For over 20 years, the Food Network had evolved and grown the food entertainment landscape both on-air and online. In conjunction with a brand refresh and new on-air creative, I developed a visual design system that would grow with subsequent enhancements and drive the look and feel of all future Food Network digital products.
Bold typography, larger images, video, and new module layouts provided an extremely flexible framework for editors to tell more compelling stories about the talent, shows, and recipes the audience cared about and to drive engagement to deeper areas of the site. The new design also worked to improve and unify the overall user experience across a multitude of entertainment and culinary content both on and off- air.
One of the hallmarks of the new visual design system was a tiered strategy for show and culinary branding. The system allowed for a full, but structured customization for the highest priority shows and editorial packages (Tier 1), partial customization for Tier 2 content, and automated styles for Tier 3. This enabled editors to create new content packages on the fly without additional effort from the visual design team, and also ensured visual consistency throughout the site experience.
As the lead designer and art director on the project, I worked closely with the entire multi-disciplinary team throughout the process, contributing and often driving key UI and content strategy decisions in addition to creating and socializing the look and feel for the website and ultimately for other digital brand extension products for Scripps’ flagship food brand.
