Human-centered design. Deep-rooted brand passion. Optimistic leadership. The future of what could be.
Erin Butner Stubbs is a designer at heart and a passionate creative brand storyteller. Drawing on strategic insights, she looks to create artifacts and experiences that facilitate meaningful and fluid connections between consumer and brand. With over seventeen years of experience in the innovation and advertising world, her aim is simply to have people fall in love with brands.
Today, as an executive design and innovation consultant, she helps clients with everything from mobilizing in-house innovation studios to creating "future of" products to helping executives tell meaningful stories. At Logitech, she helped globalize an innovation team charged with making designers out of every employee. At Nike's new ventures innovation incubator, Valiant Labs, she was the Head of the Design Studio and led a team of multidisciplinary designers who used the design thinking process to build new brands and experiences for Nike. At IDEO, Erin led teams and clients in the process of human centered design on projects in industries ranging from food to finance, retail to real estate. Prior to the innovation world, Erin worked at Arnold Worldwide and BBDO, creating campaigns for Jack Daniels, Gallo Wines, American Eagle Outfitters, and more.
Whether creating omnichannel customer experiences or brand purposes, she believes in the power of design research and inspiration, prototyping, designing quickly and the power of conveying ideas clearly.
At work or in the world, she loves being the champion for fellow creators, believing in the power of empathy, and engaging in meaningful and inspiring conversations. Erin loves to draw, especially monsters, cook, and explore (it's the Sagittarius in her).
Experience:
• Logitech // Senior Design Transformation Guide, Design 3.0 (CEO & CDO-supported team to scale design behavior)
• Nike // Head of Studio, Valiant Labs (Nike’s in-house new ventures innovation incubator)
• Nike // Design Director, Innovation for Future of Retail and Experience
• IDEO San Francisco // Design Lead
• Arnold Worldwide Boston // Senior Art Director
• BBDO San Francisco // Digital Art Director
Areas of expertise:
Executive and Org Change, Retail Experience and Strategy, Visual Identity, Brand Purpose Articulation and Activation, Customer Journeys, Fintech, Future of Mobility, Food and Beverage, Advertising and Consumer Marketing
Brands:
Nike, Cadillac Fairview, Kate Spade New York, Verizon, Huntington Bank, BBVA, National Australia Bank, Hershey’s Food, American Eagle Outfitters, Jack Daniel’s, Carnival Cruises, Huntington Bank, Vail Resorts, Barefoot Wine, 8th Continent Soymilk, Harrah’s Resorts and Casinos
At a glance:
• Innovation
• Human-centered design
• Graphic design
• Art direction
• Brand purpose + strategy
• Brand development
• Experience design
• Service design
• Advertising
• Prototyping
• Packaging
• Web design
• Identity & logo design
• Film
• Illustration
• Hand lettering
My sweet spot.
Why do I love what I do? Because it aligns with things I’m passionate about. I’ve been a fan of brand since I was old enough to choose between Crest and Colgate. As a young girl, I cut out my favorite ads out of magazines and posted them on my walls, and was glued to those sweet :30 spots between the snaps of the Super Bowl. As I grew up professionally in advertising, I hated the creative briefs that lacked strategy. I wanted to know who, why, when… Tell me more. More. More. More! Craving an authentic connection between consumer and brand, I aim to create experiences that inspire people to come back, again and again, and with heart. They say curiosity killed the cat, but I think curiosity is the only thing that keeps creatives going.
“They say curiosity killed the cat, but I think curiosity is the only thing that keeps creativity going.”