Group Creative Director

Rebranding the world’s third most-valuable brand, Amazon.

Our primary objective in developing a new global design system for Amazon was to enhance brand recognition and consistency across all touchpoints. This initiative stemmed from the need to create a cohesive brand experience that would be immediately identifiable to customers, regardless of their interaction with Amazon. Building on a newly established brand architecture, which strategically organized our diverse offerings into distinct cohorts with hierarchical sub-brands, our task was two-fold. First, we needed to identify and reinforce the core elements of Amazon's identity that would serve as consistent “fixed” points across all cohorts, ensuring a unified brand expression. Second, we had to determine the flexible components within this system that would allow individual sub-brands within each cohort to tailor their communication to their specific customer bases effectively. This balanced approach aimed to maintain Amazon's overarching brand integrity while enabling nuanced, audience-appropriate messaging for our various product and service lines across the world.

The Holidays at Amazon

Our creative vision for the global holiday campaign centered on crafting an emotionally resonant visual narrative that celebrates the universal magic of gift-giving. For this annual campaign, we developed a dynamic visual expression that captures both intimate moments of discovery and grand celebrations, reflecting the journey from finding the perfect gift to experiencing the joy of giving. Through thoughtfully curated imagery, motion design, and storytelling elements, we brought to life those treasured seasonal moments that define holiday gift-giving: the anticipation of discovery, the thrill of finding exactly what you're seeking, and the pure delight of watching someone open the perfect present. This approach not only reinforced Amazon's role as the destination for holiday shopping, but also deepened emotional connections with our global audience by celebrating the human experiences that make the season meaningful.

Rebranding the iconic kitchen company, Sur La Table

As Creative Director of Sur La Table, I partnered with CMO Beth Gumm to elevate the brand around an entirely new brand positioning that brought warmth and authenticity central to Sur La Table’s original roots back in focus. This included a complete rebuild of the visual identity from the ground up for the thirty-year-old company including all facets of brand expression from messaging strategy, color, typography, photo art direction, iconography, all realized across the diverse set of marketing collateral from phyiscal instore, to direct mail to digital.

With origins beginning in Pike Place Market in 1972, the opportunity to craft rich stories around “Make More” become central to our efforts in re-establishing the beloved brand as a destination for celebrating the joy of cooking.

The Holiday Kids Gift Book

Now in its seventh year, we evolved the Amazon Holiday Kids Gift Book from a seasonal catalogue into a strategic brand initiative aimed at driving both commercial and emotional value across multiple media touchpoints. Starting in 2020 with the Fox and Woodland characters we ideated from scratch, we created narratives of joy and adventure realized through activities throughout the book that have made the Amazon Holiday Kids Gift Book iconic and beloved.

From custom Roblox gaming experiences built from the world we imagined, to virtual shopping experiences, to private label products, and Alexa integrations, the characters have since inspired a world that lives far beyond the pages of the book and invites the customer to engage in delightful experiences throughout the season. B.

Identity design for London-based, luxury accessories brand Yosuzi

Yosuzi was a small brand with big ambitions of turning authentic and beautifully hand-crafted hats from Venezuela into a lifestyle luxury brand. To exemplify the vision on the woman and BIPOC-owned small business, I created a new visual identity to reflect the founder’s heritage as well as embody the elevated aesthetics of her products.

CulTúra campaign created to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at Amazon

CulTÚra, the cornerstone of the Hispanic Heritage Month campaign at Amazon, means to shift the annual celebration from a moment in time to a movement by focusing on the stories and unique backgrounds of Hispanic entrepreneurs who sell on Amazon. Bright colors, vibrant icons, in-depth interviews, and bold portrait illustrations pay tribute to these individuals who are moving Hispanic culture forward and helping to make Amazon a better company. As an extension of the campaign, we created our first zine honoring the success of Hispanic-owned small businesses at Amazon. It features interviews with CEOs alongside art and typography by Brazilian illustrator, Mel Cerri.

The CulTÚra zine was awarded Best-In-Show in the Design category by Communication Arts in 2023.

Identity design for the restaurant and bakery in the Brentwood Country Mart

Working under British-American Creative Director Clive Piercy, I delivered a comprehensive brand identity system for Farmshop, a new restaurant concept by celebrated chef Jeff Cerciello. The project demanded a versatile design solution that could scale across multiple touchpoints – restaurant, bakery, and market – while maintaining visual cohesion. Launching in 2010 at the Brentwood Country Mart, the brand system expanded seamlessly to support Farmshop's growth into Marin County's Larkspur Landing location. The design system quickly earned industry recognition, including a James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant Graphics. The result: a distinctive visual identity that helped establish Farmshop as a memorable dining destination.

Saving the day with everyday essentials.

To support a campaign centered on everyday essentials, we created a dynamic and vibrant social series that amplifies Amazon's value proposition through relatable, seasonal storytelling with a touch of charm.

Alexa McNae

Projects Amazon Rebrand Joy is Shared Holiday Kids Gift Book Back to School CulTùra Sur La Table One Kings Lane Yosuzi FarmshopMartha Stewart Misc

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Projects
Amazon Rebrand
Joy is Shared
Holiday Kids Gift Book
Back to School
CulTùra
Sur La Table
One Kings Lane
Yosuzi
Farmshop
Martha Stewart
Misc

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