Los Angeles Brand Systems Designer Building Scalable Identities Across Campaigns, Digital Experiences, and Environments
I’m Julian Rucker, a senior brand designer and strategist in Los Angeles but working with clients around the country. Creating identity systems that connect strategy, storytelling, and execution across physical and digital touchpoints.
I work across brand identity, campaigns, packaging, experiential design, motion, and AI-assisted creative workflows, building systems designed to scale rather than one-off visual solutions.
The Organism Company
A strategic rebrand of Ginkgo Bioworks built through positioning, identity, packaging, and storytelling to make synthetic biology feel credible, accessible, and consumer-facing.
Brand Strategy / Logo Design / Identity System / Packaging / Storytelling
Featured Brand Systems
noosa finest yoghurt
Consumers wanted convenient snacks without losing quality or flavor—but the yogurt category wasn’t meeting that need. Our team developed a launch system linking retail, social, sampling, and experiential touchpoints, designed to help Noosa Fruit Smoothies stand out in a crowded beverage-snack landscape.
Graphic Design/ Campaign Strategy/ Environmental design/
Titian
Space tourism is often imagined as elitist escapism—focused on spectacle, not substance. Titian positions itself as more than a luxury space cruise—it’s a transformational journey designed to make travelers Mars-Worthy.
Brand strategy/ Presentation Design, Logo Design
Shipped Campaign & Brand Systems
I translate brand strategy into visual systems that scale across campaigns, environments, and teams.
Shipped work developed for agencies, entertainment platforms, and consumer brands.
Karma Nova Mindful Body
Strategy, identity and a 90‑day content framework for a mindful body‑transformation program. Research, personas, business cards and social carousels all connect to a single trust‑building narrative.
Brand Strategy / Audience Research / Identity System / Content Strategy / Social Design
Marvelous Designer
A Game Developers Conference 2023 booth and communications system built around a major software release, combining environmental graphics, presentation design, sponsored posts, and community-led campaign assets to unify the brand across live experience and digital promotion.
Environmental Graphics / Event Branding / Presentation Design / Sponsored Content / Community Marketing
Lee Andrews Group
An in-house rebrand and communications systems project built through logo development, motion graphics, video editing, client identity assets, reusable presentation templates, and repeatable social content systems that expanded production capacity across teams and supported significant social growth during my tenure.
Rebrand / Motion Graphics / Video Editing / Presentation Systems / Social Strategy / Content Systems
Ladies Room – Talk Show Branding
Key art, logo and content system for a talk show on Laugh Out Loud Network. Bold colours, soft curves and retro touches capture the host’s voice across episodes, socials and streaming promotions.
Key Art / Logo Design / Social Media Graphics / Entertainment Branding
I design scalable identities, campaign frameworks, and experiential graphics that translate strategy into structure.
Strategy, Experience & Cultural Systems
Lower East Side Pickle Day – Ads & Signage
Event identity and environmental design for NYC’s pickle festival, from street banners and posters to animated ads and merchandise—celebrating neighbourhood culture through brine.
Environmental design/ Illustration/ Print Design
Fresh Bites – Essex Street Market Design
A modular illustration system and bilingual collateral for a nutrition programme, including posters, recipe cards, worksheets and environmental cut‑outs that bring healthy eating to life.
Environmental design/ Illustration/ Print Design
Smash Vines – Irreverent Wine Subscription Service
Branding and packaging for a cheeky wine subscription, where bold illustration and tongue‑in‑cheek copy stand out on crowded shelves and in social ads.
Brand Strategy/ Presentation design/ Logo design/ Pacakging
Good Boy Golf Apparel Capsule Design
A retro‑inspired five‑piece golf capsule—from polos and tees to socks and accessories—complete with production tech packs and social launch graphics.
Wellness & Lifestyle/ Packaging Apparel & Print/ Social Media Content
Selected Identity, Environmental & Social Work
Bio Technica Fest – Brand Identity
Full identity, motion system and environmental design for a festival where biotech meets art and education. From logo and animation to wayfinding and merch, the work builds a futuristic event experience.
Rebrand / Motion Graphics / Video Editing / Presentation Systems / Social Strategy / Content Systems
OFF Season – Saint Laurent Narrative
An AI‑assisted editorial campaign for Saint Laurent, built as a three‑chapter story exploring luxury as absence. Combines moodboards, AI visual prototyping and human‑led art direction.
Campaign Strategy / Art Direction / AI-Assisted Visual Prototyping / Narrative System / Graphic Design
HypeCalm – Corporate Wellness Ecosystem
HypeCalm aims to integrate workplace wellness into corporate culture. Our ecosystem empowered employees to manage their well-being with wearable tech and immersive programs, offering real-time insights and personalized guidance for accessible and tailored wellness.
Brand Strategy / Identity System / Exhibition Graphics / Motion / Digital Assets
Plunge House – Brand Activation
Plunge House Brand Activation deliverables included a festival activation pitch, email campaigns for new and current members, print flyers, and social media graphics promoting The Cold Challenge at the Charlotte Wellness Festival.
Social Media Design/ Presentation design/ Email Design/ Print Design
Papa John’s Content Design
Social campaign assets and A/B‑tested posts for Papa John’s. Shows how a national brand can experiment with visual style while remaining on message across digital channels.
Food & Beverage/ Social Media Content
Betian – Sportsbook Branding
Branding and UI concepts for an international sportsbook. Dynamic typography and bold colour make betting feel both approachable and trustworthy.
Brand Strategy / Identity System / Entertainment Branding
Samsara Animated Art Book & Motion Collage Exhibition
Samsara is an animated art book and RAW Artists Detroit exhibition exploring death, surrender, rebirth, and spiritual transformation through surreal motion collage, posters, and print.
Animated Art Book / Exhibition / Poster Series
Kevin Hart Lyft Comics
Promotional graphics for a collaborative mini‑series. Includes character posters, motion teasers and social assets aligned to both Lyft’s brand and Kevin Hart’s comedic tone.
Key Art / Logo Design / Social Media Graphics / Entertainment Branding
Ink Detroit Banners
A suite of product banners and campaign graphics for a Detroit streetwear brand. Translates local pride into ecommerce visuals for seasonal drops and special events.
Brand Strategy / Logo Design / Social Media Graphics / Content Calendar
PROCESS
How I Build Scalable Brand Systems
A six-step process for turning research, audience insight, and visual direction into durable brand systems.
01
Research the Landscape
I begin with market research, category review, and competitive analysis to understand where a brand stands, what patterns already exist, and where there is room to claim a sharper position.
02
Define the Audience
Next, I study the ideal customer through user personas, behavioral patterns, motivations, and fears. This helps shape how the brand should speak, what it should show, and what emotional need it should answer.
03
Build the Visual Direction
With the strategy in place, I create moodboards and visual references to explore tone, style, and aesthetic territory. This gives clients something concrete to react to and helps align the vision early.
04
Develop and Refine Concepts
From there, I sketch, test, and compare multiple creative directions. We narrow the strongest ideas through discussion and refinement until the system begins to feel both ownable and useful.
05
Design the Identity System
Once a direction is chosen, I build the brand identity through logo development, color, typography, layout logic, and supporting visual elements. The goal is a system that can flex across touchpoints without losing coherence.
06
Extend the Brand into Content
After the identity is established, I translate it into campaigns, social content, motion, presentations, and digital experiences. That includes building stories that move audiences from hesitation to belief, and from curiosity to action.
Strategic Foundation
Brand Strategy, Identity, and Campaign Execution
I connect strategy, creative direction, and production across complex brand environments.
01 EXPERIENCE
I bring 9+ years of experience across agency, in-house, entertainment, technology, wellness, and consumer brands, working from early strategy through final campaign and production execution.
02 LEADERSHIP
I work across marketing, leadership, creative, and production teams to establish visual direction, build reusable systems, and keep brand expression consistent as projects expand across channels.
At a senior level, my role is to define structure before aesthetics — setting positioning, system logic, and visual rules that teams can extend consistently across campaigns, environments, and digital products.
Senior brand systems designer, brand strategy, visual identity systems, typographic systems, design systems, research-led design, audience insights, competitive analysis, campaign art direction, motion direction, Figma, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects. I've worked in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Brooklyn, Detroit, and Charlotte, NC.
Latest Design Writing
Design Pulse — Spotlighting the Best Design Inspiration on DesignRush
A curated look at the Best Design Inspiration on DesignRush, featuring standout logo design and website design worth studying.
Design Pulse Vol. 19: Can Design Build Unity Through Branding?
Design Pulse Vol. 19 explores whether design can build unity in a fractured world. From healthcare to music culture, see how identity bridges people.
Design Pulse Vol. 18: Brand Loyalty Is Cracked
In a week dominated by logos, rebrands, and experiments with AI design, one theme emerged: brand loyalty in design is fragile. From retail giants losing their edge, to sports clubs acting like streaming platforms, to bookshops becoming cultural anchors — brand identity is being asked to earn trust in new, volatile ways.