A Creative Escape with Purpose

Tide & Seek is a passion project turned boutique sailing experience, designed not just for travel, but for reconnection. Launched with long-time friend and collaborator Karol Dulat, the project was born out of a shared love for the sea, storytelling, and the belief that creative lives need intentional pauses to recharge.

A few weeks each year, we take friends and guests on curated sailing escapes along the Amalfi Coast, offering not just views and wine, but space for reflection, possibility, and creative renewal.

My Role

I co-developed the business/marketing strategy and led creative direction and brand development from the ground up, shaping every touchpoint of the Tide & Seek experience:

Designed the full brand identity and visual system, from logo and tone of voice to web, socials, and content

Engineered a custom GPT, trained on our mission, messaging, and story, to automate and scale promotional content

Produce all social media assets, including video reels, copy, and AI-generated voiceovers

Use GenAI tools to support scripting, creative ideation, and campaign storytelling

Lead the design of sales decks,guest materials, and touchpoint collateral, ensuring consistency and elevated design across the board

Why It Matters

Tide & Seek isn’t a business pivot, it’s a personal creative outlet designed to fuel the heart and recharge the mind. A living reminder that inspiration doesn’t always strike in the office. Sometimes, it arrives on the wind, with salt in the air and the horizon wide open.

This project has become a real-world case study in how passion, design, and emerging tech can come together to build something soulful, scalable, and wildly fulfilling.

Kid Cuisine: Turning Mealtime into Playtime

This full-scale reimagination of Kid Cuisine transformed the brand from nostalgic ‘90s icon to modern-day fun-fueled favorite. The goal: make dinner exciting again by bridging entertainment, education, and food in a way today’s kids (and their parents) would actually care about.

The Creative Journey

This wasn’t just a refresh, it was a universe in the making. From defining archetypes to crafting new character-led narratives, we partnered with top-tier artists and thinkers to build a robust brand ecosystem:

Character design + archetype strategy gave life to a crew of expressive penguin heroes, each with unique roles (Mentor, Adventurer, All-Star)

Design landscape analysis, concept ranges, and packaging exploration modernized the brand while keeping it approachable and exciting

AR-enabled gamification, digital content, and DIY packaging activities elevated engagement across digital and physical channels

Complete brand guidelines, e-comm, and activation materials ensured consistent storytelling from freezer aisle to screen time

And the Results?

Walmart stayed on board, validating brand relevance and retailer confidence

Sales increased post-launch, thanks to refreshed packaging and stronger shelf presence

Brand expansion into new SKUs and sub-brands opened the door for long-term portfolio growth

Influencer partnerships on social media brought KC into the homes, and hearts of a new generation of families

The Takeaway

Kid Cuisine isn’t just about food anymore, it’s about fostering imagination, independence, and interactive fun. A platform for kids to explore, learn, and make a mess… in the best possible way.

Frontera Empanadas: Bold Flavor, Fast Innovation

Frontera’s frozen handhelds were ready for a bold new chapter, empanadas crafted for Costco, packed with authentic flavor, and designed to stand out in a growing category. The challenge: capture that culinary story with punch, purpose, and shelf power.

My Role

I co-led overall creative direction for the project, while owning key creative executions that shaped how the brand came to life.

Directed a renowned Mexican artist to bring cultural authenticity and expressive storytelling to the visual identity - Mexican street art mural

Led the photoshoot, capturing appetite appeal and texture to hero the product’s quality and craveability

Developed design strategy and packaging territories rooted in rich ingredient cues and brand storytelling

Concepted, wrote, and produced the customer pitch deck and GenAI-powered video

Used tools like MidJourney, Photoshop, ChatGPT, and Runway to rapidly prototype and visualize ideas

Collaborated across culinary, marketing, and innovation teams to align strategy and execution

The Result

A fully realized visual and verbal system that helped position Frontera empanadas as a premium, craveable solution in the frozen aisle, especially within the club channel. The creative direction balanced flavor-forward storytelling with smart design systems, all executed at speed with the help of AI.

Cultural. Craveable. Club-ready. A modern brand moment built on bold ideas and even bolder flavor.

Modern Expo Booth: Rugged Meets Refined

This expo booth concept was crafted for a high-protein snack brand looking to make a bold statement on the trade show floor. The goal: create an immersive, elevated space that reflects the brand’s strength and sophistication, without losing its edge.

Design Direction

Inspired by modern bourbon distilleries and built on an industrial-modern design language, the booth blended rugged materials with refined finishes. The visual identity was anchored in black and rustic copper, setting a tone that was both confident and premium.

Key design elements included:

Dark wood paneling and rusted metal textures to evoke a smokey, aged atmosphere

Sleek matte black metal shelving and copper-finished fixtures for a modern-meets-classic contrast

Soft, directional lighting to highlight product displays while casting moody, ambient shadows

Smoked glass, charred finishes, and forged accents to tie everything back to the essence of bold craftsmanship

A layout designed to feel inviting and intimate, while keeping product front and center

The result was a space that felt warm and atmospheric, yet striking and brand-forward, designed for high-resolution photography and real-world wow-factor alike.

A premium expression of grit and flavor, engineered to stop traffic and spark connection.

This entire concept was developed under a compressed timeline, using generative AI as a core tool to explore ideas quickly and with precision. By combining a deep understanding of the brand’s goals, aesthetic direction, and the capabilities of modern AI, the process became a model of speed, collaboration, and creative excellence, delivering beyond expectations.

Healthy Choice: Eating for Beauty

This forward-looking initiative explored an emerging high-growth category at the intersection of beauty and nutrition, blending aesthetic wellness with food design to create a new kind of craveable, purposeful eating experience.

The work included strategic design exploration, codes analysis, territory building, and concept development across multiple innovation lanes. Grounded in insights from the beauty, cosmetics, and supplement worlds, the creative direction reimagined how frozen meals and snacks could serve both outer glow and inner health.

Collaborating with cross-functional experts, the initiative brought to life:

Visual moodboards and concept ranges

Design strategies influenced by social media behavior, clean beauty cues, and ingredient-led storytelling

Platform-ready campaign thinking like “Love Yourself” and “I Instagram, Therefore I Am” to tap into modern self-care culture

Packaging, communication, and marketing visuals that made Healthy Choice feel more elevated, aspirational, and emotionally resonant

This exploration helped position the brand to re-energize its presence in the frozen category while expanding into beauty-adjacent wellness territory, with empathy, elegance, and an appetite for innovation.

Sweetgreen x Conagra: A Fresh Pitch for Partnership

To secure a strategic licensing opportunity with Sweetgreen, the pitch needed to do more than sell an idea, it had to reflect their clean, modern, ingredient-driven brand from the ground up.

Inspired by that challenge, I initiated and developed a pitch system that did just that.

Key Moves:

Designed a visual and narrative approach that aligned with Sweetgreen’s brand identity, simple, fresh, and intentional

Leveraged AI tools like ChatGPT to generate tailored trend insights and brand-specific storytelling

Built a modular, reusable pitch template to extend across future partner opportunities

Delivered a targeted presentation that sparked interest and opened the door to further collaboration

Why It Mattered:

This became a proof of concept for AI-supported marketing, demonstrating how thoughtfully applied generative tools can elevate strategy, storytelling, and speed.

The impact extended beyond one pitch. It contributed to the enterprise-wide rollout of ChatGPT at Conagra, laying the groundwork for smarter, faster, more personalized customer engagement across teams.

Sweetgreen got a pitch that spoke their language. The team got a new model for how to sell smarter.

Gardein x Whole Foods: Evolving to Stay on Shelf

Whole Foods was re-evaluating Gardein's shelf presence, and the brand risked losing valuable real estate. The challenge? Show that Gardein still resonates with today’s plant-based shopper, without alienating the loyal fans who’ve loved it for years.

The Approach:

Working closely with a creative director, we interviewed internal marketing partners to uncover pain points, gaps, and new angles for positioning. From there, we:

Consolidated insights and used ChatGPT to help develop a clear, resonant strategy

Created fast-turn, AI-generated concept visuals to bring new thinking to life quickly

Positioned the work as an “evolution, not revolution,” modernizing just enough to stand out, without losing the heart of the brand

The Win:

The pitch landed. Gardein retained its shelf space at Whole Foods, safeguarding critical retail exposure.

Even more, the project became a proof of concept for using AI in strategic brand defense, showing how intelligent tools can create persuasive, insight-driven storytelling under tight timelines.

Smart insights. Strategy. Real impact.
This was AI with a seat at the table, and Gardein kept its spot on the shelf.

Vlasic AI Video: One Weirdly Perfect Pickle Pitch

This generative AI video brought Jovny the Stork back to life in the most modern way possible, helping Vlasic introduce new product innovation through a fully AI-powered video used in retail pitch meetings. A first for Conagra, it’s a motion design + GenAI video case study built to show what’s possible when creativity meets smart tech.

My Role: Concept, Script, Design/Motion & Video Editing

Imagery generated entirely in MidJourney, from product shots to branded environments

Photoshop (with generative AI features) for refining, compositing, and creating final stills

Script support via ChatGPT

Voiceover created with ElevenLabs

Editing and motion design done in Premiere Pro

Runway + Kling used to bring stills to life with smooth, branded, high-quality motion

The Results:

Cut traditional production cost from $500K+ to under $200 in compute credits

Used to support retail sell-in efforts, bringing personality and energy to leadership and customer meetings

Demonstrated how GenAI can unlock high-impact brand storytelling without big media budgets

Established a scalable creative model for future low-cost, high-value content

This wasn’t just a proof of concept, it was a deliciously bold leap into the future for a legacy brand, showing how even a pickle can punch above its weight.

Elevated Wellness

Aura+Sol is a conceptual premium wellness brand built to radiate calm, clarity, and quiet strength. From the ground up, the brand identity was crafted to balance minimal luxury with earthy warmth, infusing every touchpoint with intention.

The work spans brand strategy and identity, product packaging, social design, and collateral. Creative and art direction guided the look and feel, while hands-on design ensured consistency and polish across all assets.

The result? A sophisticated system that feels modern and grounded, designed to stand out in a saturated wellness space while staying soulfully huma

Beanee Weenee: Redesigning an Americana Original

Originally a nostalgic sidekick to Van Camp’s, Beanee Weenee had faded into the background of the canned goods aisle. This project was about reclaiming its identity, reintroducing Beanee Weenee as a confident, cheeky, all-American staple with modern edge and shelf impact.

The initiative spanned full brand revitalization, including:

Strategic brand positioning

Design code and competitive analysis

Territory and mood development

Logo, tagline, packaging, and marketing language

Concept and activation platforms to fuel future growth

We began by reestablishing Beanee Weenee’s core voice: not just a kid-friendly throwback, but a reliable, fun, self-aware classic. Through deep design landscape analysis, we mapped residual, dominant, and emerging category codes, then used those insights to build concept ranges that honored tradition while breaking convention.

Creative/Design direction included:

Rewriting the brand’s tone to feel confident and spirited, not kitschy

Modernizing packaging to command distinction at shelf

Embracing humor, Americana heritage, and utility in equal measure

Designing for relevance with our core consumer, working-class men, ages 30–50, with a love of hunting, camping, and hearty simplicity

From forgotten stepbrother to proud original, the new Beanee Weenee is bold, bright, and built to compete, energizing a sleepy category with flavor, personality, and a whole lot of heart.

Vlasic: Crunch, Character, and a Comeback

After decades without change, Vlasic was long overdue for a transformation. The mission: bring back the brand’s iconic charm while making it relevant, crave-worthy, and impossible to ignore in today’s market.

The redesign began with a full strategic and creative overhaul, partnering with former Disney writers at Character Studio to reimagine the Vlasic story. Together, we gave Jonny the Stork a full reboot, crafting a sharper voice, clearer purpose, and more relatable personality for modern consumers.

Creative development spanned:

Strategic brand storytelling and positioning

Packaging redesign and territory exploration

Social, e-commerce, and activation platform design

Brand guidelines built to empower teams

A custom Vlasic GPT to support internal onboarding, brainstorms, and cross-functional alignment

The new identity brought the crunch and character back in a bold, meaningful way, and it worked. Since the redesign, Vlasic has seen a measurable lift in both retail and e-commerce sales, proving that a legacy brand with the right refresh can absolutely win hearts (and carts) all over again.

Peter Pan: A Grown-Up Twist

To reach a more mature audience, this project introduced a distinct sub-brand under the modernized Peter Pan design system.
The work explored refined packaging concepts and new visual territories that balanced sophistication with the brand’s signature charm.

Design inspiration was drawn from novelty peanut butter brands, creating a playful-yet-polished look that appeals to adult consumers while staying true to Peter Pan’s roots.

GPS Peace of Mind—Before It Was a Thing

Bagtrack was a smart luggage tracker launched well ahead of the AirTag wave, designed to give travelers confidence and control on the go. This brand was built from the ground up with a sleek,
tech-forward aesthetic that made peace of mind feel premium.

Creative work included concept development, art direction, and full design execution across brand identity, product design, packaging, digital experience (including e-commerce website), brand collateral, and even the interior design of the company’s physical space.

A cohesive, modern system emerged, balancing utility with calm, intuitive design to help Bagtrack stand out as a category-first innovator.

Conagra Brand Design Training: Rock & Roll Meets Rigor

This internal training toolkit was created to help Conagra’s creative partners understand what great design looks like, and how to execute it consistently across brands.

I led art direction, design, and animation for this visual guide, transforming strategic content and illustration from other team members into a bold, engaging, and easy-to-use experience.

Deliverables Included:

Visual design + layout across all training collateral

Art direction for tone, style, and hierarchy

Motion design + animation for a playful internal training video

Dynamic formatting of strategic content to increase clarity and retention

A visual toolkit built to educate and entertain

The result is a smart, high-energy guide that keeps teams aligned, engaged, and ready to rock, without ever losing sight of design fundamentals.

Designing an Immersive Retail Ritual

This project explored a strategic range of hand-sketched retail concepts for Suntory Japanese Whiskey, reimagining the duty-free experience as a moment of cultural storytelling and sensory immersion.

Each concept was rooted in strategy, designed to celebrate Suntory’s legacy while engaging global travelers in meaningful, elevated ways. Drawing inspiration from nature, craft, and ceremony, the work married tradition with innovation to create a series of retail narratives both grounded and aspirational.

Key experiential ideas included:

Waterfall glorifiers and plexi-glass installations to evoke purity and flow

Audio landscapes and digital ceilings that immersed shoppers in the environments where Suntory whiskey is born

Holographic storytelling tables to animate origin, flavor, and ritual in unexpected, emotional ways

Augmented reality moments designed to educate and enchant in equal measure

Entirely hand-rendered, these sketches were crafted to communicate not just layout, but feeling, ambiance, and intention. Together, the range offered a vision for travel retail as less transaction, more transformation, a place where product becomes memory, and brand becomes story.

La Choy: A Fresh Take on Mainstream Asian

This legacy brand was long overdue for a modern refresh.

The objective: evolve La Choy from “value & dated” to crave-worthy and culturally relevant, without trying to pass as premium or fall into outdated stereotypes.

Strategic design exploration began with deep analysis of category codes and brand perception. From there, a range of design territories was established to reimagine La Choy as a modern, approachable player in the mainstream Asian space.

Work included guiding design direction, defining brand patterns, and leading execution across packaging and concept development. The result is a revitalized system that feels familiar yet fresh, rooted in restaurant-inspired flavor and relevance, finally catching up with today’s consumer expectations after nearly 30 years.

UXD certification, team project.
Objective: Re-design Bike Pro website
with intuitive navigation, simplified product discovery and comparison, and assisted checkout simulating an in-person customized experience.

UX Design for a Healthier Delivery Option

A full UXD certification project, Eat Homemade is a conceptual food delivery app designed to connect users with healthy, familiar, chef-made meals, bringing a sense of trust and comfort to modern food delivery.

The Challenge

Most food delivery and meal subscription services focus on convenience but lack options that feel personal, wholesome, and truly homemade. Busy families and individuals are left choosing between fast and familiar—but rarely both.

The Solution

Eat Homemade puts licensed chefs at the center of the experience, offering meals made from scratch, rooted in transparency, and tailored to user preferences. The app makes it easy to order nourishing dishes that feel like they came from your own kitchen.

The Work

This project applied the full UX design process from end to end:

User problem definition + opportunity framing

User interviews + persona development

Competitive landscape mapping

Feature prioritization + MVP definition

User flows, task scenarios, and wireframes

Prototyping + creative brand execution

The result is a thoughtful, intuitive app concept that puts trust, quality, and simplicity at the core of the food delivery experience.

Crunch ’n Munch: A Snackable Comeback

This legacy snack got a modern remix. The Crunch ’n Munch brand was reimagined to feel bold, craveable, and full of personality, made for today’s fun-first, flavor-loving consumers.

The work included:

Strategic design territories built around concepts like “Food is Magic,” “Bold Proposition,” and “Flavor Explosion”

Sub-brand naming and development, including Munch-ables, Craveables, MixUps, and Twisted Bites

Custom logos, lettering, and illustration systems that brought each product line to life

Packaging design + concept ranges to create shelf impact and a cohesive portfolio

A look, tone, and structure that felt modern, magical, and infinitely munchable

What started as a redesign evolved into a brand expansion, complete with new names, new energy, and a fresh sense of snackable fun.

Crunch ’n Munch is no longer a nostalgic treat, it’s a whole universe of playful possibilities.

Concept, identity & packaging design.

Hunt’s Culinary Series: A Fresh Take on Tradition

To help Hunt’s enter the premium tomato space with authenticity and shelf impact, this project focused on elevating the brand through strategic design and innovation, while staying rooted in its rich heritage.

The Ask

Create a visual identity for the new San Marzano and Heirloom lines that felt elevated, modern, and culinary-inspired, without losing Hunt’s equity and credibility.

The Work

Led design direction and concept development for the Culinary Series

Defined and explored territories across premium food, wine, and flavor categories

Conducted design landscape and code analysis to identify visual whitespace and disrupt convention

Developed multiple visual approaches that balanced premium cues with warmth, flavor, and storytelling

Crafted packaging concept studies that elevated ingredient stories through typography, photography, and finish

This work helped reframe Hunt’s not just as a pantry staple, but as a trusted culinary partner, ready for today’s food-savvy consumer.

Slim Jim Halloween: A Scary Good Disruption

Slim Jim isn’t your average snack, and this Halloween, it wasn’t about to act like one. This project was all about bringing Slim Jim’s bold, unapologetic personality into seasonal retail through Halloween-themed packaging, storytelling, and interactive design.

The Mission

Break out of the candy aisle clutter and create a Halloween presence that’s unmistakably Slim Jim: street-smart, weird, and wickedly witty.

The Work

Design direction and visual development across seasonal packaging and in-store displays

Created strategic Halloween territories like The Slim Reaper, Apocalyptic Halloween, Bewitching Treats, and Monsters Have Feelings Too

Explored codes and conventions from snacks, candy, and alcohol to build visual distinction

Integrated gamified AR packaging concepts to deliver horror-meets-humor engagement in unexpected ways

Leveraged core brand assets, red/yellow palette, flames, and “Snap Into It” energy, to stay true to Slim Jim’s DNA.

This wasn’t just spooky, it was smart, sharp, and entirely ownable. A Slim Jim Halloween that snapped harder than any candy wrapper ever could.

Concept, Identity & Packaging design.

Point of sale display exploration for Cruzan Rum. Objective - bring summer fun to retail with a branded experience that gives beverage shoppers an enticing, social moment worthy destination.

Concept & Packaging design for ALDI Grocery Stores‎.

Brand ID exploration for Epsilon, Chicago.

Creative exercise aimed at establishing an internal AGENCY footprint for a firm that is otherwise recognized in the marketplace for data collection services.

Credits: Epsilon, Janet Barker-Evans and Tim Moore

Brand development. Concept, identity, advertising, POS & packaging design for Songbird Wines.

Brand development. Concept, identity, structural & packaging design for Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc.

Credits: Ciulla & Associates, Agency

Concept, identity, packaging, structural and in-store display design for Cabela's retail chain.

Private label branding. Concept, identity & packaging design for Costco.

Mira Fitness Tracker branding. Project scope: Brand identity, print collateral, trade show booth, product photography as well as print and digital banner ads, video design, web design (parallax teaser site) and social media design content.

Credits: Epsilon, Greg Akouris, Kathy Sullivan and Kathryn Greer

Seasonal POP display concepts for Perrier-Jouët luxury champagne line. My task was to concept possible avenues that would bring this seasoned luxury brand to life in the retail environment.

Using existing brand equities and a visual language that of the “Enchanted Tree” pattern created by Tord Boontje, I was able to propose several interactive displays that brought the magic of Perrier-Jouët to life.

My main intent was to transport and enchant the shopper by allowing the display unit to be disruptive, imaginative and interactive.
Proposed concepts used innovative techniques to draw-in shoppers by
applying LED lighting effects, in-app Augmented Reality features and a layered, dimensional display footprint that would literally allow shoppers to walk into and explore Perrier-Jouëts secret garden experience.

Credits: Epsilon, Greg Akouris, Kathy Sullivan, Andrei Slobtsov and Michael Hefner

Packaging Art & Design direction for Pre Beef's new product lineup. Hands-on execution of proposed packaging concepts. Render & Hero product mock-up for Pre Beef's website. In-store, POP and Sampling Event signage.

Credits: Sally Bell & Pre Beef marketing team.

Concept, art direction and design execution for Johnson & Johnsons Healthy Essentials® website. 

Credits: Epsilon, Phil Bruno, Andrei Slobtsov and Drew Kearse

Brand identity and print collateral. Branding for Sears KCD's sales initiative. Concept, art direction and design execution.

Credits: Epsilon, Shar Coulson and Phil Bruno

Brand development. Concept, identity & packaging design for Sears Craftsman Fishing Tools.

Brand development. Concept, identity & packaging design for Dial Corporation/Henkel AG & Company.

Credits: Ciulla & Associates, Agency

Campaign concept for Edward Jones. Objective - communicate new government rules that are impacting 401k Rollover fees. Working in team with writers and strategists, I was tasked with using existing Ed Jones brand equities to establish a visual language around the message we would propagate in this exercise.

Campaign proposal consists of Direct Mail pieces, Digital Banner Displays, Social Media, CRM and a Micro-site.

Credits: Epsilon, Greg Akouris, Kathy Sullivan, Gretchen Weaver
and Wes Henry

Print advertising and digital banner ad campaign for Pearls Probiotics.

Project scope: Concept, art direction, new character introduction, design for print and digital media. Augmented Reality options were tested in early stages of design exploration, this involved video animation and development for layar app.

Credits: Epsilon, Greg Akouris, Kathy Sullivan
and Wes Henry

Print ads for Chaco sandals. Concept, art direction and design execution.

Credits: Epsilon, Greg Akouris and Craig Hester

Thorlo's running sock's sales kit. Structural and graphic design.

Packaging re-design, print advertising for Nature's Way - Liquid Fiber supplement.

Project scope: Concept, art direction, identity, packaging design, print ad campaigns and digital media components.

Credits: Epsilon, Greg Akouris, Kathy Sullivan
and Kathryn Greer

Concept, identity & packaging design for Dial Corporation/Henkel AG & Company.

Credits: Ciulla & Associates, Agency

Packaging re-design, in-store pop display, print advertising and website design for Welesse / Nature's Way - Joint Movement Glucosamine supplement.

Project scope: Concept, art direction, identity, packaging design, print ad campaigns, in-store pop display and shelf tray design for Costco and website design. 

Credits: Epsilon, Greg Akouris, Wes Henry, Kathy Sullivan and Kathryn Greer

www.jointmovement.com

Concept, structure, packaging and in-store display design for Cabela's retail chain.

Concept, structure, packaging and in-store display design for Maurice Sporting Goods, Inc.

Miscellaneous internal communication, posters and a contest that aimed to motivate creative salesmanship.

Concept, art direction, design execution, animation and Layar app platform development.

Credits: Epsilon, Greg Akouris, Gretchen Weaver, Andrei Slobtsov and Jackson Moore

Concept, identity redesign & wine label design for Enrique Foster Wines.

Credits: Ciulla & Associates