Tyrus

Bridging the divide between freelance creatives and clients during the pandemic.

Background

Tyrus is a free digital toolkit that empowers freelance illustrators to build better business skills, so they can focus less on project management and more on their craft.

In 2020 Airbnb illustrator and art director Naomi Benson pitched an intriguing idea to me. She wanted to create a free resource for the illustration community that could help tackle the substantial collaboration gap between clients and creative freelancers that was a trending topic in this industry.

I saw potential in the concept. If we could refine and deliver on the idea it could support independent creatives, help elevate the discipline of illustration within the design community, and advance Airbnb's reputation as a beacon for industry design excellence. We have a track record of building free tools for creatives, illustration is a strong pillar in Airbnb’s brand identity, and we had strategically developed an engaged niche audience of illustrators over the years. I signed on as a creative strategist, marketing lead, and business sponsor for the project.

Over the course of 7+ months we collaborated on developing the curriculum, brand identity of the kit (with our design partners Porto Rocha), and a community-first launch plan. It was important to me to co-create the toolkit with the creative community so we surveyed 270+ global illustrators to understand their industry pain points and designed the kit based on insights gathered from their feedback.

We developed a curriculum around four major challenges all creatives face: Nailing the Brief, Championing Originality, Outwitting Deadlines, and Demystifying Feedback. We also developed an identity for the kit that championed style diversity. As part of Airbnb’s Design’s commitment to diverse visual storytelling, all of the illustrators whose work appears in Tyrus are self-identified women who come from a wide array of locales, and represent diverse styles. Finally, we named it after Tyrus in honor of an exceptional Chinese-born American artist who made extraordinary contributions to the art, illustration, and design worlds despite facing industry prejudice and receiving little recognition. (You may recognize his distinct brushwork from Walt Disney’s Bambi.)

The pandemic effect

During the project the pandemic hit and Airbnb had creative layoffs and budget cuts that impacted the project and core team. Unexpectedly losing most of our creative team was difficult on a personal level and put the project in jeopardy. However, one main insight inspired my dedication to persuade the business to keep the project alive and ensure we followed through on delivering it:

According to a study at the time “76% of freelance visual artists and photographers reported contract cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic.”

As creative freelancers faced completely new levels of professional uncertainty, they were looking for tools to support them in their craft and retain their clients. As a company with community-led values there was an opportunity to follow through on providing tools to assist destabilized creative entrepreneurs even as Airbnb shifted its own strategy to survive the pandemic.

Results

We launched Tyrus shortly before Airbnb's IPO and it became a timely proof point to support Airbnb's S1 narrative pillar about differentiation by design for it’s stakeholders. Tyrus was well-received in the creative industry. Here's a brief impact snapshot:

• 3 million+ creatives have used the toolkit to-date

• Our social campaign reached 1.5 million+ creatives

• It's Nice That also did an exclusive feature on the toolkit

Core Team /
Naomi Benson (Curriculum Designer + Creative Lead), Sarah Goerzen (Producer), Brian Harrison (Engineer) Stephanie Szabó (Learning Lead), Shoko Wanger (Writer), Alexis Konevich (writer), Porto Rocha (Design + Branding partner).

My Role /
Project lead, creative strategist, and Marketing lead.

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