Television Academy

The Emmys were on the verge of being stuck in the past. Membership was stagnant and made up mostly of entertainment veterans, many of whom had been out of the business for years. Growing the Academy meant looking current to a younger audience without giving up the credibility built over decades.

As Art Director and second in command, I kept that balance across the in-house team, ceremony design, vendors, and network partners, season after season. I oversaw the design department and the year-round Emmy Awards visual system: member acquisition, print and digital campaigns, large-scale environmental design for live events and galas, and the workflows and vendor partnerships that doubled departmental output without losing craft.

For the 70th anniversary, the in-house design department and an outside agency both pitched concepts. The mark I designed was chosen. It ran year-round on billboards, stationery, trade, digital, even Governors Ball hamburger boxes, with 10M+ reach across 120 countries.

I designed invitations for Emmy-related events, including the LA Area Emmys, the Performers Nominee Reception, and the awards show itself, as collectible brand objects, not paper to throw away.

For the 73rd Emmys I designed a four-color invitation suite with nine RSVP cards: soft-touch paper, reflective foils in gold, red, blue, and purple.

Event key art across the calendar, from the College Television Awards to Evenings With programs featuring casts from major shows.

Marks for Academy and Foundation programs, scholarships, and awards.

Telecast campaigns ran in People, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety. I adapted key art across trade, banners, and social, and managed the media budget and partner placements.

Over sixteen years, membership grew 257%, from about 7,000 to over 25,000, with design and marketing in that mix. Ceremonies and campaigns still had to land for millions of viewers every year.

In 2026 I came back as Lead Design Consultant on specialty projects, including brand guidelines for the Television Academy’s Televerse Festival and logistics materials for this year’s Emmy shows.