Tumblr 2024
Client: Tumblr
Industry: Creative & Digital Marketing
Role: Art Direction, Project Management, Graphic Design
Date: 2024
Tumblr's Year in Review is an annual editorial campaign that highlights the most talked-about fandoms, moments, and communities on the platform. For the 2024 edition, our goal was to create an identity system that not only celebrated the vibrancy of Tumblr’s fandom culture, but could also evolve into a scalable, recognizable brand expression for future editorial properties. The campaign needed to be bold, emotionally resonant, and easily adaptable across web, mobile, social, and email touch points.
process
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process ⬩
Utilizing Tumblr's official brand colors, the visuals effectively encapsulate the diverse array of fandoms that are profoundly present on the platform. This unified and carefully curated aesthetic creates a strong feeling of cohesion between the website and app, enhancing the overall user experience.
Not only did I iterate on the vibrant color palettes, I also created a design system featuring typographic hierarchy, and visual motifs that could flex across verticals including gaming, K-pop, television, and anime. The system was designed for scalability and speed, with templates and design rules that supported consistency across dozens of visual assets.
Primary Heading
Secondary Heading
Color Palette
Below is the evolution from initial sketch to final graphic. I blended hand-drawn elements with clean vector work to craft the visual blueprint for the Year in Review post headers, balancing personality with clarity. The hand-drawn elements serve as visual representations of the data-driven lists on the site, with each one uniquely tailored to its post.
results
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results ⬩
The final graphics produced for Tumblr's Year in Review in 2024 exceeded all expectations. The posts garnered over 14 million impressions in the first month's publication, having permeated through organic promotion in the entire Tumblr audience ecosystem. The primary post accumulated 6.51% engagement rate. The campaign significantly boosted user session time and re-engagement during its run, positioning it as one of the most visible and celebrated editorial efforts of the year. It was featured prominently on Tumblr’s homepage, Explore page, and in email marketing, with users organically resharing assets—extending reach across fandom communities. The campaign reinforced Tumblr’s unique cultural voice while strengthening brand equity through highly curated, fandom-driven storytelling.
The branded components developed for Year in Review—including layout systems, visual motifs, and typographic treatments—were then adapted and expanded into the Fandometrics editorial series in 2025, creating design continuity while evolving the platform’s long-term editorial identity.
testimonial
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testimonial ⬩
“Jas singlehandedly designed creative, eye-catching graphics for Year in Review, the largest marketing campaign of the year. These community-centric images and GIFs drove massive engagement on both Tumblr and all of our socials.”
learnings
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learnings ⬩
Spearheading both the design and project management of Tumblr’s Year in Review taught me how to lead large-scale creative work from concept to launch—aligning cross-functional teams, managing tight timelines, and crafting a bold, culturally resonant campaign that reflected the heart of the Tumblr community. Year in Review wasn’t simply a recap of the year, it was a love letter to the overall Tumblr community. Audience-first design drives genuine engagement by meeting people where they are and making the brand feel personal, not performative.
Other takeaways include:
The most impactful storytelling reflects the audience back to themselves.
Cross-functional teamwork is key to big feature and/or campaign launches, especially in a fast-paced environment such as Tumblr.
Do not be afraid of constant design iteration.
On a personal note, it brings me so much joy to see people both internally at Tumblr and on-platform respond positively to the little easter eggs and inside jokes on the headers!
Tumblr leadership having fun with the landing page