At Rothy's, the pioneering direct-to-consumer brand at the intersection of sustainability and style, I helped scale the brand from a scrappy startup to its current valuation of $1B. My role transcended conventional boundaries, encompassing domains ranging from user experience and digital product design to art direction and illustration.
Period
Contribution
Art Direction
Experience Design
Collaborators
Erin Lowenberg, Caroline Reece,
Samantha Kidd, Rachel Hortman
At Rothy's, I played a pivotal role in shaping the company's digital presence during a period of rapid growth. Initially launched with just two product styles for women, I helped steer the website and customer experience to accommodate the company's expansion to over 130 unique offerings, spanning both footwear and accessories for women and men.
One of my favorite parts of joining small teams with lofty growth ambitions is being able to collaborate closely across the organization to launch features and move quickly in response to sales data. As the designer immersed in both the site experience and marketing campaigns, I helped push our overall brand experience and facilitated a more efficient relationship between engineers and product managers.
Product + Visual Design
I played a pivotal role in elevating the site experience design at Rothy's to achieve recognition as one of Shopify's top-performing layouts. Collaborating closely with merchandisers, I strategically addressed product visibility challenges and worked in tandem with engineers and fellow designers to optimize resource allocation for our site's development roadmap. My contributions directly contributed to a more user-friendly and efficient online shopping experience.
Campaign Strategy
As a Campaign Strategist, I set a standard for craft and design excellence across various channels, including email, print, and video campaigns. My expertise allowed me to meticulously plan creative concepts and oversee photoshoots, enabling efficient placement of imagery within the website and email campaigns, all before arriving on set. This approach to holistic planning was instrumental in pushing our brand's visual impact and increased customer engagement.
Design Systems
I spearheaded the development of a brand design system that not only prioritized aesthetics but also drove higher customer conversion rates. Collaborating across site merchandising and engineering, I planned and expanded each design component, ensuring adaptability as the company's offering evolved. The resulting design system not only maintained the brand visual standards but also contributed to the company's growth and freed up developer resources.
As a passionate advocate for Rothy's unwavering dedication to sustainability, I found immense pride in aligning this core brand value with consumer awareness.
My efforts involved creating a comprehensive material index for our site, which featured the materials employed both in our products and shipping processes. I played a pivotal role in shaping our annual sustainability reports, effectively narrating the brand's journey towards achieving production circularity, and thus, fostering greater transparency and consumer engagement in our sustainability initiatives.
Additionally, I contributed to a significant sustainability campaign by designing materials for a New York State-based bill sponsored by Rothy's, aimed at increasing recycling rewards for plastic bottles. Notably, my illustrations for this campaign were prominently featured in a full-page ad in the New York Times.
