Macy’s Workshop.

Macy's approached me to illustrate its advertisements for the Spring 2014 session of The Workshop at Macy's, a program that encourages and helps guide women and minority entrepreneurs in the retail and fashion industry.

Michele Stormer, senior creative manager at Macy’s, explains: "We had partnered with Sarah a few years earlier on a 4th of July fireworks poster and we've always loved her sense of typography – how it feels timeless yet current and trend-appropriate – and knew she could execute the direction for the campaign effortlessly. Her style easily appeals to a younger audience and we figured she was so spot-on for this campaign that she could execute it in her sleep ... I don't know if she would agree however!”

Well, I didn’t exactly do it in my sleep, but this certainly felt like I was on familiar territory having produced similar campaigns for Target and Boston University.

The team studied Carol Seitz's photographs of the entrepreneurs and discussed goals for the completed images. "The end result was to have Sarah's art marry the photography – not overpower it, and not be secondary to it either,” Michele says of the brief. "The illustrations, in partner with the photography, would be the element that captures your attention then draws you in to further investigate the ad and learn more.”

My job was to create lively, narrative pieces that captured the energy of both the Macy's Workshop team and the selected vendors – their products, craft, and determination - without using too many words, the hand-drawn illustrations (ink on paper) had to tell each person’s story.

Michele made this lovely comment about the job once it was finished. "Sarah's work was the final piece that made everything come together. It's a little odd when you see people at work hang some of the ads up at their desks as decoration – and these were not people I know or work with! Often that's the greatest sense of achievement because people usually try their hardest not to surround themselves with work-related memorabilia. The Multicultural Department at Macy's, which is responsible for The Workshop at Macy's, was extremely pleased with the outcome, to say the least, and thrilled to have a campaign that feels fresh and youthful.”

I can’t add much to that! Thanks Michele and team for a lovely job. I hope to do it again some day!

Extracts courtesy of Bernstein & Andriulli’s interview on their news page:
http://www.ba-reps.com/news/sarah-coleman-brings-her-magic-to-the-workshop-at-macy-s

Dare. Dream. Do!

Over Christmas I was working on this campaign for Target, with Little & Co. and Digital Kitchen, through my agents Bernstein & Andriulli in NYC.

In honour of Black History Month, Target recently launched its “Dare, Dream, Do” campaign. The print, web, broadcast, and interactive campaign tells the inspiring stories of Malaak Compton-Rock, Marc Morial, Marcus Samuelsson, and Steve Stoute. The banner ads and video interviews are a blend of 2d and 3d, Digital Kitchen seamlessly mixing live video with my hand-drawn illustrations. You can see some of the videos here.
Malaak Compton-Rock

'Dare, Dream, Do’ is an integrated multicultural branding exercise by Target, celebrating the company’s diversity and aimed at sharing stories of success. Malaak Compton-Rock (married to Chris Rock) founded the Angel Rock Project, an organization that aids orphans and young children in South Africa. Steve Stoute is an entrepreneur and record executive. Marcus Samuelson is a chef and cookbook author. And last but not least, Marc Morial is the president of the National Urban League.
Marcus Samuelson

I was sent a big pile of photographs of each person's photo shoot to understand how each person moved, stood, and talked, in particular noticing what excited them and when they became the most animated. Using descriptions of their life stories and collections of words pulled out from their interviews and photo sessions, I drew illustrations that captured all of those things.

Steve Stoute

I also created an entire hand-drawn alphabet for Target, creating unique typography for the campaign. The typeface I made includes upper and lower case, a set of punctuation marks, and numerals. And to avoid the dead giveaway when playing the ‘is it a font or is it handwriting?’ game, I gave the most commonly used letters two or three different versions!
Mark Morial

Each work started out on paper with black ink – be it fountain pen, dip pen, felt pen, or other. Since everything was being animated, a consistent line weight turned out to be crucial. After everything was drawn and scanned, the illustrations were then vectorized for the animators.
Stills from one of the banner ads

This really felt like I was having the time of my life, doodling away over a big sheet of paper and getting to draw from a long list of different and sometimes challenging little objects – it was one of those jobs where you think to yourself ‘this cannot be my job – I’m having too much fun!’

If you're in the USA look for web banners and print ads across the Internet. More information and videos can be found on the Target website.
One of the print advertisements

Client: Target
Campaign: Dare, Dream, Do
Agency: Little & Co., Minneapolis
Video and Animations: Digital Kitchen
Art Director: Katherine Lamm
Creative Director: Julie ZulkoskyOne of the print advertisements