colleen stokes

How can new media enhance the user's experience of a brand? Ask Colleen Stokes. The J.Crew creative director has spent her career pondering that question. Stokes began her career designing packaging for children's software. She eventually ended up at Colossal Pictures, where she helped to create an interactive TV interface for Disney—one that could be used by both an adult and a preliterate child. She designed a variety of websites, including e-commerce sites, for Levi Strauss and Company and Apple, and worked to integrate the editorial and ecommerce sides of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Stokes' current responsibilities include the creative for all of J.Crew's new media, marketing and PR. Stokes has been awarded a One Show Pencil, a Clio and a Golden Lion from The Cannes International Advertising Show. Her work has been published in Communication Arts, Graphis, PRINT, I.D. and GDUSA.

Is graphic design a growth industry? Absolutely. Technology no longer feels intimidating and cold. Interfaces and user experiences seem to imitate human interactions, and this allows customers to feel comfortable and safe. And that is great because the customers' ability to adopt new things has a direct correlation to how and what we design.

For example, have you ever tried to get through a day without your Blackberry? Could you imagine a world without online shopping? Or if you actually had to watch your favorite television program during the exact hour it was aired? The best design is the design you only notice when it is gone or broken.

We are finally ready to push what has become the norm to the next level. And that gives us, as designers, immeasurable growth opportunities. Whether it be e-commerce experiences, product development, digital video or photography, social networking or basic story telling, if we can dream it, we can design it. So, the question I ask is, what is the next thing that we didn't know we can't live without?

THREE THINGS I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT ARE salt, popcorn + my GPS

FAVORITE MOVIES

Twice Upon a Time demonstrates what we can do with different media and completely out-of-the-box thinking. And to think it was created without computers! I am secretly obsessed with James Bond movies. Any Tim Burton movie would also be at the top of my list; the guy is a visual genius.

FAVORITE BOOKS

It's going to sound crazy, but after all these years, my favorites are still The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises. I love any one of my midcentury modern furniture books, for reference. Maybe I need to read more?

FAVORITE FINE ARTISTS

Van Gogh will always be my favorite. He created the real definition of art — pure emotion in a tangible form. Saul Steinberg's illustrations got me through college. And, of course, Miuccia Prada.

BOOKMARKED WEBSITES

jcrew.com
1stdibs.com
nytimes.com
net-a-porter.com
ebay.com
yahoo.com