Standard Dose launched in 2019 as a wellness retailer bringing CBD products to mainstream consumers through education and curation. With a flagship NoMad, NYC store hosting daily yoga classes and wellness events plus a robust e-commerce platform, they were building something between Goop and a neighborhood apothecary. The challenge: they had talented teams producing solid work, but no creative oversight ensuring consistency, brand alignment, or interesting creative output. In an increasingly crowded wellness marketplace competing against beauty giants and specialty retailers, scattered creative execution was becoming a liability.
I started by auditing existing creative to identify what worked and what didn't, then built a comprehensive Figma design system with components, type scales, and usage rules that teams could actually follow. The bigger change was operational: I introduced standing creative reviews bringing copy, social, and design teams together so everyone knew what was going live, plus cross-functional projects that broke down the silos. We had a photography studio downstairs, so I built a proper concepting and planning process—agency-style but scaled for our team—and guided shoots from concept through post-production.
The design system let our designers move faster by eliminating foundational decision-making on every project. We executed major seasonal campaigns, completely overhauled social content, and built creative infrastructure that could scale with the business. While the brand eventually shifted direction, the systematic approach we built demonstrated how proper creative operations can transform output quality and team efficiency.
credits
RoleDesign Director
DesignersAli Dugan, Julia Aguam
Photography & ContentJordan Yates
Web DevelopmentJoey Cupelli
CopyYazmine Lomax, Amber Mitchell
Project ManagementEmily Armstrong, Ally Ingraham
