Role:
Brand & Marketing Designer / Creative Direction
Scope:
Creative Strategy, Art Direction, Performance Advertising, Visual Guidelines, Campaign Development
TaxCloud is a US-based sales tax compliance platform that helps eCommerce and SaaS businesses automate sales tax calculations, filing, and reporting, making complex tax processes simpler and easier to manage.
I worked on developing the creative direction for paid advertising, aligning campaign visuals with TaxCloud's evolving brand identity and marketing goals.
My work included creative research, competitor analysis, defining visual principles, and developing advertising concepts across different formats. I focused on combining product clarity, human storytelling, and distinctive visual ideas to communicate complex services in a simple, approachable way.
CREATIVE STRATEGY · ART DIRECTION · PERFORMANCE ADVERTISING
The Challenge
When I started working on TaxCloud's paid campaigns, the brand already had an established visual identity, but it wasn't consistently reflected in its advertising.
The creatives used a wide color palette, stock photography, repetitive layouts, and different design approaches that didn't always feel connected. As a result, the advertising lacked a cohesive visual direction and often felt generic.
Visual Inconsistency
Too many colors, styles, and design approaches made the campaigns feel disconnected and weakened brand recognition.
Generic Creative
Stock photography and repetitive layouts made it difficult to stand out in a competitive advertising environment.
Complex Product Communication
Sales tax compliance is a complex topic. The challenge was to communicate its value quickly, clearly, and in a way that felt approachable.
Limited Creative Experimentation
Without a clear creative framework, it was harder to explore new concepts, test different approaches, and build on performance insights.
The goal wasn't simply to refresh the visuals, but to establish a more distinctive and consistent creative direction — one that could strengthen brand recognition, simplify communication, and create more opportunities for experimentation and performance-driven improvements.
Finding a fresh direction
I started by looking closely at TaxCloud's existing brand and marketing materials, trying to understand what was working, what felt repetitive, and where we could push things further.
From there, I explored different ways to bring more character into the creative. I experimented with stronger typography, more intentional use of color, clearer visual hierarchy, and new approaches to photography and composition.
Rather than reinventing the brand, I wanted to build on what was already there and give it a fresh perspective. The result was a set of creative directions that felt more connected to TaxCloud's identity while offering enough flexibility to explore different messages, audiences, and campaign formats.
Rethinking paid creative
Once I had a clearer visual direction, I started exploring how to make TaxCloud's paid ads more engaging and less repetitive.
I looked at competitor campaigns, experimented with different messaging angles and visual concepts, and developed creative hypotheses to test. I also considered how people engage with ads differently on Meta and LinkedIn, adapting the creative to each platform.
My focus was on creating more variety with a clear purpose, using audience insights and performance learnings to guide the next round of ideas.
Building a Brand That Keeps Evolving
Building a strong brand is an ongoing process of learning, adapting, and finding better ways to connect with people.
For TaxCloud, the work extended beyond paid advertising. I focused on creating a more connected brand experience, from the first ad impression to the landing page, ensuring consistency in messaging, visual language, and user experience.
With a broad audience spanning different industries and business needs, there was no single creative approach that worked for everyone. I explored and tested different concepts, messaging, and visual directions, using performance insights, competitor research, and market trends to inform the next steps.
The creative process also expanded into content production, including developing briefs and collaborating with content creators on video shoots to bring new storytelling approaches into campaigns.
The goal was to build more than a collection of individual ads: a recognizable, adaptable brand experience that continues to evolve through experimentation, customer understanding, and creative thinking.
