Brand expression at enterprise scale
Client
Esri
My Role
Research & Insights Creative Strategy Art Direction System Design CMS Migrations
My Deliverables
Audits Stakeholder Interviews User Journeys Concept Art Pitch Decks Web Mockups
Challenge
Esri.com serves over 2 million annual visitors, but the experience was fragmented. Different teams had created their own approaches over time, and the site felt like it came from multiple companies. The goal of this project was to develop a scalable strategy that would unify Esri.com across thousand of pages from brand campaigns to product pages to documentation.
Approach
I audited the site, component patterns, and internal processes. Through stakeholder interviews across business units, I was able to gather perspectives and understand their pain points. I learned that the fragmentation was a result of teams having different priorities, and there lacked a unified creative vision. We also found that the site was dense and lacked visual clarity, making much of the content inaccessible to a broad audience. To address this, I led the development of a user-journey-based art direction strategy focused on three areas: Product: Consistency is crucial, but so is meeting users where they are. The new framework established a cohesive visual language and defined how to adapt it for different audience types. People: Empower designers to uphold the strategy while knowing when flexibility serves users better. Sweat the details, but don't let perfection block progress. Process: Define more collaborative workflows where cross-functional partners contribute earlier in design. Including diverse perspectives made the work better and improved alignment. In collaboration with two other art directors, I translated these principles into guidelines the team could execute from.
Impact
The framework was applied to hundreds of thousands of pages. I personally led multiple brand campaigns and the CMS migrations for Esri Academy and Technical Support. The new system reduced designer-stakeholder friction, improved go-to-market timelines, and increased trust in the design team across the org.
60%
increase in homepage click rates
45%
increase in core product page views
$100K+
saved for reducing technical support cases created
11%
improvement in positive impression ratings for Services
The Team
I worked closely with Creative Director Carl Bender and Senior Art Director Paul Briseño. I collaborated with almost every department that contributes to Esri.com, including marketing, UX, development, content, and project management.
