Custom Ink had a strong brand. What it didn't have was a retail experience. When the company opened its flagship location in Fairfax, VA, the challenge wasn't to reinvent anything. It was to understand the brand deeply enough to take it somewhere it had never been: into physical space. Working as Art Director alongside our Creative Director and a contributing designer, we translated Custom Ink's existing identity into a cohesive in-store environment, making every surface, fixture, and touchpoint feel like it had always belonged there.
Once the flagship proved the concept, the next question was how to scale it. I developed the New Store Openings Playbook — a modular, practical framework that gave store teams everything they needed to implement the brand consistently across new locations nationwide. Built in Google Slides for accessibility, it covered signage placement, display specs, regional flexibility, and request processes for project managers. The goal wasn't a document people would file away. It was a tool they'd actually use.
Translated a digital-native brand into a physical retail environment for the first time, establishing the flagship as the creative benchmark for all future locations:
- Art directed in-store experience across signage, displays, fixtures, and environmental graphics in collaboration with the Creative Director
- Developed a modular New Store Openings Playbook that enabled store teams to execute the brand independently and consistently at scale
- Reduced design bottlenecks by giving non-designers a clear, structured system for implementation
- Refined the framework iteratively based on real feedback from store teams after launch
