Role: Creative Director, Motion Designer, Video Producer, Graphic Designer
Challenge: Ontheside, a sports tech startup connecting athletes and fans, lacked branding guidance, clear creative processes, and the infrastructure to scale into podcasts and video.
Result: I guided the marketing team in translating the limited agency-created branding into real-world applications across campaigns, social, and web, mentored the marketing team in Canva and creative processes, and coached athlete creators on best practices. I also designed multi-format assets, built an in-house mobile podcast studio, and partnered on a social strategy to support growth.
About the project
Developing Branding Guidelines
An agency provided an initial branding foundation, but the full system wasn’t completed due to differing creative opinions of the founder and the agency. When the Marketing team faced challenges applying those early guidelines across real-world assets, I stepped in to refine, expand, and translate the concepts into a cohesive, practical brand experience, which was recieved well by the founder and team.
To bring more vibrancy and flexibility to the brand, I elevated the secondary colors into the primary palette. I clarified the “60% color” concept by defining it as white at 60% opacity applied over the primary hues. Coal and Wind were repositioned as text colors, usable at either full or 60% opacity to create hierarchy and emphasis. I also introduced a set of clearly defined gradients to further expand the brand’s visual range.
The original color palette relied heavily on black and white, with unclear direction on how and when to use secondary or accent colors. Terms like “60% color” were referenced without context, leading to confusion about proper application across different materials.
Original Brand Colors
Updated Brand Palette
I tested and applied the shape and color executions across social media, slide decks, virtual backgrounds, campaign materials, and Canva templates. I established clear color-selection guidelines—prioritizing the image’s dominant hue and using an accent color only when the dominant tone didn’t produce an aesthetically strong result.
Ontheside connected each sport with distinct visual shape elements, an idea the agency began exploring in their early concepts. For athlete-focused imagery, they proposed using a color spectrum that pulled hues directly from the photo and matched them to the graphic shapes.
Incorporating Shapes
& Athlete Imagery
I fully brought the card concept to life across CTAs, social posts, web pages, marketing materials, and Canva templates, turning it into a consistent, flexible design. By defining how the cards should layer, scale, and interact with imagery, I created a cohesive visual language the entire team could confidently use.
The agency had the beginnings of a strong concept—using layered “cards” to showcase imagery in a dynamic, modular way that echoed the structure of the sports platform itself.
Image Card Stack Design
Marketing
I introduced consistent branding guidelines across creative, social, and web, and mentored the marketing team in applying them through tools like Canva. To expand marketing capabilities, I designed, edited, and animated a wide range of assets, from static and video to print and experiential. I collaborated on campaign ideation, messaging, and development all the assets to support them across several channels.
Canva Templates
Virtual & Desktop Backgrounds
Social Media
I oversaw the digital strategy, tactics ideation with everygreen and trending moments, and creative execution for their Instagram launch, while consulting on LinkedIn and Facebook to optimize brand presence. Provided ongoing social support by producing advanced motion design and high-level video edits beyond Canva’s capabilities, elevating the overall quality and impact of their content.
Athlete Highlights
All Sports
Niche Sports Video
Logo Play
Platform Benefits
Niche Sports Static
Athlete Creators
I coached athlete creators on marketing and creative best practices, strengthening their ability to produce authentic and effective content. I also researched, planned, and built an in-house mobile video studio for podcasts and trained marketing staff to use the equipment and run shoots.
I was tasked with overseeing the creation of a recap video for an ultramarathon race director using only the startup's internal team. During pre-production, I trained the marketing team on shooting best practices with iPhones and GoPros so the team could be at all pivotal moments throughout the 12+ hour race over 36 miles of terrain. I managed shoot day logistics, shot interview and b-roll footage, and edited the final video.