Intertek Catalyst, Whole Foods: Skip The Scam Poster

Client: Whole Foods Market (via Intertek Catalyst)
Category: Retail Staff Training | Internal Communication Poster
Award: Communicator Awards – Winner

📝 Project Overview
This poster was created for Whole Foods to help retail employees recognize and avoid scam attempts targeting stores. The image served as part of an internal awareness campaign distributed across locations.

🚨 The Challenge
Whole Foods had been receiving scam phone calls — with fraudsters impersonating vendors, IT support, or corporate staff in order to steal gift cards, credit card data, or sensitive company information. The challenge was to make employees more aware of these tactics in a visually memorable way, while reinforcing a simple behavior: Don’t give away sensitive information.

🎨 My Role & Solution
Working in collaboration with the training design firm Intertek Catalyst, I created a narrative poster using an octopus as a metaphor for the scammer — a creature with many “arms” representing different fraudulent tactics. The composition used a split-screen: one side showed the scheming octopus mid-call, with tentacles holding symbolic scam tools; the other side showed a wary employee reacting to the call, clearly distrustful. One tentacle reached across the screen divide, attempting to pick the employee’s pocket — subtly visualizing how scams often cross boundaries and catch people off-guard. I used expression, lighting, and color shifts to heighten the emotional tone and make the image instantly readable.

🏆 Results & Outcomes
The poster was very well received by both the client and the studio team. It was submitted to the Communicator Awards and won — a testament to the impact of combining education with visual storytelling.

💡 Why It Matters
This project shows how metaphor, composition, and storytelling can make dry or routine safety messages more engaging and memorable. My role extended beyond illustration — interpreting the communication need and delivering a visual that employees could understand and remember at a glance. #illustrator #branding #engagement #storydeveloper