POLLEN is Spotify’s genre-less, quality first playlist. POLLEN is for music lovers. Music for music’s sake. Where quality is king. Or queen. Or both. Some songs familiar, some hiding underground. A space for the best new art beyond genre.

POLLEN “cross-pollinates” the music listening experience for listeners that want to break free from music genre in ways that align with their lifestyle and builds creative community.

My Role was:

Similar to the uniqueness of the POLLEN playlist, my role on POLLEN was a bit of an anomaly. I started this project at Stink Studios as a Senior Art Director working with designers, Ana Realmuto and Devon Cherry. We were guided by directors Dani Balenson and Zane Miller. We were briefed to create an awareness campaign for POLLEN and landed on the new messaging “Good has no genre.” Additionally I wrote the new internally-facing brand manifesto. Many parts of the campaign had not fully shipped while I was at Stink Studios. After I left, I joined Spotify as an Associate Creative Director. On the Spotify side, I continued to work on POLLEN and push forward some of the work with Madison Petrowski, the Music Marketing Lead of Pop/Indie/Rock.

Throughout my two roles, I expanded on the existing design identity of POLLEN, by incorporating new campaign elements. The beautiful, existing branding was created in 2018 by Felipe Rocha, Cecilia Azcarate, and Heather Brodie—two years before I had worked on the 2020 POLLEN campaign.

Collaborating with a photographer and director, we shot new floral imagery and social films showcasing Pollen’s fluid, Gen-Z audience. As part of the core audience and a Pollen listener myself, it was a pleasure and dream to authentically showcase people that looked like me, from non-binary couples to diverse friend groups featuring people of color.