A series of campaign-led digital experiences that translate menu innovations into interactive brand storytelling.
the challenge
Over nearly five years, I partnered with Panda Express, growing from an associate designer into the lead for digital design across the account. My focus was on specialty campaign sites and experiences tied to quarterly limited-time offers, often with layered cultural stories and campaign extensions across channels. The challenge was to translate complex ideas into engaging digital experiences that felt cohesive, easy to use, and exciting to explore.
the insight
These campaigns were about more than new menu items. They were opportunities to tell deeper stories across web, social, and broader campaign touchpoints. With a majority of traffic coming from mobile, experiences needed to be intuitive, visually compelling, and designed to meet users where they were.
the solution
I led the design of campaign landing pages, interactive microsites, and the Panda Rewards platform, helping shape the digital layer of each launch. The work blended UX thinking with creative concepting, from naming dishes and developing campaign ideas to supporting social extensions, TV concepts, and custom illustration. For the Fortunate Cookie campaign, we introduced a mobile-first experience that used gyroscope interaction, allowing users to physically engage with the story in a playful, unexpected way.
the results
The work supported a steady cadence of campaign launches and extended brand storytelling across digital touchpoints tied to a site with over 1.1 million monthly visitors. The General Tso’s Chicken campaign received a Graphis Design Annual 2019 Silver Award, recognizing the strength of the creative and execution. Over time, the relationship grew in both scope and trust, leading to continued partnership and expanded opportunities across concepting and design.
Along the way, I presented work to the executive marketing team at headquarters in Rosemead and got a behind-the-scenes look at the Innovation Kitchen, where ideas like an orange chicken burrito wrapped in a scallion pancake reminded us just how far creativity can go.
