JCPenney Holiday

My Role: Associate Creative Director and Lead Designer for Store Visuals

The Challenge: Projects for holiday were coming in as unique requests, each with its own set of priorities. My team had to align competing briefs and create decorative elements for stores that could also be used as marketing assets to promote gift-giving campaigns. Due to the long lead times for holiday trim, the store decor needed to be addressed long before the marketing toolkit would be available. My team needed to prototype holiday elements that could work with existing elements as well as connect with a seasonal toolkit that had yet to be created.

Actions for decor:

• Created an inventory of existing components slated for re-use

• Researched department goals from years past

• Partnered with store design, visual merchandising, and fabricators to create elements that would elevate gift-giving tables and mannequin presentations

• Created graphic elements that worked with existing components as well as digital placements

• Restricted design to frames and shells that could house variable content

Actions for gift giving:

• Partnered with photography team to create imagery that would promote gift-giving and support a variety of divisional needs

• Connected with holiday toolkit team to gain insight on the progress of asset generation and usage, sharing store graphics prototyping in real-time

• Translated multiple briefs into a design system that worked for awareness advertising, gift-giving merchandising stations, and beauty outposts

• Partnered with marketing creative to design typography and messaging that would work within requirements set by store design

Results: A design system that aligned with a seasonal toolkit for holiday utilizing existing assets that met department needs for awareness advertising, gift-giving stations, and beauty outposts. JCP customers had a 93% score on perceived value for the opening of Black Friday. Fragrances had a significant increase in sales for the season.