QVC (USA)
Graphics Manager, 2002-2004
In January 2002 I transferred from being Senior Interactive Designer at QVC in London, to On-Air Graphics Manager for QVC in Philadelphia. There I was responsible for all graphic design production for QVC’s live broadcast and pre-produced elements, and managed a team of 10 designers, ensuring optimized workflow, fiscal responsibility through resource and infrastructure planning, and adherence to overall corporate branding identity guidelines.
I served as an active designer in the day-to-day workflow, and worked closely with the on-air sales merchandising team to identify where graphics support could illuminate hard-to-explain or invisible features of a product, and optimize on-air sales merchandizing effort.
In addition, I worked closely with both the interactive and creative marketing teams to bring an unprecedented level of consistency across QVC’s television, print and digital platforms.
Problems worked on:
How might we effectively bring together the broadcast, digital and print teams to present a more consistent, coherent and clear identity for QVC’s commercial initiatives?
How might we more effectively articulate the internal, hidden, and hard-to-explain features of a product in a way that helps the presenter explain to viewers why a product is powerful?
How might we develop a typographic set of brand guidelines to speak clearly to each individual QVC audience, while maintaining the flexibility for growth of new business?
Achievements:
Created the first truly cross-functional design team at QVC, spanning not just television, print and digital, but also internationally across QVC US, QVC UK, QVC Germany and QVC Japan.
Worked closely with the on-air merchandising teams to identify and generate graphics support to help customers understand how products worked, illuminate hidden features, and drive up sales volume through optimizing air-time.
Created dozens of proprietary on-air graphics packages in support of individual shows and all-day special events.
Created the first set of full animated QVC idents.
Overhauled on-air typography identity packages, established a robust color palette and style guide, and worked closely with the business development team in identifying and supporting new merchandising opportunities.
QVC Network Animated Idents
Created in-house by 3D modeler & animator George Wolstenholme, we created a set of over 25 different network idents for QVC, which ran during set changes, show breaks, presenter handoffs, and other spaces of downtime during the live broadcast. They also included innovative sound design in support of each ident, bringing to life the personality of the brand’s logo for the viewer.
QVC Animated Product Demos
One of the most powerful collaborations during my time at QVC was with the sales and merchandising team, who we worked closely with to identify and articulate hard-to-demonstrate features of a product. Examples included how thread count works, how a shoe molds to the shape of your foot, how a diamond ring gets made, how a vacuum works and many more. These product demonstrations optimized the time that the host needed to spend explaining the product, and served to help viewers understand the product on a deeper level, often resulting in clear spikes in live sales volume.
For Race Fans Only: Graphics Package & Support
On-Air Broadcast Identity
QVC Graphics Packages (All-Day Special Events)
All-day graphics packages comprised of creating all of the elements associated with the 24-hour cycle of a targeted, focused promotion, over 25 times a year. Examples include Diamonique Day, Fashion Day, Holidays, Year-End Sales and many more. Elements included the on-air graphics display system that communicated product features, as well as typographic identity work, 3D animation, web design and print support. I worked closely with the promotions, on-air, sales merchandising, set design, digital and creative marketing teams to create the identity and style guide for each event, bringing an unprecedented level of consistency to the organization.
Bon Jovi Remote Broadcast Package
Created for the QVC Remote Broadcast team, rock band Bon Jovi hosted a live concert from San Jose, California around which they discussed their latest album, DVD set and memorabilia for sale on QVC. The graphics package included live elements, identity work in adherence with the band’s creative team, animations and promotional support.
Comcast Interactive Television Impulse Purchasing Demo
Building on my experience with designing interactive television products for QVC in the UK, I produced a number of interactive television demos for the emerging technology initiatives of Comcast, the parent company of QVC.
Strive To Be Live (Internal Communications Campaign)
”Matt has a great basket of skills including creative vision, leadership and people savvy. I very much enjoyed working with Matt because he always brought new ideas to the table and, just as important, knew how to execute those ideas. He managed his team with strong direction while allowing room for their creative juices to flow. He makes a team better through his strong collaboration skills. A strong contributor and team player, I would recommend Matt without hesitation.”
Martin Bispels
Vice President of Sales & Business Development, QVC
