Google Santa Tracker

visual direction | photography strategy

Challenge: Google Santa Tracker needed a globally inclusive visual experience to support 45+ games, 18 videos, and a live tracking feature with engaging photography, resonating with millions worldwide during the holiday season. The challenge: curate thousands of high-quality, culturally relevant photographs that worked seamlessly across product, social, and marketing channels while maintaining visual consistency at scale.

Approach As the in-house Visual Lead for photography, I partnered with Product, Marketing, and agencies Upperquad and The Many to shape and implement the visual strategy. I led:

• Development of quality frameworks and sourcing standards for images from Google Maps' global creative community

• Creation of culturally sensitive content guidelines reflecting regional holiday traditions

• Establishment of cross-platform visual consistency standards

• Scalable workflows to evaluate and integrate 4,000+ photographs from Local Guides

• Collaboration with technical teams to optimize assets for real-time and interactive experiences

• QA processes to uphold visual excellence across product, social, and content marketing surfaces (Instagram, blog, newsletters)

Impact The strategy helped turn Santa Tracker into a globally beloved tradition, earning a Webby Award nomination for Best Visual Design (2020). Our photography created an immersive, joyful, and culturally respectful experience—celebrated across product and marketing channels—and showcased the power of community-driven visual storytelling at global scale.