I’ll start with saying that I made this work 4 years ago, this is by far the oldest work in my current portfolio. I would do some things differently today.

The reality is that I was handed a difficult situation. Most of the useable art direction was used in MASS, leaving little for Walmart.

Hallmark has a problem that young people are not gravitating towards the brand like older generations have. Hallmark also is one of the largest fine arts employers in the country. I considered myself young when I worked there, and my solution to these issues was to always try to push the work that the artists were doing to forefront. This is most evident in my Illustrative Bunny concept. At the time I really enjoyed illustrating landscapes and I wanted to design an Easter farmland combining the different Easter illustrations into a world for the Bunny to live in. I think it’s important to design what you are most passionate about. Sometimes you change minds, and sometimes you don’t, but I feel good that at least I tried.

My second concept was the vintage pattern concept, I wanted to lean into some of the inspiration for the art direction rather than the art direction. I sourced and created my own assets for this concept from the patterns to the Easter typography. Typically, this role is more of an assembler than a creator. The artists create assets, the art director organizes them, and then the graphic designer applies them. So, what I was doing was out of scope, but all of this is done in close collaboration with managers. I was allowed to explore this direction, and I was told that they likely were not going to be picked.

I knew the Floral and Product concept was likely the direction that would be picked. It was a very small part of the initial art direction, but there were proof-of-concept graphics that were created for Hallmark’s gold crown stores and their social channels that showcased the product on pink backgrounds with plenty of empty space that could be filled with their type treatments. Often Hallmark would showcase product with photo frame-like treatment, but this felt like an opportunity for their type treatments and product placement to sit on equal ground. Putting two different products on the headers would be loved by Walmart.

The Diagonal Stripe concept was meant to emulate painted Easter eggs. I felt like I needed another safer concept to present to the broader leadership. This concept also was capable of highlighting product twice and I was able to sneak in the illustrated characters into the background.