Let us treat you
Starbucks Rewards
Concepting + Art Direction + Illustration
Creative VP: Jen Quotson | Creative Director: Gary Jacobson | Associate Creative Director: Carole Guizzetti, Josie Daniels | Designers: Bonita Nongluk, Hansel Doan, Trevor Basset | Copywriters: Ellie Atchley
Connecting with customers is core to who we are as a brand, and it’s what sets us apart from our competitors. Starbucks Rewards is an essential piece of that equation, celebrating the everyday moments that are transformed into best Starbucks moments through our program and app—all while creating excitement for our benefits in a way that no other brand can.
Project brief: As the principal designer on the Starbucks brand evolution, I led my team through the development of differentiated branding elements—navigating innovative type solutions, steering our joyful photo direction, and fostering collaboration between designers, writers, and leadership. After helping to curate the brand’s aesthetic evolution, we illustrated assets for digital applications and took our Rewards photo assets from concept to shoot day.
While working on Starbucks Rewards’ brand evolution, I introduced the soft-edge star and wavy type to the expression kit.
This can be seen translated in some of our photo work. Here specifically we used a projector to recreate the blurry effect behind the model.
Our marketing partners wanted an asset that would speak to the variety of rewards a customer can get on their birthday. I sketched and animated this option to add a bit of festivity and cheek to our line-up.
We created wrapping paper based on our sketch and matched up the wall and tablecloth to our brand colors. In addition to concepting and day-of art direction, I also provided retouching notes post-shoot.
Early concepting.
Sketch reference for props and drink styling.
Final cinemagraph. Peep that nail design.
I also got to dip my toe into strategy! The studio and our marketing partners wanted to test the efficacy of illustrations versus photography. I created the illustration on the right first, incorporating tenants of peak pandemic living – house plants galore and pajamas Monday to Sunday. The team then decided to recreate the image as a photo, so we got the fun task of art directing the right image as part of our Rewards shoot. No, I did not get to keep the custom pajamas :(
