Nordstrom Men’s Store

My Role: Art Director and Graphic Design Manager

The Challenge: After 20 years of planning, Nordstrom had finally realized the goal of opening a flagship store in Manhattan. Continuing the opening fanfare, the store’s debut holiday presentation was expected to be a stellar experience. My team designed the graphic elements for this holiday installation. I had an active role from the early phases of research and pitching ideas to curating mood boards, mocking proof of concepts, and orchestrating photography, including casting talent, styling, and art direction.

Goals:

• Unique and beautiful holiday display graphics for interior and exterior application

• Sign program to support marketing and merchant needs

Actions: With only a mood board provided, my team was tasked with creating a design system for environmental graphics and signage that would not only look beautiful but support marketing and merchant needs. We assessed the locations in-store and tested a variety of approaches including illustration, pattern, and stock photography.

Typography

Illustration

Color Palette

Continuing Actions: My team and I agreed that illustration and pattern worked with typography, but this was not enough of a statement on its own. We needed a big shift in creative direction to elevate the experience to what the Visual Merchandising Director called a “more artful” presentation. Taking the “artful” direction literally, I led the partnership with an art buyer to find a photographer and stylist who could translate the mood board into beautiful still-life images. I mentored a designer to create photo art direction boards to help guide the photoshoot. Over three days, over 30 images were shot with the 15 final images selected.

Sign Program

The Outcome and Reflection: I was pleased with the outcome of the display graphics and my ability to create connections with contributors on the team. Establishing and nurturing relationships with the designer, art buyer, store manager, marketing, Visual Merchandising Director, and photo crew was a true test of managing scope and direction. Although creativity is often hard to measure, I’m proud of the partnerships I established which embraced beauty as well as marketing needs. I especially enjoyed working with an owl on set and helping him to spread his wings.