For this proactive pitch to e.l.f. Cosmetics, the sales team handed over unit types — a Desktop Skin and an In-Screen Expandable — and left the rest of the creative direction open. That kind of latitude is an invitation to push further than the brief.

The In-Screen Expandable was familiar territory for this client, so the opportunity was to introduce something competitors were increasingly requesting: the Expandable Accordion, a hover-driven desktop feature that unfolds content on mouse over. Rather than presenting products in a standard carousel, each panel was framed as a step in a skincare routine — with custom animations reinforcing each stage, bubbles for lathering, a water splash for rinsing, and so on. A detail-oriented touch that made the format feel native to the brand.

The Desktop Skin was new ground for e.l.f. altogether. The serum was the natural hero given its before-and-after imagery, and a scroll-enabled animated background sourced from stock footage was recolored by the developer to keep everything on brand. Assets were a mix of what the sales team could secure, supplemented by website sourcing and stock purchases. No generative AI was used.

The pitch won — and the prototypes went live with minimal changes.