“To date, this is the largest project I have been a part of. The IBM z16 launch spanned half a dozen business units and ten times the amount of copywriters, designers, and producers. Despite the scale of the work, I was given a lead design role, and the responsibility of carrying out the creative vision set by the team.”

“I was given a library of images provided by the photography team. The aesthetic was characterized by a clean, open, and human-centric style—one that reflected IBM’s latest approach to design. ”

“As the team delved deeper into their research of the mainframe, we instantly gravitated towards the geometric shapes on the door. IBM’s industrial designers take great pride in delivering a stunning piece of machinery—so it seemed a natural fit to base our look-and-feel of the campaign around it. We eventually deconstructed it into a series of grid lines in standard IBM fashion.”

“Our team decided to task an outside agency, Color and the Kids, to create a series of 3D animations based on the geometric grid structure of the z16. In the end, we received a series of still images and a hero video. It was this work that we would base all of our production assets on.”

“It was from our brand guidelines and the above assets that we developed a color palette. ”

“The launch of z16 would be both virtual and in-person at New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center. I was tasked with creating the analog and digital invites along with all of the on-screen graphics that would play during the event.”

“It was also my responsibility to design the webpages and animated leadspaces for the post-launch reveal. Again, we utilized cuts of the CATK work to keep a cohesive user experience. ”

“What’s a big product launch without some swag? Water bottles, t-shirts, stickers, you name it, we designed it. I even got to take a few home myself.”

“As with other product launches, it was my job to work with the social team to create a campaign that ran before, during, and after the launch. Using pieces of the CATK assets and hero videos, I designed a teaser and half a dozen drumbeat posts. All metrics trended up between 3-6% while these posts ran and helped spread the word across our channels. ”

“As a final production asset, I designed a series of official posters to give to our business partners. It was a sort of “thanks for being awesome” gift that we hoped they would appreciate.”

“I learned so many things during this project and will always be grateful for the experience I got and the connections I made. ”