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Beauty Innovators is Refinery29’s annual beauty awards celebrating the most innovative products, people, and brands of the past year—from low to high, indie to established—everyone is invited. For 2020, the goal was to break through the monotony of the year and celebrate beauty itself, reframing it as a source of joy, self-care, and expression.

The direction leaned into that shift: a call to prioritize wellness and rediscover play through beauty. Organized across six core categories—makeup, skin, body, hair, under $25, and unbothered (centering the Black community)—the work also highlighted standout brands and innovators of the year. Visually, the system combined vivid strokes of color, playful photography, hand-painted swatches, retro video, and film textures to create something tactile, expressive, and alive.

Scope
My role was to lead development and execution of the visual system across editorial and campaign outputs. Worked closely with art direction to translate the concept into a cohesive design language—spanning layout, typography, imagery, and motion references. Supported the rollout across articles, features, and supporting content, ensuring consistency across a wide range of formats.

Impact
–Helped deliver a visually distinctive, tactile editorial system
–Supported storytelling that reframed beauty as joy, care, and expression
–Contributed to a cohesive rollout across multiple categories and features
–Strengthened the visual identity of Refinery29’s flagship beauty franchise

Team
Hannah Minn
Idil Gozde
Elsa Jenna
Rachel Krause
Mary Fletcher
Zhamak Fullad
Lee Misenheimer
Seeta Kanhai

Role
Lead Design + Art Direction

Type Foundry
Plau
Deliverables
Design System
Editorial Illustration
Website
Social
Badges

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