digital + store campaigns
CASE STUDY No. 4
Michaels Stores — national campaigns, seasonal photography, FMA signage systems
retail signage
retail pitch
campaign photography
art direction
Distribution
In-store + online, all stores
Shot at
Paradigm studios, Dallas
03 - The signage system
01 - The scope
Every year Michaels dedicates its front-of-store to small business — and this year's campaign was called Year of the Pro, with bulk merchandise and the Michaels Pro platform as the focus. I developed the concept from scratch, drawing on influencer content for editorial inspiration. The color palette was derived from a lighter iteration of Michaels' signature red, keeping brand equity while feeling fresh. I developed custom paint swashes to reinforce the DIY spirit of small business, and directional arrows to guide the eye through the editorial layout. The goal was to tell each influencer's story through the sections of the FMA — making a 120-foot retail aisle feel like a magazine spread.
Art directing for Michaels means directing for scale. Every campaign I led ran nationally — in-store across every Michaels location and online — which means every creative decision I made on set in Dallas became the visual language of the brand for that season. Over multiple years I led the full creative arc of seasonal campaigns: from concept and color palette through set design, shoot direction, and the signage systems that brought it all together in-store.
Client
MICHAELS
National campaigns across
seasonal calendars
10+
"We directed our seasonal campaigns in two weeks or less in Dallas. Every frame we made on set became what millions of customers saw walking into their local Michaels. That's the weight of national art direction."
02 - Year of the pro
Leading this campaign from project brief to final execution — across store environment, influencer content, digital, merchants, buyers, product managers, and the copy team — shaped how I think about creative leadership. I learned that great creative at scale isn't just about strong design decisions. It's about understanding what every stakeholder needs and building something that serves all of it without losing the thread. Working across that many functions taught me to communicate with clarity, earn alignment without authority, and hold a consistent brand vision from a 120-foot retail aisle all the way to a mobile screen. That ability to operate at the center of a cross-functional team — translating business needs into creative that actually works in the real world — is the foundation of how I lead today.
04 - conclusion
Building an FMA signage system for a national retailer is an exercise in both creative vision and systems thinking. 18+ individual signs across 120 feet of product have to work as a unified visual environment — each sign legible on its own, all of them coherent together, and every element aligned to a concept that translates from the front door to the back of the aisle.
Campaigns
Seasonal CaMpaigns
shots directed per campaign
over 2-week shoot windows
60-100
Signs per Front of store system - Spanning 120ft + of product
18+
behind the scenes and in-stores
Store environment
Digital concepts
