PROJECTS
Kids Gifts
Gift Stationery was a large part of WHSmith's Christmas offering. These are 2 ranges aimed at younger boys and girls. The product and packaging were designed together to present an intergrated gift solution. Therefore the design of the product spanned the gift packaging, product and internal elements. Price points went across the board from just a few £'s to £15 so were great as stocking fillers. This is just a selection, the ranges themeslves were much bigger. All were produced in China.
Adults Gifts
Premium stationery aimed at both modern and traditional women were always a large part of product development at WHSmith. Those launched for Christmas also included gift packaging with the use of metallic papers, flocking and foil to give the appearance of oppulance and luxury. Those launched during the summer months refleted the floral nature and colours of the season. All were produced in China.
TheDogsDoodahs.com
TheDogsDoodahs.com is a personalised greeting card and gift website owned by Emotional Rescue, the leading humour greeting card publisher in the UK. I helped set up the website, starting with competitor analysis, customer journey, sourcing 3rd party software, sourcing a web supplier with hosting, sourcing production and also fulfilment. Project managed the site from concept to launch and then managed the gift products and promotion of the site via contact market analysis, PPC, SEO, CRM and e-mail marketing.
Fashion Stationery
Fashion Stationery at WHSmith was always a constant rolling project, with the main launch period at Back-To-School. This involved 3 main designs, a spots and stripes more basic range, a floral/fashion range and a character range. Formats within the ranges were extensive. Diaries, both full year and mid year, used many of the same patterns as the stationery but due to the extentive products within the range, also has many more designs. Production was in China.
Hierarchy of Packaging
Basic stationery items at WHSmith needed a design to tie the range together visually, challenged as it was merchandised over many different areas within the store and always next to the individual products direct branded competitors. The Design also had communicated the poduct benefits, and where possible show the product itself. There were a range of different types of packaging format, from just a label to security packaging and also many different display methods. The packaging was produced by a variety of different suppliers, so production control was a large element as the projet rolled-out.
Own Brand Packaging
WHSmith has a great variety of ranges that are own brand. Such as all year round ranges like art materials to seasonal gift ranges. Many are stationery based, like printer papers and cartridges plus some where the WHSmith brand gives credibility such as kids and adults games. All own brand was managed by myself and the team of in-house designers and artworkers with external designers, photographers and copywriters brought in on a project by project basis.
Christmas Cards
With the majority of Christmas card packs being printed in China, the card designs and mock-ups had to be produced in the UK. The timescales were very tight, meaning over 200 packs had to briefed and presented within a 4 week period, to be able to be be delivered in time for Christmas sales. Each product had between 1 and 4 designs in each pack, and many had to be briefed to more than one illustrator/designer to ensure the brief was met 1st time, with such tight deadlines. I had to source a range of designers and illustrators to deliver a presentation that was appealing to very broad range of customer tastes and price points.
Just a sample of my work. To see more or discuss possible work >>