Designing Emotion You Can Hold
Turned retail packaging into emotional storytelling that inspired discovery.
The Starting Point
At Pier 1 Imports, I began my career as a packaging designer, collaborating with buyers and merchandisers to bring new housewares and décor collections to life. The brand was known for sensory retail experiences, warm lighting, layered textures, and curated stories around every product.
My role was to translate that same in-store feeling into packaging that customers could see, touch, and trust inside their homes.
The Problem to Solve
Pier 1’s packaging was functional but inconsistent. With hundreds of SKUs and seasonal rotations, design often varied across product categories. The brand needed a packaging system that unified presentation, reflected product quality, and felt emotionally connected to the in-store experience.
The Mission
Design packaging that balanced style and storytelling, creating a cohesive look and feel across product lines without losing the individuality of each collection.
That meant understanding how customers shopped, what caught their eye, what evoked comfort, and what made them pick one product over another. The goal wasn’t just consistency. It was connection.
How I Built Clarity
I worked with product buyers to align each collection’s packaging design with its materials, seasonality, and target audience. Every design decision, from pattern and color to texture and typography, was tied back to emotion and purpose.
Key contributions included:
Packaging Design: Created packaging and labeling for multiple product lines across home décor and housewares.
Visual Systems: Introduced design templates that improved consistency across seasonal collections.
Storytelling Through Design: Used pattern, tone, and tactile details to express the feeling of each collection.
Collaboration: Partnered with merchandising teams to align packaging with in-store displays and promotional materials.
Each piece needed to do more than inform. It had to invite curiosity and spark delight.
The Impact
The new packaging system helped unify Pier 1’s in-store presentation and created a more cohesive customer experience across product categories.
It elevated perceived quality, reinforced the brand’s distinctive charm, and proved how emotion and design could shape purchasing behavior long before the checkout line.
This experience became the foundation for how I approach brand systems today: clarity built from empathy, design rooted in emotion, and structure that gives creativity room to breathe.
What I Learned
Pier 1 taught me that the most powerful designs are the ones people feel.
Packaging wasn’t just a container; it was a story in physical form. It’s where I first learned to balance creativity with clarity, and to design not just what people see, but what they sense.
