Great creative needs both strategy and craft, and neither holds up in a reactive environment. I rebuilt workflows to remove friction, bring stakeholders in earlier, and put creative energy toward the 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 worked in channel-based silos: one designer per channel (email, website, paid, affiliate), each working independently with their own timeline and files.
This meant inconsistent campaign launches, frustrated stakeholders, and a lower-revenue channel like email quietly dictating priorities that should have gone to higher-impact work
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.
What was Breaking Down:
Reviews happened at different times, with no holistic view of a campaign
Feedback scattered across PDFs, Slack, and Asana, and got repeated each round
Reviews landed 2 days before launch, so every launch was a fire drill, often with 5 to 7 revision rounds
The Impact on Team:
Designers only saw their own channel, not the full campaign, which limited growth and wore the team down.
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
One structured workspace per campaign replaced the scattered files and threads. Designers could collaborate inside a shared system, stakeholders reviewed everything in one place, and version confusion went away.
One source of truth per campaign
Shared review and feedback across every channel
Progress visible to stakeholders without interrupting the work
THE RESULTS
70%
reduction in repetitive stakeholder comments
40%
reduction in
revision cycles
(2-3 rounds vs. 5-7)
10+
hours/week
team capacity
freed up
Improved campaign performance (engagement + conversion)
Increased
team morale
and ownership
Designers learned holistic strategy (career development)
15x
extended review timeline from
2 days to 4 weeks
before launch
30%
faster asset
production
WHAT THIS PROVES
I diagnose the operational issues that quietly cost both team efficiency and business performance, like creative capacity going to the wrong priorities. Then I build systems that reduce friction and put resources toward what matters most, in a way that earns buy-in because it works with the team.
While the campaign model solved the 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%, removed bottlenecks, and let the team grow output without adding headcount.
THE CHALLENGE
Erin Condren’s creative team was drowning in photography demands. Every new design meant a new shoot. Every campaign needed multiple compositions shot to specific aspect ratios. The photography team spent half its time answering “where is X image?” instead of shooting.
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 where it mattered most, in high-revenue seasonal campaigns, but couldn’t support mid-tier launches, promos, or fast testing without the same expensive process. That meant leaving revenue on the table or cutting quality.
Operational Costs: Time & Budget
6 to 8 hours per hero image, styling through editing, for 4 aspect ratios
Photography team: 40% shooting, 60% admin and requests
Scalability Problems:
Campaign timelines constrained by photography availability
Designers rebuilding the same layouts, and slow onboarding for new freelancers, since nothing was documented or reusable
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
75%
faster onboarding to the photography library
5-10
hours/week freed up
to improve craft
60%
overall photography cost reduction, combined
Quality over quantity; photographers focused on craft
Design flexibility;
iterate without production bottlenecks
Scaled output dramatically without adding headcount
WHAT THIS PROVES
I redesign entire production systems, not just individual processes, to unlock real scale. That means understanding where to invest premium budget for revenue impact, and where to build for speed and flexibility everywhere else.