Curriculum Associates, LLC

CREATIVE LEADERSHIP / BRANDING / IDENTITY / CHANGE & PROCESS MANAGEMENT

I joined Curriculum Associates—makers of the popular i-Ready Assessment and learning software—in November of 2022 in a new role as Director of Brand. After acquiring an AI voice enablement company, there was a need to position CA as a tech company rather than the print publishing company of its past. There was an urgency to elevate all marketing materials as well as create more efficient workflows in order to establish CA as a leader in K–12 education.

Older Marketing Materials

While the i-Ready product had a style guide, the instructions within were complex and hard to keep consistent across a larger team. This combined with projects becoming immediate needs meant less time was spent on QC. Overall the marketing brand was outdated and aimed to please end users rather than our target audience who interact with it most.

Updated Brand Guides & Materials

I worked alongside multiple partners and teams to put together a modernized (and simplified) set of brand guidelines that keeps gained equity while also being easier to implement for projects requiring a quick turn. These guidelines, which spanned multiple product brands, were translated into templates for consistency among expeditious projects and allowed controlled self-service.

Campaign Work

I collaborated with our internal Marketing team (including National Directors, VPs, and Creative), Sales, and the Product team to brainstorm solutions when bringing launching new features and brands. Each campaign was required to have preliminary brief, including a tactics, messaging, and aesthetics plan. Some examples of my team’s go-to-market campaign work are shown below.

Bringing California Mathematics to Market

Rethinking the Web Experience

Another Campaign Here (Phonics?)

Redesigning Magnetic and Mosaico as a Product Suite

Creative Leadership

In addition to bringing expertise to technical projects, it was necessary to also guide the team through multiple rounds of org, leadership, and process changes. As a fully remote team I recommended multiple in-person meetups to foster relationships, opportunities for designers to increase skillsets and practice leadership, and increased trust by allowing voices to be heard and taking meaningful action. This resulted in a 14% increase of staff satisfaction over the past 12 months and 100% retainment.

Other Notables:

Curation and design of the BrandED Newsletter—to communicate out brand updates, examples, and resources, including updates on major brand initiatives like positioning and naming exercises
For the first time, changing processes so that the Marketing team collaborated with the Product team up front on new products and features, increasing quality and consistency with art direction and planning up front, rather than reactively
Helping to bring online an office in India to aid with creative production, including interviewing candidates and branding the local Bangalore office interior