Overview
Katie Van Slyke is a long-term Groove Life collaborator and influencer known for her authenticity as a hunter, outdoorswoman, and animal lover. The Groove Life partnership has centered on translating her ideas and audience insight into co-branded product designs that feel personal, meaningful, and highly resonant with her community.

Challenge
Each collaboration begins with the same core question: how do you translate a story, personality, or idea into a ring design that is both meaningful and visually clear at a highly constrained scale?

Role & Contributions
I partnered closely with Katie through concept conversations and design direction development, translating her ideas into product-ready designs across rings and watchbands. I shaped design concepts, explored visual combinations, and guided how storytelling could be expressed within product and production constraints.

I led the process from ideation through production coordination, collaborating with the rendering artist (Scott Harrison) to bring designs to life visually for launch.

Approach
Each collaboration began with understanding Katie’s perspective and her audience—what resonates emotionally, what feels authentic, and what translates into wearable storytelling.

I then translated those ideas into visual directions, balancing narrative, clarity, and wearability at a highly constrained scale. A key part of the process was simplifying larger stories into strong, readable design decisions without losing personality.

Outcome
The resulting designs consistently translate Katie’s storytelling into wearable product form that resonates strongly with her audience and reinforces the connection between influencer insight and product execution within Groove Life’s collaboration program.

The “Poppy and Petunia” mini cow ring (below) became an immediate top-selling style.

Tools
Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop