Context

Manukind is a premium baby care brand built on New Zealand Mānuka honey. I joined as the brand's first designer — before the brand foundation existed, and after the products were already manufactured.

Everything had to be built while it was running.

Problem

The brand didn't need a refresh; it needed an operating system. One structure connecting brand strategy, content production, and performance marketing — designed for a small team, built to scale without losing consistency.

Impact

• Social channels have grown from zero to a rapidly growing community

• 100+ rights-cleared content assets per month through the UGC system

• 15% repeat purchase rate

• One brand system running across DTC, Amazon, social, and retail materials

Manukind

Brand Lead · 2025–Present · Los Angeles
Strategy, Identity, Packaging, Content Systems, E-commerce

Leading brand strategy, product design, packaging, digital experience, and community initiatives for a premium baby care startup.

What I Built

I focused on building a system rather than isolated outputs.

Foundation
Brand book: strategy, color governance with adjacency rules, a two-font type system, photography direction, and tone of voice. The single source of truth for every channel and every handoff.

Packaging
The bar soap line across three SKUs, with a sculptural ingredient-photography system and copy refined through two rounds of compliance review.

E-commerce
A redesigned DTC product page system and Amazon listing architecture: gallery strategy, comparison infographics, and conversion copy.

Community
Baby Club, an invite-only program of 50 mothers creating rights-cleared content for paid and organic channels.

Team
Today I direct an assistant designer and an ad designer, and lead creative for an external paid media agency.

Reflection

Strong brands are built through systems, not isolated visuals. Manukind proved it at every level: design the rules well, and the brand scales without you in the room.