visual language uses a spectrum of color combined into light and dark gradients and broken out into tonal color families. We also use a range of tonal black + grey to support this system.
Colors Applied.
ECCTO’s color palette features gradients that work well as backgrounds and washes utilizing colors that represent clarity, innovation, and leadership. These washes work well as backgrounds or as section dividers. The “light angle” featured in these washes is 18°, which is the same as the angle of the signal in the ECCTO logo.
Illustration.
the illustration language for ECCTO pulling features directly from the logo including the 18° angle, as well as honing key-characteristics in illustrations in the “signal” yellow