Great creative requires both strategy and craft—neither thrives in reactive environments. I redesigned workflows to remove friction, align stakeholders earlier, and redirect creative energy toward high-impact work tied directly to business priorities.
CASE STUDY No.01
Rebuilding Creative Operations at Erin Condren
A campaign-based operating model that reduced revision cycles by 40%, cut repetitive feedback by 70%, and gave the team breathing room to do strategic, high-quality work.
THE CHALLENGE
Erin Condren’s creative team was operating in reactive mode with channel-based silos. Each designer owned a single channel (email, website, paid, or affiliate) and worked independently. This created multiple operational breakdowns in coordination, quality and consistency issues, and team impact.
BEFORE: CHANNEL-BASED SILOS
Designer A
—
Works independently
Own timeline
Own files
WEBSITE
Designer B
—
Works independently
Own timeline
Own files
PAID ADS
Designer C
—
Works independently
Own timeline
Own files
AFFILIATE
Designer D
—
Works independently
Own timeline
Own files
BUSINESS IMPACT
Campaigns launched inconsistently. Stakeholders were frustrated by reactive workflows. Creative capacity was disproportionately consumed by email requests, allowing a lower-revenue channel to dictate strategy and divert focus from higher-impact growth initiatives.
The Review Process Was Broken:
Reviews happened at different times (no holistic view)
Stakeholders repeated feedback across multiple PDFs, Slack threads, Asana comments
No one knew where to find latest assets or which designer owned what
Creative reviews 2 days before launch = fire drills
5-7 revision rounds per campaign
The Impact on Team:
Designers only understood their channel, not full strategy
Limited growth opportunities and career development
Constant burnout from last-minute rushes
Low morale: felt like order-takers, not strategic partners
AFTER: CAMPAIGN-BASED INTEGRATION
SPRING
PROMOTION ($$)
Designer A
—
Static Paid, Affiliate,
Static Organic Social,
MMS, Email, Website
CORE PRODUCT
LAUNCH ($$$)
Owner: Designer B +
Assist: Designer C
—
Static Paid, Affiliate,
Static Organic Social,
MMS, Email, Website
PRODUCT
REMARKET ($)
Designer C
—
Static Paid, Affiliate,
Static Organic Social,
MMS, Email, Website
EDITORIAL ($$)
Designer D
—
Static Paid, Affiliate,
Static Organic Social,
MMS, Email, Website
Unified Campaign Workspace: Single Source of Truth
Consolidated all campaign channels into one structured workspace
Enabled multiple designers to collaborate simultaneously within a shared campaign system
Centralized stakeholder review and feedback across all channels
Eliminated version confusion and redundant revision cycles
Increased visibility without interrupting creative flow
Reduced bottlenecks by allowing stakeholders to track progress
THE RESULTS
70%
reduction in
repetitive stakeholder comments
Improved campaign performance (engagement + conversion)
Increased
team morale
and ownership
Designers learned holistic strategy (career development)
30%
faster asset
production
40%
reduction in
revision cycles
(2-3 rounds vs. 5-7)
15x
extended review timeline from
2 days to 4 weeks
before launch
10+
hours/week
team capacity
freed up
WHAT THIS PROVES
I diagnose systemic operational issues that impact both team efficiency and business performance—including misalignment between creative capacity and revenue priorities. I design scalable solutions that improve quality, reduce friction, and reallocate resources toward higher-impact initiatives; leading change in a way that earns buy-in because the system works WITH the team, not against it.
While the campaign-based operating model solved workflow and review problems, photography production still capped our capacity. That’s where the second system came in.
CASE STUDY No.02
Building Creative Infrastructure That Scales
A photography production system that reduced costs by 50%, eliminated bottlenecks, and enabled the team to scale output dramatically without adding headcount.
THE CHALLENGE
Erin Condren’s creative team was drowning in photography production demands. Every new design required new photo shoots. Every campaign needed multiple compositions shot to specific aspect ratios. The photography team spent half their time responding to “Where is X image?” requests instead of actually shooting. The creative team couldn’t scale to support business growth without dramatically increasing production budgets and headcount.
EVERY COLLECTION
= NEW SHOOT
—
10 planners = 10 photo shoots Expensive, slow,
and can’t iterate.
BEFORE: PRODUCTION BOTTLENECKS
MULTIPLE
ASPECT RATIOS
—
Each hero image:
4 different compositions
Style, shoot, edit × 4
CONSTANT
INTERRUPTIONS
—
”Where is X image?”
”Can you send me Y?“
5-10 hrs/week being
file librarians
LACK OF
REUSABILITY
—
Start from scratch
every campaign.
Can’t find past work.
Duplicative efforts.
BUSINESS IMPACT
Creative production was a bottleneck preventing business growth. We invested appropriately in high-revenue seasonal campaigns, but couldn’t support mid-tier product launches, promotional campaigns, or rapid testing without the same expensive production process. This meant leaving revenue on the table or diluting quality.
Operational Costs: Time & Budget
6-8 hours per hero image (styling, shooting, editing for 4 aspect ratios)
Photography team: 40% time spent on actual photography, 60% on admin/requests
Designers: rebuilding same layouts repeatedly
Scalability Problems:
Couldn’t iterate designs on low- and mid-tier campaigns without expensive reshoots
Campaign timelines constrained by photography availability
Extended onboarding for freelancers and designers due image sourcing; couldn’t jump in quickly
AFTER: STRATEGIC PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
“BLANKS”
PHOTOGRAPHY
—
1 shoot with blank cover/pages →
20+ design variations via
Photoshop Smart Objects;
70-80% fewer shoots
SHOOT WIDE,
CROP SMART
—
1 wide composition → all
aspect ratios; Mobile +
Desktop from same source
70% faster per shoot
DAM
SELF-SERVICE
—
Cross-functional access
Visual search, keywords
Zero interruptions
External partner access
REUSABLE
SYSTEMS
—
Smart-object templates for
white-ground product images
and lifestyle photography
THE RESULTS
50%
reduction in photo shoots needed
(1 "blanks" shoot →
20+ variations)
70%
faster per shoot
(1 composition →
all aspect ratios)
5-10
hours/week freed up
to improve craft
(dramatically reduced “Where is X?” requests)
75%
photography library onboarding time reduction
WHAT THIS PROVES
I don’t just optimize existing processes, I redesign entire production systems to unlock exponential efficiency and scale. More importantly, I understand strategic resource allocation: investing premium budgets where revenue impact is highest, while building systems that enable speed and flexibility for everything else.
60%
overall photography cost reduction (combined system efficiencies)
Quality over quantity; photographers focused on craft
Design flexibility;
iterate without production bottlenecks
Scaled output dramatically without adding headcount