Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken was one of the most substantial projects I’ve undertaken and was one of the first major client projects I facilitated from start to finish, all the way through physical production. Similar to my involvement with other movies, a primary challenge comes from the ambiguity of not having existing material to work with or build upon. Since the movie was still premature, constant changes were made to the assets, and even the title of the movie. 

After the client finalized their selection of products, each item underwent over 30 cycles of revisions due to shifts in creative direction, cost considerations for production, and client feedback. It ranged from “make the glitter of the stickers finer looking” to “let’s transfer the whole design to a new water bottle” to “Ruby Gillman character art changed so update all designs to follow it.” — all with the underlying expectation of extremely short turnaround times. Given the movie's global scale, I also needed to create international versions of my designs to appeal to different parts of the world.

I worked directly with the client at DreamWorks and with the sales director of the printing company to streamline communication, meaning I had to maintain a very high level of professionalism in my work. This involved crystal-clear file organization, including clear file names indicating each revision, no missing fonts, and well-organized layers. Additionally, as the graphic designer, I play a crucial role in the production process so I had to ensure legibility and accurate color matching when seeing my designs go from on-screen to off-screen. Drawing on my background in print, my familiarity with terms such as bleed, dielines, imprint size, and spot colors made this process considerably smoother.