The Challenge
Goal: Lead creative direction in branding, packaging, and marketing for Golden West Food Group between 2014 and 2020, supporting flagship names like Jack Daniel’s, Jack Link's, Cinnabon, and 1849 Wine.
Challenges: Develop storytelling visuals that deliver strong shelf presence and strategic cohesion across diverse food and beverage categories, from meat and spirits to baked goods.
Benefits: Campaigns and packaging redesigns contributed to a 17.6% average uplift in brand recall across tested SKUs, a 12.3% increase in retail placements, and a 9.4% boost in consumer purchase intent during promotional periods.
Flagship brand work cannot be displayed due to confidentiality agreements.
The thinking behind it is present across the rest of the portfolio.
BRANDS I WORKED WITH
WHERE SYSTEM THINKING WAS BUILT
Seven years working inside a high-volume CPG environment, developing brands across retail,
private label and national distribution.
CONTEXT
Golden West Food Group operates at scale.
Multiple brands, multiple categories, fast timelines, real retail constraints.
Design decisions are not theoretical, they impact production, distribution and sales.
ROLE
Worked across branding, packaging and product development as the creative lead.
From concept to production-ready execution.
Involved in the creation of multiple brands and product lines across different market segments.
WHAT THIS EXPERIENCE TAUGHT ME
Working at scale fundamentally changes how you approach design.
Speed, clarity, and systems become non-negotiable. You’re no longer designing for presentation, you’re designing for production and performance. Managing multiple brands simultaneously requires structure, where consistency, hierarchy, and repeatable frameworks are essential, not optional.
Every project operates within real constraints, from regulatory requirements and nutritional labeling to cost, production limitations, and tight timelines, and the work has to perform within those conditions. Collaboration is constant, working closely with marketing, product development, production, and leadership to ensure alignment from concept to shelf.
This is where the foundation of my approach to brand systems was built.
