Visual Design

Amazon Studio Visuals

Amazon • 2013 – 2018

The challenge

Five years inside Amazon's photo studios, first in Italy and then in London: product photography by day and a series of side projects to help the studio tell its own story.

From 2013 to 2018 I worked as a digitech (the technician who runs capture, colour correction and the image-processing pipeline on set) and as photographer and retoucher in Amazon's studios: first in Italy for the BuyVIP fashion e-commerce (2013–2015), then in the LHR17 studio in London (2015–2018).

Alongside my main job, on my own initiative, I designed material for the studio's internal engagement initiatives: programmes that keep the team informed, motivated and proud of its work. Among them: onboarding guides for freelance digitechs, quality-control reference cards, newsletters, posters, a visual identity for studio events and a series of short animations on Amazon's Leadership Principles.

Nobody had asked for it. It existed because an illustrated process is easier to follow than a paragraph, and because a studio with a visual identity of its own is a better place to work.

Sector
E-commerce photography: internal communication
Duration
2013 – 2018 (Italy, then the UK)
Team
Studio managers, photographers, freelance digitechs
Tools
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, Capture One

My role

  • Digitech, photographer and retoucher (main role)
  • Editorial design: guides, newsletters and posters for internal teams
  • Motion design: the Leadership Principles series
  • Identity and illustrations for studio events (LHR17)
The amazon BuyVIP home page in a browser window, with a banner of pastel sneakers and the 'Special sneakers' campaign.
A model in a light-blue off-the-shoulder dress on white, next to the LHR17 studio mark.
The DIGI mark: four letters in a square frame, white on black.

Digi guide

Guides, cards, newsletters and posters were used every day in both studios: the workflow guide welcomed new freelance digitechs, the quality-control card sat next to the workstations, while the newspaper and the newsletter kept the team up to date.

A hand holding the studio's Christmas poster: a red ugly-sweater illustration with the event details on the chest.
An issue of 'InFocus', the studio newspaper, with ink-style illustrations and a 'Welcome in Japan' headline.
'Tuesday meeting' poster: a dark sheet with a diagonal pink band listing the speakers of each weekly meeting.
Another issue of 'InFocus' with the 'Health & Safety' and 'Promotion in EU Studio' columns.
The 'LHR17 connections' newsletter: the logo on the left and the full email on the right.
The 'Flexible imaging' newsletter: two blue pages with a friendly illustrated character saying hi.

Leadership Principles videos

The 'Leadership Principles' series — eight short animations, one per principle, one visual metaphor each, twenty seconds long — was made for the studio meetings and is the work I'm most attached to.