*This is a living project- one that continues to evolve as I return to it with new ideas, edits, and approaches. It’s not meant to be perfect, but rather an exploration of how branding, storytelling, and social media strategy can support a business I care deeply about. This page is best when viewed on a desktop device rather than a mobile device; it will be edited in the future to be more visually interesting via mobile, with time permitting.
This work is both personal and practical. I built it as a way to exercise and expand my PR and communications skills, particularly in creative and social media-focused spaces. Many of the elements you see here-across content, messaging, and visual direction-reflect skills I’ve developed and applied in previous roles.
The business itself already thrives; this project is a matter of devotion for me & for the person behind magnolia.esc, and it is simply a way to contribute to my continued professional growth and an exercise in focusing my creativity. I work on this in my free time and come back often with new ideas and edits. *
Estate Sale Brand Campaign & Experience Concepts
Estate Sale Brand Template System
This is an Instagram Story template suite for a local estate sale company in Athens, GA.
This project demonstrates Canva fluency, brand system development, and campaign planning for recurring promotional events. I developed the visual identity system, which includes a color palette, typography pairing, and original illustration to reflect the company’s soft, organic sensibility while honoring the owner’s contemporary aesthetic.
I hand-illustrated the magnolia motif and digitized it to serve as a signature visual anchor across all templates. The color palette was built from the magnolia’s natural accent tones to maintain visual cohesion: pastel lavender as the accent, light yellow as the primary field, and black for typography to ensure clarity and legibility.
Typography pairs Cooper Hewitt (structured and modern) with Homemade Apple (handwritten and human), reinforcing the blend of professionalism and warmth central to the brand.
The template system addresses a key opportunity: creating consistent, repeatable social assets for a business that relies primarily on grassroots marketing and third-party listing platforms.
By introducing a defined color system, signature iconography, and structured content cadence, the brand gains recognizability without requiring new creative development for every sale.
Templates are built for quick customization, allowing the team to insert estate details, listing images, and direct links to estatesale.net (the primary sales advertising platform). The templates include: Preview Stories, Calendar Alert Stories, Promotional Reminders
The format is adaptable for both Instagram and Facebook, supporting organic posting and Meta campaigns.
Left: Preview this Instagram Story sequence Right: Click the image to view the ‘Calendar Alert’ Insta Stories
magnolia.esc shopping basket concept
This project explores a way to enhance Magnolia's customer experience and brand presence. This is a reusable, customizable basket concept that balances practicality with visual appeal (lightweight, easy to transport, and lined with thoughtfully sourced fabric featuring branded tags or subtle prints). The project demonstrates an approach to merging functional design with storytelling, creating a touchpoint that is operationally elevating, useful, and visually engaging for customers.
Q2 Marketing Campaign Concept
Magnolia Estate Sale Co. Spring Campaign Mock-Up
Designed a Q2 brand development concept for a local estate sale company; this exercise explores how cohesive identity systems can elevate grassroots businesses.
This project examines how visual consistency, structured content cadence, and campaign-based storytelling contribute to a recognizable brand ecosystem whilst also alleviating other team members’ hidden labor and general workload. It is geared for a springtime and fiscal quarter two rollout with spring motifs. However, general items such as the marketing timeline and social media aspects can be easily adapted for different goals and campaign themes.
Newsletters, Testimonials
Content pitch: Curated flat lays
Curated flat lays are a visually compelling, repeatable content series designed to build pre-sale excitement and drive in-person traffic. These styled compositions add aesthetic depth to social media feeds while giving customers a clear, specific reason to visit estate sale weekends.
As a branded recurring feature, flat lays can be curated around themes that make shopping feel intentional and discovery-driven.
Themes could include:
Style: contemporary, vintage, cottagecore
Occasion: Nowruz, Passover, Easter, Mother's and Father’s Day, baseball season (this works especially well for Q2 & Q4 marketing, although it has consistent potential year-round; Q4 includes Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, football season, etc., almost directly mirroring Q2 events)
Demographic: newborn gifting (crocheted blankets, nursery artwork, plush toys, classic children’s books), art enthusiasts, book lovers, collectors
Additional themes include: room of the house (i.e., kitchen, kids’ room, yard decoration), color, items or material (i.e., glassware, 80s rock, birds)
This format is especially effective for increasing visibility and sell-through of smaller items that might otherwise be overlooked in wide inventory shots. At the same time, it creates a strong “treasure hunt” effect that motivates followers to attend sale weekends, where they are also likely to discover and purchase larger furniture or decor pieces. It also suggests a reason why they might need or benefit from the items or bundles, such as decorating or hosting a holiday or gift-giving.
From an operations standpoint, this is an efficient and repeatable content system with strong return potential. Once the styling framework is established, the concept can be reused week to week with different themes, allowing for consistent content without requiring a heavy production lift.
These posts also open a direct conversion channel through DM reservations, helping secure early interest, build loyalty, and create repeat customers within the Athens-Clarke County area. Over time, this type of consistent thematic curation can strengthen local brand recognition and make the estate sale company a go-to destination for specific finds and seasonal shopping.
Reference inspiration can be seen in the Instagram content of Ruby and Rhea Home (@rubyandrheahome), an antique retailer whose use of curated product styling highlights the broader cross-industry potential of this format. Their content demonstrates how flat lays can create strong visual storytelling, elevate perceived value, and drive customer engagement across retail categories.
Email Marketing Mockup created in Canva. Preview it in its entirety here.
This was my first time designing an email in Canva, and I found it highly adaptable and convenient for a small business like this. Its ability to export directly to Outlook or Gmail makes it especially practical for streamlined use. While Canva can be slightly trickier than Mailchimp when it comes to adding texture and more visually layered design elements, I found it stronger for maintaining brand consistency and creating a precise, cohesive aesthetic.
My goal was to design an email that felt fully aligned with the brand while remaining clear, direct, and informative. Canva proved especially effective for preserving consistency across the color palette, icons, and overall visual language, while also being accessible and small-business friendly by integrating easily with existing platforms.
To make the design more email-friendly, I adapted the typography by switching from Cooper Hewitt to Verdana, while keeping the established Q2 marketing color palette and iconography intact. The email functions as a sale alert, clearly communicating the dates, time, and location of the estate sale. It also includes links to preview the sale on EstateSales.net, resources for viewers to inquire about services or request additional information, space for testimonials, and preview images of the upcoming home.
Email marketing is a relatively low-energy, high-reach strategy that allows Magnolia to connect with a broader demographic. In the future, Magnolia could organically grow its email list through sign-up opportunities at in-person sales, at checkout, and through its Instagram Linktree. This approach is especially valuable for reaching audiences who are less social-media centered, including older adult demographics.