Sur La Table
Timeline:
Services:
Product Design
Event Design
Social Media
Web
OOH
PM Tool:
Monday
AI Initiatives.
The Makers team is actively exploring AI to streamline workflows and expand creative capabilities. One of the areas where they needed something solid for multiple types of projects was also one of the areas that Figma is lacking of a solid solution: GIF Generation.
As an exercise, I took the opportunity to independently built a custom GIF and WEBM generator tailored to their needs. Crafting an in-house solution to avoid the need for paid plugin or additional software; offering a more flexible, fully integrated solution. I developed a GIF Generator using Figma Make, allowing to fully customize and generate GIF for the most common formats we use, and options for optimization as the project requires between filesize, frame amount, and speed.
The solution sped up production times, reduced the amount of files (by eliminating the need for Adobe Photoshop or After Effects), and consolidated all the pieces of a project in the same place. This was later expanded to replicate animation treatments (such as zoom-in effects), allowing faster feedback, approvals, and optimizing production process.
Developing an AI-made animation tool required troubleshooting around Figma’s lack of native GIF support and the challenge of optimizing export sizes. Despite these limitations, I created a reliable process that produced lightweight, high-quality assets ready for implementation. It taught me a lot about prompting and dealing with undesired outputs, discovered that pushing in the right direction a GPT can give you great results.
Campaign Workflow.
Adapted concepts from an in-house designer into a wide range of digital formats for web, email, and social (across both desktop and mobile). I created comprehensive toolkits including components, variables, styles, and auto-layout structures to allow the team to quickly implement designs and automatically scale dozens of banner variations.
This dramatically reduced production time, managing iterations and integrating feedback. The modular system also made it easy to recycle and update assets for future campaigns with minimal adjustments.
In-Store Signage and Posters.
Managed monthly signage updates across multiple departments and new store openings, producing cohesive in-store display materials. Designed both large-format promotional signage and smaller assets for product information and wayfinding.
DAM Platform Support.
Supported the approval, upload, categorization and ongoing maintenance of their Bynder asset catalog. Worked with both vendor-supplied and in-house photography, preparing and composing images for web and catalog use while ensuring visual consistency and quality standards were met.
Email Design & Build Sample.
Click below to see a example of the different types of emails built as part of their Email team, ranging between seasonal sales, in-store events, and both branded and product-category specific sales. Each email was optimized to fully utilize Figma capabilities. Implementing auto-layout within sections when pertinent, making use of variants to adjust to any situation. And using AI to create images from scratch that would accurately match the message of the email when existing photography was not avail.
Exploring further and testing the limits of Figma Make, I generated a tool that would turn an uploaded image and automatically detect the focus subject, adjusting to a set variety of artboard dimensions. This was created as an attempt to speed up a recurrent Production Request, which is the adaptation of concepts into multiple platform specs across desktop and mobile. When it comes to Sur La Table, it would easily adjust to fit multiple templates that would follow a similar a approach sectioning a design between copy and full bleeding images.
I also added optimization tool such as restricting file size, and offering format options for optimization.
Packaging.
Supported the creation and seasonal updates for product packaging, and prepared files for production. Note: Render below generated using ChatGPT.
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Production Workload.
Daily responsibilities were divided into multiple areas: Direct Marketing, Email, Print Production (between marketing and packaging), and DAM Support.
In Direct Marketing, I produced banners to support product promotions across web and email channels. This also included supporting larger campaigns, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and annual sales, ensuring all assets aligned with campaign goals and brand standards.
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