Global UX | Product Design | Art Direction & Visual Systems | eCommerce Experience Design | UI & Interaction Design | Prototyping & Iteration | Analytics-Driven Optimization
Back to Sport (2018)
What: adidas North America Back to School campaign
Timeline: 3 weeks
Audience: 8–24-year-olds and parents
Role: Creative & Art Direction, Senior Digital Design, Visual UX, Motion
Timeline: 3 weeks
Audience: 8–24-year-olds and parents
Role: Creative & Art Direction, Senior Digital Design, Visual UX, Motion
CONTEXT & GOAL
This project represented a significant eCommerce investment in a digital-first campaign, supporting over $42M in product inventory. The goal was to deliver a highly scalable visual system optimized for web and mobile surfaces, while maintaining speed, clarity, and brand consistency across touchpoints.
DESIGN CHALLENGE
Rather than centering the shoot solely around models, we designed the imagery to function as a flexible UI surface. The primary challenge was creating compositions with intentional negative space to support hierarchy, copy placement, and responsive layouts — without relying on overlays or post-production treatments.
This approach required close alignment between creative direction, UX intent, and downstream platform constraints.
SOLUTION & EXECUTION
I partnered directly with the photographer to art-direct compositions that translated cleanly into modular digital layouts. This ensured the imagery could be reused across multiple breakpoints, formats, and platforms with minimal rework, improving efficiency on a tight timeline.
The shoot spanned three days across three locations and featured ten models (ages 10–22), delivering a complete content system on schedule and under budget.
IMPACT
- Final production costs came in just over $90K, under the $110K budget
- Assets scaled beyond eCommerce into brick-and-mortar and big-box retail (Dick’s Sporting Goods, Foot Locker, Macy’s)
- Established a repeatable approach for integrating product, UX, and creative direction across future campaigns
CONTENT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The shoot was designed to produce a modular content system, not one-off assets. We required a minimum of four images per model in a single outfit, plus four images across different outfits, resulting in a baseline of 64 approved assets for final delivery. This ensured the content could scale across platforms, breakpoints, and placements without creative fatigue.
DESIGN LOGIC & STRATEGY
Cross-Platform Variability:
To maintain engagement across channels, we intentionally avoided repeating identical imagery between platforms. For example, a user moving from Facebook to Instagram would encounter the same product styled in a different context, preserving familiarity while preventing visual redundancy.
To maintain engagement across channels, we intentionally avoided repeating identical imagery between platforms. For example, a user moving from Facebook to Instagram would encounter the same product styled in a different context, preserving familiarity while preventing visual redundancy.
Data-Driven Flexibility
By capturing multiple outfit variations, we enabled rapid creative iteration based on performance data. If specific products underperformed, visuals could be swapped or reprioritized within minutes — allowing the team to respond quickly to analytics, optimize conversion, and extend the lifespan of the campaign.
By capturing multiple outfit variations, we enabled rapid creative iteration based on performance data. If specific products underperformed, visuals could be swapped or reprioritized within minutes — allowing the team to respond quickly to analytics, optimize conversion, and extend the lifespan of the campaign.
SOCIAL DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
Social content was designed as a cohesive system, ensuring visual consistency while allowing for variation across platforms. Models were styled in the same outfits but captured in different poses and contexts, enabling each network to deliver a familiar product story without visual repetition.
CONSTRAINTS & ADAPTATION
The original plan prioritized short-form video to maximize engagement. When source files became corrupted and video assets were no longer viable, we rapidly adapted by shifting to a static-first approach layered with motion and animated copy. This allowed us to preserve narrative momentum and maintain performance despite the technical constraint.
OUTCOME & IMPACT
The campaign exceeded expectations, achieving a 92%+ sell-through at full price. Behind-the-scenes content became one of the most-viewed campaigns in North America, demonstrating that speed, flexibility, and system-level thinking can outperform format-specific execution. The success of this approach led to expanded ownership and participation in larger-scale campaigns across the organization.
