Summary: At Limelight Hotels, a luxury hotel brand based in the mountains, I led creative direction for social and brand content, art-directing photoshoots and creator collaborations while contributing to a broader company rebrand.
The Challenge
Limelight Hotels needed a cohesive, scalable brand presence across social as the company expanded across locations. When I joined, there was no established system guiding visual direction or storytelling. The challenge was to define how the brand should show up in a social-first environment and translate that into a flexible framework that could support ongoing content, creator collaborations, and new hotel launches.
Before
Inconsistencies in visuals, tone, and presentation across social & creator/brand collaborations
After
Injecting fun, flavor, and personality through carefully selected imagery and edits while paying attention to scaleability
My Role & Overall Approach
I led the creative direction for Limelight Hotels’ organic social and influencer presence during a period of growth and brand evolution. Working at the intersection of strategy, design, and content, I helped define how the brand showed up visually and editorially across channels all while balancing hands-on execution with creative leadership.
Creative Direction & Art Direction
Led art direction for social and influencer photoshoots, helping shape visual storytelling across our multiple locations. Developed creative direction for shoots and collaborations, ensuring photography, video, and content aligned with brand tone while still feeling modern, aspirational, and socially native.
Provided hands-on design support when needed, translating creative direction into polished social assets and campaign visuals.
Social Strategy & Creative Systems
Established a cohesive visual and editorial framework for organic social, creating consistency across daily content, campaigns, and locations. Built scalable creative systems that allowed the brand to evolve while maintaining a recognizable identity across platforms.
Balanced brand standards with flexibility to support timely, engaging, and platform-appropriate content.
Influencer & Creator Partnerships
Directed influencer and creator collaborations from concept through execution. Created creator briefs, defined visual and editorial guidelines, and partnered closely with creators to ensure content felt authentic while remaining aligned with brand identity.
Led brand partnerships and collaborations that extended reach and reinforced brand presence across social channels.
Collaboration & Brand Stewardship
Worked closely with internal teams, executives, and external partners to ensure all creative aligned with brand guidelines and business goals. Served as a creative partner across departments, helping translate brand strategy into clear, consistent execution during moments of expansion, including the launch of a new hotel location.
The Outcome
The refreshed creative direction resulted in a more recognizable, elevated brand presence across channels and supported sustained growth across social platforms. The new visual system enabled consistent, high-quality content production while remaining flexible enough to support multiple locations and ongoing campaigns.
In Summary
- Established a unified visual and editorial identity across multiple hotel locations
- Improved consistency, engagement, and overall performance of organic social content
- Elevated influencer and creator content to feel cohesive with brand-owned channels
- Built scalable creative systems still used to support ongoing content and new launches
- Contributed to steady social growth and increased engagement across Instagram during a period of brand expansion
What I learned
Creative systems matter as much as creative output
Building flexible frameworks allowed the brand to scale content across locations and partnerships without losing visual or editorial clarity.
Strong art direction creates consistency, even with external creators
Clear creative direction and thoughtful briefs enabled influencer content to feel authentic while still reinforcing brand identity.
Social-first design requires a different lens
Designing for social meant prioritizing immediacy, storytelling, and adaptability while also balancing brand polish with platform-native execution.
Creative leadership thrives with collaboration (trust and communication)
The most successful work came from close alignment with internal teams, executives, and external partners, ensuring creative decisions supported both brand and growth goals.