JibJab
Creative Director, Design
JibJab is a digital entertainment studio known for personalized eCards and GIFs to share on social media, text, and email. I managed a talented team of designers and art directors, and collaborated closely with the founders, product, engineering, marketing, content, and animation teams. I oversaw design for branding, marketing, digital product design, and environmental design.
JibJab Office - DTLA
In 2019, I had the opportunity to lead the redesign on the JibJab logo and branding, and implement the new identity as signage and environmental design for the office space in downtown Los Angeles. The new branding is modern and minimal, while still evoking a sense of fun, with a buoancy that pays homage to the company’s roots in animation. The office design extends that notion into physical space.
JibJab / The App
The JibJab App is an irreverent and intuitive creative tool that allows users to personalize music videos and e-cards with their selfies or photos of family and friends. I led design direction and product strategy, overseeing launches and iterations, optimizing for monetization and marketing, as well as the rebrand and redesign of JibJab in 2019. I often approached the app as a testing ground to try new features, which, if successful, carried over into the core website UX. The JibJab app has garnered 4.8 stars, with over 250k ratings, and was recognized twice as an iOS “App of the Day.”
GifGab / App
GifGab was a high-performing, critically acclaimed, and intuitive GIF-making mobile app that allowed users to quickly and easily create personalized, animated memes for texting. Born out of the ashes of a failed “camera” app, I oversaw product design and worked closely with the product, content, and engineering teams on a UI/UX that salvaged the strengths of the former app, leveraged the amazing and original animation work from the JibJab team, and employed a radical and effective recommendation engine. GifGab was a perfect example of our willingness to experiment and fail, creating a popular freemium app that led users to JibJab, and was recognized by Apple as an “App of the Day.”
JibJab Bros Studios
Before JibJab was sold in 2019, it was part of a larger company called JibJab Bros Studios, which housed JibJab and its sister brands: StoryBots and Hello Santa. It was a magical time filled with talents of every discipline: sculptors, illustrators, animators, designers, engineers, etc. I had the esteemed honor of working closely with the co-founder on branding, imagery, and environmental design that preserved the core personality of the organization, and was also a sincere homage to historic titans of innovation, thought, and imagination. Below are a few images of this wondrously massive space and former airplane hangar.
